Driver Spotlight: Makala Marks

Makala Marks

 

Makala Marks born into a racing family on qualifying day of the Indy 500 in 2002. Her father, Scott Marks, aka "Skid" currently works at Andretti Autosport and is a crew member on the 26 car of Marco Andretti. Makala's mother, Nikkia Lynch-Marks also born and raised around racing, was drag racing in her youth before she became a mother. Makala’s sister, Ashley Marks also with the interest in racing is currently enrolled at IU studying public relations and marketing of motorsports. Makala was a unique child from day one. Quite a little firecracker she wanted to do what the boys were doing and always doing something adventures and a little on the edge.

 

Makala suffered from a traumatic brain injury in 2005 and was left hospitalizied for 30 days. After 3 days of being unconscious and having very little signs of improvement the doctors decided to operate on her brain. Makala ended up waking up that day by some miracle she had many challenges ahead of her including battles with epilepsy, migraines, physical thereapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy but Makala was a fighter and bounced back way sooner than the doctors ever imagined. No one could predict what the future had for Makala due to her brain injury. Once the brain is damaged it never completely heals. It would be very interesting see what would happen from here. Before you could imagine Makala was back to herself riding her mini chopper, dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, and anything else that she could go fast on.

 

Makala had an interest in racing dirt bikes but her parents felt it would be a better idea to try something with four wheels so they took her to Whiteland Raceway to try out racing Go Karts. Makala began racing at the age of 8. She give it a practice run to see if she really wanted to do it. She was hooked the first time she hit the track. The following season she had her own Kart and was running a full season in Kid Kart class. Everyone was impressed with how quickly Makala not only got the hang of it but was running up front with the kids with much more experience. She became a very competitive race. Along the way she picked up sponsorship that helped her improve equipment and explore other tracks and racing circuits. Makala ended up having a great rookie year and was awarded Kid Kart Rookie of the year at Whiteland Raceway Park (first time in the 54 year history of WRP this award had been given to Kid Kart driver).

 

Makala won inaugural Indy Karting Classic Dec 2011. In 2012 won 9 races and 20+ podiums in her junior sportsman rookie year. She finished 1st in points at Whiteland Raceway in Indiana and her most recent win was at the Jay Burgess benefit at Whiteland Raceway in which she the won the Pole position, heat, and feature.

 

Makala has a dream to one day be in the Indy 500 and the icing on the cake would be to see that checkered flag and be standing in winner circle drinking milk!

 

 

To follow Makala Marks and her exciting career follow her on her Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Makala-Marks-Racing/108599142576639?ref=ts&fref=ts or her Twitter page https://twitter.com/MakMarksRacing