I Know Nothing About Motorsports, but I’m Already Obsessed with ‘First To The Finish’

Photo credit: George Pimentel Photography

Motorsports are having a pop culture moment that seems unprecedented, but since men dominate the sport, it’s no surprise that women are rarely seen in big, splashy productions about racing.

First To The Finish, a new docuseries that debuts on March 25 profiling female drivers and team owners competing in the Mazda MX-5 Cup, is a refreshing look at motorsports and the unique challenges women participants face. The elephant in the room is that a woman has never won the championship title in the MX-5 Cup, so the stakes are high.

As someone who knows next to nothing about motorsports, I’m already hooked after watching the first episode.

Being a woman in motorsports can feel like wielding a double-edged sword, said Shea Holbrook, team owner and principal of BSI Racing (pictured below, middle). On one side, being one of the rare women in the sport helps you stand out. She said women in motorsports are put on a pedestal when they’re doing amazing, but it’s tough to get respect unless they’re winning. 

“We all come from humble beginnings,” Holbrook told AutoTrader in an interview prior to a preview screening of the first episode. “So getting access to resources and relationships and just connecting with the right people in the room — even getting into the room — you have to be creative.”

Holbrook, who started as a driver, was the only woman in the series for six years straight — and it wasn’t even that long ago — when she was racing from 2010 to 2016. 

“And now to have female representation of six female drivers on the MX-5 grid and two female team owners, there’s been an evolution.”

She said she did everything possible to earn her seat at the table because she never expected it to be handed to her.

“I had to make sure I was taking the right steps, being authentic, not cutting any corners, and showing the guys that I’ve earned a seat here. But then once you earn that seat, there’s another hurdle to get through,” she laughed. “Constant hurdles.”

Now that she’s earned the respect of her colleagues, it’s Holbrook’s goal to ensure her team’s female drivers, Sally Mott (pictured above left) and Heather Hadley (above right), know that they’re supported and that there’s a whole team behind them that wants to see them succeed and win. But also that what her mentor told her back in the day also applies to them: “I’m only going to work as hard as you do. Don’t ever expect me as a mentor to work harder than you would for yourself.” 

And it turns out that showing up for yourself can help you advance on the grid.

Hadley mentions in the first episode of the series that early in her racing career with the MX-5 Cup, she gave other drivers too much space because she was worried about upsetting them, but once she was more confident holding her own space, she saw an improvement in her race results. Racing is one area where “you can’t be a pushover,” she said.

Mott, a rookie driver, also admits that self-sabotage is a constant threat. 

“Sometimes I have to take a step back because I’m comparing myself to someone who has more experience or more money or more opportunities, and then I’ll get really down on myself,” she said. “I’ve only been here for a year or two — I need to give myself some grace.”

Motorsports is already a high-stakes, intimidating environment without cameras capturing your every move not to mention your unfiltered reactions in high-stress and emotional moments. Initially, there was a fear among the women that an unflattering edit would be yet another hurdle for them, but if there’s one palpable feeling after watching the first episode and meeting the women involved, it’s a massive sense of pride.

“There are always going to be people who make assumptions about us and why we’re here,” Hadley said. “We had to put a lot of trust in the team to craft the right narrative, tell our stories authentically, and depict women in motorsports in a way that we would be proud of.”

First To The Finish premieres on Amazon Prime Video on March 25, 2025.