It’s been over two weeks since the ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona, and it still wasn’t the most stressful thing Mandy Chick has been through.
“Oh for sure finals,” Chick explained as the main source of her stress.
The Rose Hulman student had just finished her finals week after coming home fifth in the season opener. A career-best in her third ARCA start.
“I just finished finals. I had to return back to campus and do finals after the top five and it was the most difficult week of my life because I could not focus…I didn’t know how to return to normal life,” she added.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is on a ‘quarter’ system. Chick shared that she takes about 16-18 credit hours every 10 weeks, with one week of finals, then a week of break.
“It certainly is a challenge to balance it all. I have a lot on my plate. It gets very busy at Rose-Hulman because of it being more fast-paced and covering much of the material that normal schools would cover in the same semester,” Mandy added.
The junior is currently working on her bachelor’s, with two minors, and working on her master’s. “It’s quite a balance that I have to strike between managing that and my full-time racing.” Mandy also works in admissions for the college where she now uses her time there to help out with her racing career.
Recently, Mandy (along with several other ARCA team owners) has created a strong presence on TikTok. “Going into race weekend, I had 54 followers.”
She credits her PR rep Liz, and ARCA team owner Dinah Mullins of Mullins Racing for pushing her to become active on the platform.
“We posted a second video after practice day and that night I think it ended up with 10,000 views…and so we went to bed and woke up the next morning and it was 30,000 views and I freaked out,” Chick buzzed.
One of the other reasons that Mandy’s story has blown up was because of a little bit being shared on the Fox Sports broadcast about everyone getting a tattoo on their butt if they were to win the race. Mandy however wanted to set the story straight.
“One of our crew guys and long-time sponsors, Mike Bennett, the owner of Dynamic Drivelines. He’s been sponsoring me since I was 11 years old. My boyfriend challenged him that if I got a top eight at Daytona, then Mike would have to get a tattoo on his butt of something of my branding. I think we decided that it’s going to be my signature,” Chick laughed.
While a great story, something Mandy wasn’t expecting was the…outpouring of support from new fans.
“The aftermath has been insane. The number of pictures people have sent me of writing my name on their butt is crazy. I’ve seen more butts in the last two weeks than I have signed up for.” Mandy added that her aunt got in on the fun and sent a picture of her butt.
“I have very loyal fans,” she added.
After the stellar run at Daytona, Mandy said that she and the team are working now on 12-14 races in ARCA this year. “We’ve certainly had a lot of people reach out and be interested in supporting us.”
Mandy confirmed the team will be at Talladega, both Kansas races, and Charlotte. She hopes to head back to Milwaukee and wants to make her way to Birstol in the fall.
“I want a top five at Talladega. Car in one piece obviously.”
No matter what the rest of 2023 holds, Mandy says that she just wants to be an approachable person on the track.
“I will always take the time to talk anyone’s ear off. If they ever want to come to say hi or ask questions of me or whatever. I’m always happy to answer.”
Mandy will continue her 2023 ARCA campaign at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday, April 22. The race starts at 12:30 P.M. on Fox Sports 1.
