Jessica L. Friesen ( née Zemken, born May 5, 1986) is an American professional dirt track racing driver. She primarily competes in

sprint car racing Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, N ...

, and has raced in series like the

All Star Circuit of Champions The All Star Circuit of Champions (abbreviated ASCoC), officially known as the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 for naming rights reasons, is an American motorsports sanctioning body of winged sprint car racing founded in ...

and

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late ...

. She will also compete part-time in the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of thr ...

in 2023, driving either the No. 62 or a third Toyota Tundra truck for her family team,

Halmar Friesen Racing Halmar Friesen Racing, also known as Halmar Racing Team, is an American professional stock car racing and dirt track racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, fielding the No. 52 Toyota Tundra full-time for Ste ...

. She is married to fellow dirt racer and NASCAR driver Stewart Friesen.

Racing career

Zemken attended her first dirt race when she was two weeks old, and grew up supporting her father's dirt career. She started in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

after her father repaired karts and constructed a backyard track, which was followed by racing competitively. Zemken competed in karts for six years and won two local track championships before moving

open-wheel cars An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

. By the age of 14, she had won five track championships and over 100 feature races. She began competing full-time in the Sportsman class at Afton Speedway in 2001. Zemken also competed in the DIRT Sportsman division at

Utica-Rome Speedway Utica-Rome Speedway is a -mile Dirt track racing, dirt Oval racing, oval Stock car racing, raceway in Vernon, New York, Vernon, New York (state), New York. It is known as the “Home of Heroes” and has been the home track of several NASCAR nation ...

, winning the track championship in 2004. In 2009, Zemken was honored as an Outstanding Woman in Racing by the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame. In 2010, Zemken joined Tony Stewart Racing to compete in a "true outlaw" sprint car schedule that included starts in the World of Outlaws and All Star Circuit of Champions. In March 2021,

announced Friesen would make her NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the

Pinty's Dirt Truck Race The Pinty's Dirt Truck Race, also known as the Pinty's Dirt Race at Bristol and the Pinty's Truck Race on Dirt, is a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. The inaugural race took place in 2021 in support of the NASCAR ...

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

. However, she did not make the event after the qualifying heat races were canceled due to rain. Serving as a teammate to her husband, the Friesens would have been the first spouses to compete in the same NASCAR race since

Elton Sawyer Elton Everett Sawyer (born November 5, 1959) is a former NASCAR driver. He is married to former NASCAR driver Patty Moise. Sawyer is currently the Vice President, Officiating and Technical Inspection of NASCAR. Career Start Sawyer began his caree ...

and

Patty Moise Patricia Moise-Sawyer () is a former NASCAR driver. She drove in five Winston Cup races from 1987 to 1989, and 133 Busch Series races from 1986 to 1998. She is the wife of former fellow NASCAR driver Elton Sawyer. Racing career Moise began rac ...

in the 1990s. After failing to qualify at Bristol, Friesen would enter Truck Series' other dirt race, the Corn Belt Weekend at

Knoxville Raceway Knoxville Raceway is a semi-banked 1/2 mile dirt oval raceway (zook clay) located at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa, United States. Races at the "Sprint Car Capital of the World" are held on Saturday nights from April throug ...

, in July, which she did qualify for. She ran the same two races in 2022. Her husband Stewart stated on ''

SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Since 2008, Sirius XM Radio has had a similar channel lineup, with a few differences based on whether the individual has a Sirius, XM, or SiriusXM radio. For technical reasons, separate radios continue to be manufactured for the separate services ...

'' on December that she would return to drive for HFR in the Bristol dirt race in 2023 and that

Layne Riggs Layne Griffin Riggs (born June 11, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 1 Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage, and the No. 62 Tundra for Halmar Friesen R ...

, who also drove the No. 62 truck part-time in 2022, would drive that truck at least part-time in 2023 with the possibility of a full season if additional sponsorship is found. If Riggs is able to run full-time, Jessica would likely drive a part-time third truck for HFR in the Bristol dirt race. It would be the team's first time fielding a third truck.

Personal life

Her father Ray Zemken competed in DIRT Modifieds, while her mother Shauna worked as an optometrist. Zemken formerly dated team owner and NASCAR Cup Series champion

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is ...

. In September 2014, she married fellow driver Stewart Friesen. Shortly after their marriage, the two raced together at Utica-Rome and finished first and second. The two have a son Parker and operate an apparel company One Zee Tee's.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

Season still in progress

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friesen, Jessica Living people 1986 births NASCAR drivers People from Montgomery County, New York Racing drivers from New York (state)