- 21-year-old Amanda Sorensen has been racing since she was six
- Sorensen has become a huge presence on social media throughout her short career
- The racing prodigy has already enjoyed success in multiple different styles of racing
At the age of 21 I was graduating into a global recession and spending 10 months unemployed, while consuming an industrial amount of very questionable alcohol and doner meat. Also at the age of 21, Amanda Sorensen is a wildly successful racecar driver across multiple disciplines, has built a seven-digit social media following and is an inspiration for young women across the world. In short, Amanda Sorensen is a phenom.
Having been behind the wheel of one vehicle or another since the age of six, Sorensen embodies a fearlessness forged through youth and a competitive streak born out of sibling rivalry. It is this dynamic duo of personality traits that has helped evolve the American racecar prodigy into a must-see competitor.
“I think starting young, you have the advantage because you get to do a lot of things without knowing what the consequences are,” Amanda tells me during her exclusive interview with Pubity, back in October.
“Fortunately, I was able to grow up racing against my brother, who is my best friend. We’re 18 months apart, and him and I have pushed each other to such a high level. It’s crazy because I see him do something and then I’m like, ‘oh, I totally could do that’ you know? And it’s vice versa for each other, but I definitely would say starting at a young age, I definitely didn’t have the fear.”
Amanda Sorensen is set to ignite her racing career
We talk while set against the Californian desert backdrop of the Apple Valley Speedway, roughly 90 minutes or so outside of Los Angeles. The sun is now dipping behind the horizon, taking a fair amount of the temperature with it. Amanda is not long removed from roaring her drift car around the track here for a few laps, spinning clouds of dust and sand into the scorching, barren atmosphere. In her passenger seat, X-Games legend and Guinness World record holding daredevil Leticia Bufoni, who emerges in a fit of nervous laughter.
The Brazilian skateboarding icon is here to feature Amanda as the latest guest on the new Team Ignition Show. The adrenaline-fuelled podcast series sees Bufoni meeting some of the planet’s most death-defying daredevils and discovering what makes them tick amidst the almost migraine inducing level of pressure they must face with each of their performances or stunts.
So, naturally, Amanda is a perfect fit as a guest on the show. Not only is the 21-year-old currently campaigning the Air Force BMW in Formula Drift, she is also making select appearances in Extreme E, Nitrocross and sportscar racing. A Google search of her name throws up the title of ‘internet personality’ and such an attribution to an individual’s social media presence over their mammoth accomplishments elsewhere at such a ludicrously young age feels borderline criminal.
Then again, Amanda is more than used to dealing with barriers, being a young woman in a male dominated industry.
Breaking Down Barriers
“I think one thing is just being a female going into the male-dominated industry,” begins Amanda when I ask her about the biggest barriers she has faced in her career so far.
“There’s establishing the respect for yourself as a professional athlete in that profession and that was one of the hardest things. It was a timely thing. I had to put in the hours. I had to put in the dedication. I had to show the work. I had to be on the podium. Because if I wasn’t there and if I wasn’t competing at a high level and letting my results speak for themselves, then I would have never had the respect. I would have just been seen as another girl.
“I wasn’t able to just hop in and be respected as one of the boys. So I had to really put in the effort, you know, be in those awkward situations, do those things to establish who I am as a person and establish that respect.”
And while Amanda reveals that she doesn’t have any female role models in her own field (“there is nobody I really look up to. That’s a problem”), Leticia and her are a perfect fit, given their propensity for seeking out new and terrifying ways to push themselves to the limits of what the human body can withstand.
“I love having fun. I love driving. I love the challenge. I love sports. I love adrenaline-rushing things. Leticia and I are talking about going skydiving soon, and I went skydiving for my first experience not too long ago with the United States Air Force. I actually jumped with the Wings of Blue team. And I was terrified. But, like, I broke through that fear, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this is cool.
“Being a female in the sports industry you learn how to challenge yourself every day and break through those barriers that are uncomfortable. That’s what I love about sports as a whole. Leticia is a great friend of mine, we go back for years and she’s always calling me to do crazy outrageous things and I’m like ‘OK Leticia’. We’re in Brazil riding jet skis in the ocean and I’m terrified of sharks but that’s the benefit of surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals.”
What is most striking about Amanda, however, isn’t her penchant for willingly putting herself in situations where she might, y’know, die horrifically, but more how switched on she is from a business and workrate perspective.
Amanda Sorensen – Racecar Driver/Social Media Powerhouse
OK, so when you’re talking about a racing prodigy who is crushing the antiquated gender norms of their industry, discussing ‘business’ is about as sexy as a LinkedIn post. I get it. But too often have young superstars in all forms of sports and entertainment been surrounded by the wrong people making the wrong decisions and cutting careers dreadfully short. Amanda, on the other hand, is rolling six deep on her own tour bus, keeping her team tight and her vision of her own personal brand and that of the sports in which she competes, laser focused.
“Formula Drift is not even broadcast anywhere. Because the generation that’s watching it is the 18 to 34-year-olds. And the statistics say 86 percent of them watch it on their phones. We are in this day and age where personal brand is the new thing and social media is our daily consumption. Everyone is consuming Formula Drift through social outlets, but it’s because it’s the number one millennial motorsport. So that’s our demographic. That’s why we’re targeting social media.”
The Future
It’s a targeting tactic that has clearly worked, as Amanda has amassed a staggering 1.7 million Instagram followers, with Formula Drift sitting pretty on 1.8 million. But with early career success on the track arriving in abundance and social media presence expanding like a Thanksgiving waistline, what is next for Amanda Sorensen?
“Four years ago during my first interview the interviewer asked me what my goals were and I said to be the first female to podium in Formula Drift. And in June of this year I was the first female to podium in Formula Drift and it’s crazy because the class that I’m in is not the minor leagues but like the feeder to the major leagues and every single driver from the major league was there at my podium to watch and I look back at the night and I just think it’s crazy.
“I could jump to the pro league now. I’m licensed to go pro, however I want to do it the proper way. I want to be the first female to own a championship in the Prospec class and then from there be the first female to be on the podium, then fight for the championship and be up there with these elite drivers in the whole world.”
So with her past fuelling her very successful present, which has been assured for some time now, all that’s left to do is look towards Amanda Sorensen’s future which, unlike the Californian sun during our interview, is not looking like setting any time soon.
