Caitlyn Jenner’s Next Chapter as Race Team Owner Begins This Weekend

• Caitlyn Jenner is the owner of the Jenner Racing team in the W Series, which debuts this weekend in Miami.

• Driving for Jenner are Jamie Chadwick, former W Series champion, and 17-year-old Chloe Chambers.

• The W Series serves as an undercard support series to Formula 1, with two races scheduled this weekend and eight other races scheduled as support races for F1 events.
  

Caitlyn Jenner is unquestionably the highest-profile owner in the all-female formula-style race series, which enters its third season this weekend as part of the inaugural Formula One Miami Grand Prix.

Jenner is not a racing neophyte. She has a long history as both a participant—including nearly 60 starts in IMSA competition—and follower of various forms of racing, particularly trans am and sports car efforts.

Two of her biggest highlights were winning the Long Beach Grand Prix celebrity race in 1979 and then finished second with co-driver Scott Pruett in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1980.

“I mean, I love racing, I had a lot of fun doing it,” Jenner said in an exclusive interview with Autoweek. “But there’s so many other things you can do in racing. I like to think of myself as the Roger Penske of the W series. Tell him I need his help financially. Come on, Roger.”

A mutual friend introduced Jenner to the W Series.

“I follow Formula One, but I had not heard about (the W Series),” Jenner admitted. “(My friend) told me what the series was doing and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, I love this.’ We spent a weekend together and kind of hashed out a deal and I am so excited to do it.

“It was interesting. It came at a time when women’s sports was under assault. I am a big supporter of women’s sports, I think women should be in sports.”

Jenner has been involved in supporting and advocating for women’s sports for 50 years, dating back to the passage of Title IX into law in 1972.

With gender identity and transgender athletes such as swimmer Lia Thomas competing in female sports, Jenner is especially cognizant of what the W Series can mean for female athletes.

“Look at this platform that you’ve got here,” Jenner said. “These girls are running (in front of) three or 400,000 people here. But you know, thank you, Formula 1. And we want to take care of Formula 1, because we want this series to continue here. It’s good for women in sports, and half the people in the audience are women. Let’s be honest, they love it.”

The W Series serves as an undercard support series to Formula 1, with two races scheduled this weekend (Saturday and Sunday) in Miami. After that, there are eight other races scheduled as support races for F1 events at Barcelona, Silverstone, France, Hungary, Suzuka, and Austin, and wraps up with a pair of races at Mexico City.

Jenner admits her involvement in the W Series came a bit late, as corporate budgets were pretty much set for 2022. But she’s managed to counter that with sponsorships she already has amassed, but even more importantly, Jenner Racing signed world-class driver Jamie Chadwick and promising 17-year-old Chloe Chambers to drive its two race cars.