Unless you’re a diehard race car enthusiast, you’ve likely never heard of Regina Sirvent. But that’s about to change.
The 23-year-old from Mexico City, who competes in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) series, is a potential star in the making. To date, Sirvent has already become the first woman to win a race in the NASCAR Mexico Truck Series, as well as the first Latina driver to emerge victorious in a NASCAR international race, in the NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series, and in the NASCAR Weekly Series.
She’s also a former member of the NASCAR Driver Development Program (formerly known as Drive for Diversity), where she was selected based on her outstanding performance as a 14-year-old competing in professional races. In 2017, she competed in her first NASCAR event, achieving her best overall season in 2020. Since then, she has steadily remained in the mix.
Becoming a Barbie Role Model
Sirvent’s latest win, however, is off-the-track. At the end of February, the young Mexican race pilot was selected as a Barbie Role Model — a recognition created by the Mattel toy company to celebrate influential and inspiring women around the globe. The Barbie Role Models campaign was launched on International Women’s Day in 2018 and is inspired by earlier Barbie initiatives such as the “Sheroes” series in 2015. It’s not often that the recipient is a young Mexican woman who speeds around race tracks at up to 180 miles per hour. In honor of her singular achievements, Sirvent will also receive her own Barbie doll, which further recognizes her impact in the male-centric arena of stock car racing (as of this writing, less than 1% of today’s NASCAR drivers are women).
Having started her racing career at just 9-years-old behind the wheel of a go-kart, Sirvent has defied the odds to become one of only 134 women who have formally raced in any of NASCAR’s national or regional touring events. Of all the women to have taken the wheel in NASCAR’s 78 years of competition, Sara Christian became the first, and the legendary Danica Patrick holds the record for most top-10 finishes in the Cup Series. And yet, Sirvent is the first Mexican woman to have joined NASCAR’s ranks, dating back to 1949, when the racing league was founded in Daytona Beach, Florida, by the mechanic and driver Bill France Sr.
Racing motivations
Sirvent isn’t the first in her family to strive for the racing podium; her abuelo, José, was a professional racer who claimed the Campeonato Mexicano de Rally in 1974. Regina has cited him as a motivation for her barrier-breaking career, which includes a high-profile appearance at the Michigan International Speedway as part of Sirvent’s involvement in the ARCA Menards Series. Another of Sirvent’s role models has been Daniel Suarez, a Mexican NASCAR driver who, as Sirvent explains in a former interview, exposed her and many others to the NASCAR Driver Development Program during his time as a participant.
The only bad news? Unfortunately, the Barbie doll is an exclusive item that will not be available to the public. Sirvent announced it on social media on February 20 with a heartfelt post about young women achieving their dreams, along with photos of the one-off doll, but as of now, there are no indications of it being purchasable.
In the meantime, look out for the real Sirvent on the race track, where she promises to keep racking up accolades and making a name for herself — all while being a role model for future Mexican women racers.
Alan Chazaro is the author of “This Is Not a Frank Ocean Cover Album,” “Piñata Theory” and “Notes From the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge” (Ghost City Press, 2021). He is a graduate of June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program at UC Berkeley and a former Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fellow at the University of San Francisco. His writing can be found in GQ, NPR, The Guardian, L.A. Times and more. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, he is currently based in Veracruz.
