A Story of Perseverance: Jordaine Penick Earns First Career Win After Father, Family Faced with Building Two Cars in a Month

By Joe Chandler

Director, Public Relations

South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, VA (July 8, 2025) – Success in racing requires hard work and perseverance. Jordaine Penick and her family are proof of it.

It was an emotional moment when the teenager from Meherrin, Virginia sped under the checkered flag on June 28 to earn her first career win in South Boston Speedway’s Dollar General Hornets Division and become the second female driver to win a race in that division. She also won her first career pole that night.

“It was amazing,” Penick remarked of the win in which she edged division points leader Jason DeCarlo of Chase City, Virginia, a two-time winner this season, and Landon Milam of Keeling, Virginia, a three-time winner this season, for the top spot. “I was already crying coming down the backstretch. I couldn’t wait to see that checkered flag.”

While Penick’s victory in front of the biggest crowd of the season at South Boston Speedway was a popular and notable one, the back story – the story of how her father, Michael Penick, and members of the family built two cars in a month after Jordaine’s car had been destroyed in a pair of crashes, is one of strong perseverance.

For Michael Penick, all of the hard work was worth it.

“I wanted to see Jordaine get a win,” he said. “It means a lot to me to see Jordaine happy. Her winning this race means a lot to her, myself, our entire family, our crew and everybody involved. It’s Jordaine’s dream to drive a racecar, and I promised her that if she wants to drive, I’d build her a car.”

The first of the two cars was built after a crash during a race in May destroyed the car that Jordaine Penick had raced since the middle of last season.

“I had bought a new car, a street car, and had made it look identical to Jordaine’s car,” Michael Penick explained. “I finished it up on Monday morning (of race week), put tags on it, and drove it to the track that Saturday night to watch her race. On Monday (after the race), I was tearing my street car apart to build her another racecar.”

Misfortune struck again with Jordaine’s car being extensively damaged in the first race of the twin-race event on June 7, sidelining her in that race and making it impossible for her to compete in the night’s second race.

“The second time Jordaine’s car got destroyed I got on Marketplace and got up with a guy in Woodbridge, Virginia,” Michael Penick explained. “I told him what happened to Jordaine’s car, and he gave me another body. Cheryl (Jordaine Penick’s aunt, Cheryl Penick) and I went to Woodbridge Monday morning, picked it up, and brought it back. We tore it apart and made another racecar out of that.”

An all-out family effort made it possible for Michael Penick to keep his daughter on the track.

“Myself, Cheryl, Max (Max Sangillo, Jordaine Penick’s teammate), Jordaine’s two older brothers, and Jordaine all jumped in there and did it,” Michael Penick explained. “We have wonderful sponsors, and my thought is that since they think enough of us to sponsor her car that we need to keep her car looking good and have it out there on the track. We just put whatever we needed to into it.”

The most recent car the family built is the best car Jordaine Penick has driven in her four years of racing in the Dollar General Hornets Division at South Boston Speedway.

“We have built her a car now that seems to be competitive,” Michael Penick pointed out. “I didn’t want her to start off in a fast car because I didn’t want her to get out there and get hurt. The more she has shown she can drive a racecar, the more power I put in her car so that she can be competitive.”

Jordaine Penick said she knew while testing the new car prior to the June 28 event that it was a very good car. After just 20 laps, she parked the car on the trailer and she and her father returned home.

“It felt a whole lot better than the other cars,” she remarked. “I was surprised the car was that good. I was expecting that we were going to have to take it home and work on it a little bit more. After practicing with it, I told my father not to touch it because it was perfect. The car felt the same when we got to the track on Saturday.”

Jordaine Penick is extremely thankful for the huge amount of time, effort and expense her family put in to keep her in a car and providing the opportunity to allow her to keep racing.

“It was a whole lot of work,” Jordaine Penick noted. “This means a lot to me. I can’t say enough how thankful I am. I couldn’t have done any of this without my dad, my brothers, Max, Cheryl, and my mother.”

Many drivers will say getting that first win under their belt takes a lot of pressure off of their shoulders. It’s not so for Jordaine Penick.

“I think it puts more pressure on me, realizing now that I can get up front and run up front,” she said. “I’ve got to push harder and keep doing it. I’ve got to stay focused. I’m really confident, and I hope I can continue to have good results.”

A six-race slate is scheduled when NASCAR racing returns to South Boston Speedway on Saturday night, July 26 with the Boone Tractor Race Night presented by Gravely and New Holland.

Twin 75-lap races for the Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division will headline the night’s racing action. A 50-lap race for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, twin 15-lap races for the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and a 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division will round out the July 26 racing action.

Advance adult tickets for the July 26 Boone Tractor Race Night presented by Gravely and New Holland event are priced at $12. Tickets at the gate on race day will be $15 each. Suite tickets are available for $40 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate only on the day of the event.

The tentative race-day schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m. and practice starting at 3:25 p.m. Frontstretch grandstand gates open at 3:30 p.m. and backstretch and Turn 4 trackside parking gates open at 5:30 p.m. Qualifying starts at 6 p.m. and the first race of the night will get the green flag at 7 p.m.

The latest news and updates about the July 26 Boone Tractor Race Night presented by Gravely and New Holland event and all of South Boston Speedway events can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours, and through the track’s social media channels.