"My mission is to be and become the best driver I can."

Katie Hettinger was born to race. She is a third-generation racer from Dryden, Michigan, who attended her first race at just four weeks old. By age five, she was racing Quarter Midgets. At first, it was only locally, but soon Hettinger was racing regionally and then nationally, collecting more than 40 wins across USAC.25, Midwest Thunder and the Quarter Midgets of America.

At nine, she moved up to Junior Sprints and 600cc Micro Sprints, competing on dirt from 2016 through 2018. But pavement beckoned. A 12-year-old Hettinger transitioned to full-bodied stock cars in the Champion Racing Association (CRA) Junior Late Model Series in 2019, and she proved to be a quick study.

After finishing fourth in the 2019 championship and earning the Sportsman of the Year award, Hettinger upped her game in 2020. She took two wins and earned three fast-time awards, one of which set a new track record at Anderson Speedway in Indiana. She ended the season as the 2020 CRA Junior Late Model Series champion – the first and only female title winner in the CRA’s 25-year history.

By 14, Hettinger had scrapped the “Junior” tag from her Late Model. She began competing at the highest levels of local stock car racing with Matt Piercy Racing, commuting from Michigan to race in the southeastern hotbed of the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series, collecting trophies along the way.

In the span of two weeks in September 2021, Hettinger became the youngest female race winner at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway when she won the 50-lap Limited Late Model feature Sept. 4 as part of the Bobby Isaac Memorial event. She then became Hickory’s youngest female Late Model race winner on Sept. 18 when she won the track’s 75-lap feature, further burnishing Hickory’s moniker as the Birthplace of the NASCAR Stars.

Hettinger returned to Matt Piercy Racing in 2022 and augmented her lineup of Late Model events by also driving for Highland Motorsports and crew chief Josh Reeves, competing in the Carolina Pro Late Model Series, the CARS Pro Late Model Tour and select Pro Late Model events.

Despite her busy racing schedule, Hettinger is an active high-school athlete. She plays varsity volleyball and basketball, and runs track. When not in school or behind the wheel of a racecar , Hettinger can often be found hunting, fishing, and taking care of her Hereford cow, Hickory.