YOUNGSTOWN — When it comes to being rather unconventional and defying societal norms, you could say Vivian Jones, since an early age, has been off to the races.
“I started out with little cars and added junior sprints,” Jones, 23, a Youngstown State University senior, said. “I started at age 8.”
Specifically, Jones began her interest in the predominantly male field of car racing around 2010 and is a fourth-generation driver, she said.
From there, it didn’t take long for the YSU student to find herself racing on a course in Deerfield, where she spent the first five years. In time, she began racing dwarf cars, which are equipped with 600-cubic centimeter motorcycle engines and are essentially scaled versions of coupes, trucks and sedans that were manufactured between 1928 and 1948. Dwarf cars also have bodies that are scaled down versions of full-sized vehicles.
When she was 14 or 15, Jones took her skills to the next level via starting to race “souped-up cars” that included those with 1,000-cubic centimeter motorcycle-type engines that were more technologically advanced than the dwarf vehicles she had been accustomed with. She won a championship at Deerfield the first year driving the more advanced cars, Jones said.
That was the first of many championships to follow for her. Jones also began racing on tracks in Tennessee, Florida, Canada, Ohio and elsewhere, she said.
Jones soon became a well-known figure at Michaels Mercer Raceway in Mercer, Pa., where she won several sprint car races — something that “kind of put me on the map,” she said. In addition, Jones was the first woman to win such a race and championship on the 3/8-mile dirt oval.
“I was the first woman for this and that,” she said.
In all, Jones has amassed six championships at Michaels Mercer Raceway, with the assistance of her father, Rod Jones, and a variety of crew members.
Also, the veteran race car driver enjoyed taking time to give back to children who attended her events, which, in part, sparked fond memories of her own childhood days doing the same. They received stickers and plaques from her, she said.
Nevertheless, Jones didn’t restrict her giving ways just to time spent at the raceway. She recently helped sell a series of race-related shirts for $10 apiece, of which $5 went to assist victims of Hurricane Helene, a late September storm that led to massive flooding that devastated parts of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia.
The effort generated about $400, some of which was used to buy supplies that went to the affected portions of Tennessee, Jones said. In addition, she wanted to give back to fans who helped the cause, Jones said.
“It definitely got people’s eye,” she said.
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