Tracy Gaudu

  • Hometown: Johnson City, TN
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I did not grow up around racing or motorsports but I have had a love for the Corvette since a very young age.  I enlisted in the USAF after high school and was in for a total of 6 years. It is hard to say where I am really from as my family moved quite a lot during my childhood due to my father being in the USAF as well.  I didn’t own my first corvette until age 37 when I bought a 2005 C6 precision red automatic transmission car.  After buying this car, I quickly joined the Longhorn Corvette Club, in Austin, Texas, and subsequently became a member of National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC) and was introduced to low-speed autocross and loved the competition.

I saw my current car, a 2008 C6ZO6 in a dealership showroom in late 2007, and although I didn’t know how to drive a manual transmission car, I thought I could indeed learn and win BIG.  I did win the NCCC Ladies National Points Championship in 2008. I also won the Southwest Region Championship in conjunction with the National Championship in 2008 which was difficult to do within the same year.
I continued to enjoy high-speed events and to get more seat time attended HPDE (high performance driving education) to improve as a driver but I competed a lot less.  During the time between 2008 until about 2017 life happened with my career as a physician assistant and car issues took me away from any competition.  I started to slowly add parts to the car to make it more competitive during this mostly “down time”.  In 2017 I decided it was time to get back into competition and I decided to join NASA (National Auto Sports Association) and got my TT (time trial) license late in 2017.   
During 2018, I wanted to really make the car as competitive as possible in TT1 and thought the HP part of the equation would do it.  I looked at several different engine builders and went with Lingenfelter not only for their reputation but I feel they are the “gold standard” and I wanted the best. I was able to...read more.

I did not grow up around racing or motorsports but I have had a love for the Corvette since a very young age.  I enlisted in the USAF after high school and was in for a total of 6 years. It is hard to say where I am really from as my family moved quite a lot during my childhood due to my father being in the USAF as well.  I didn’t own my first corvette until age 37 when I bought a 2005 C6 precision red automatic transmission car.  After buying this car, I quickly joined the Longhorn Corvette Club, in Austin, Texas, and subsequently became a member of National Council of Corvette Clubs (NCCC) and was introduced to low-speed autocross and loved the competition.

I saw my current car, a 2008 C6ZO6 in a dealership showroom in late 2007, and although I didn’t know how to drive a manual transmission car, I thought I could indeed learn and win BIG.  I did win the NCCC Ladies National Points Championship in 2008. I also won the Southwest Region Championship in conjunction with the National Championship in 2008 which was difficult to do within the same year.
I continued to enjoy high-speed events and to get more seat time attended HPDE (high performance driving education) to improve as a driver but I competed a lot less.  During the time between 2008 until about 2017 life happened with my career as a physician assistant and car issues took me away from any competition.  I started to slowly add parts to the car to make it more competitive during this mostly “down time”.  In 2017 I decided it was time to get back into competition and I decided to join NASA (National Auto Sports Association) and got my TT (time trial) license late in 2017.   
During 2018, I wanted to really make the car as competitive as possible in TT1 and thought the HP part of the equation would do it.  I looked at several different engine builders and went with Lingenfelter not only for their reputation but I feel they are the “gold standard” and I wanted the best. I was able to win NASA Southeast TT1 championship in 2019 and 2020.  I feel the motor I bought from Lingenfelter definitely has helped make that happen!  I bought the 650 HP LS7 motor - it had to be detuned to around 550 HP due to TT1 class weight to HP ratio of 6:1.
In January 2021, I moved to an unlimited TT class (TTU) and therefore can run any HP with no weight restriction.
I also just obtained my competition license through NASA for SU class (Super Unlimited) in January as well.  My first provisional race wheel to wheel will be at Road Atlanta March 6/7.  I did win my TTU class at my first event in 2021 with a first place podium on Saturday and Sunday, Jan 16/17.
TTU had the largest number of entrants that weekend at Roebling Road Raceway.  It was definitely a challenge.
Being the only female in NASA Southeast TT really isn’t a huge deal.  The car doesn’t know if I am a male or female. 
I will be the only woman in my race class (SU) as well and the other drivers in that class are very welcoming. The other racers respect me and what I am doing out there as I am a team of one person, myself.  I load and unload the car, equipment and trailer it to the events by myself.  I don’t have any crew members.  I do this in rain or shine.  It’s hard work getting the car ready and to events but it’s most definitely worth it.  My team name, Team Tracy Motorsport is to represent the fact that I am doing it alone and hopefully I can motivate or inspire other female drivers to come out and track their cars!  If they see me doing it then they can do it too!!

I do have a career as a physician assistant for 21 years now. I work in vascular surgery but have a part time PA job on weekends in trauma as well.  I am the only one financially supporting this race team thus the need for a part time job too.  I definitely have 2 very separate lives.  I am either working or at a race.  Very little off time has affected my personal life a lot.  I love racing and I feel it is what I should be doing so it is worth all the sacrifices I have had to make.

Goals for 2021? I made the move to TTU and got my competition license through NASA already in January.  I hope to run both (TTU and SU) for most of the events this year.  I am also going to compete in my first hillclimb through SCCA in early May.  That should be a blast.  I also want to compete and do well at my third Ultimate Track Car Challenge at Hyperfest at VIR this fall. I also want to compete in my first NASA National Championship at Daytona in September.  
I won the inTech Trailers Max the Tach V trailer sponsorship in December of 2020 and am their ambassador this year so I want to get that trailer out all over the country!  I like to compete at events held by NASA Texas, NASA Great Lakes and NASA Mid-Atlantic.  I still have friends locally who love to do HPDEs at some of my favorite tracks so if there’s time I would love to track with them as well this year. Big year lined up!!  [show less]

  • Occupation: vascular surgery physician assistant
  • Hobbies: Racing my 2008 C6ZO6 and cruising in my 1972 Corvette Stingray through the mountains
  • Car Number: 141
  • Racing Division: NASA Southeast Time Trials Unlimited (TTU) NASA Southeast Super Unlimited (SU) race class
  • Years Racing: 16
  • Career Wins: lots 😎
  • Chassis: aluminum as what comes on a c6z06
  • Engine Builder: Lingenfelter Performance Engineering
  • Team Owner: Tracy Gaudu
  • Crew Chief: Tracy Gaudu
  • Pit Crew: none
  • Favorite Track: Daytona, Road Atlanta, VIR, Road America, VIR, NCM MSP, COTA, Hallett Racing Motor Circuit
  • Favorite Race: Hyperfest and the Ultimate Track Car Challenge
  • Most Wanted Wins: made it to the Knock Out finals again in both 2020 and 2021 for the Ultimate Track Car Challenge

2008 National Council of Corvette Clubs National Champion; 2019-2020 NASA SE TT1 Champion; Made it to the Knock-out Finals of the Ultimate Track Car Challenge at VIR in 2020 and 2021.
First P1 Overall and Super Unlimited Class wins in NASA Thunder Race, 11/6/21, Carolina Motorsports Park