Screaming engines.
The clamor of pit crews.
Tires squealing around turns.
Among these sounds of the racetrack, in an Aston Martin Vantage, is Hannah Greenemeier, who drives for the Heart of Racing team. The team raises money for the Heart Center at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Greenemeier has been with the team for two years now, racing in the GT4 league, but she’s been racing since long before she could legally drive on public roads.
“At the end of 2023 [the team] had myself and three other females come down to Phoenix and do a driver evaluation test. We did one day in the car, one day on the [racing simulator] that they have here. And then a couple weeks later, I got the call… that the team would like me to come race with my teammate, Hannah Grisham, in GT4,” Greenemeier said.
Her racing career began as a young girl, when she got a go-kart as a gift from her father.
“When I was about four years old, on Mother’s Day, [my dad] got my mom an adult sized go kart, and then me a little cute cart, we went out to the track, and I immediately loved it. So by the time I was five, I was racing in a good kart. I’m 22 now, so 17 years racing, and I just haven’t slowed down, haven’t stopped,” Greenemeier said.
For Greenemeier, the adrenaline of the sport is a major draw, but as a woman in a male-dominated space,
“Everybody has their sport. I mean, people love basketball, and I just love racing. I love the adrenaline. Obviously, being a female in a male-dominated sport isn’t always the best, but when I’m out there, my whole goal is just meet as many guys as possible… I really like racing and obviously the competition, but the racing industry is a big family. When something kind of happens, we’ll try and rally behind each other and help each other out,” Greenemeier said.
Like any sport, there’s good days and there’s bad ones. Unlike any sport, a bad day could lose your team hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“It’s a great way to relieve stress. It also adds stress, like with any sport that you’re trying to excel at. It’s fun, there’s hard days, there’s good days,” Greenemeier said.
While the team competes in races, they also raise money and awareness for Seattle Children’s Hospital.
“One of the things I love most about the team is their drive to raise money and awareness for the Seattle Children’s Hospital cardiology fund. I believe that the team has helped raise $10 million (Editor’s note: $6 million as of 2019) towards that fund. It’s a great way to raise awareness. We’re around the whole world racing different series… so that helps reach out to people,” Greenemeier said. “There’s been children that have come to the track from Seattle Children’s, which is always awesome to see. The goal of the team is obviously to win, but also we just want to make sure that we raise awareness for all the children and help try and find new ways to help with research so that we can prevent, diagnose and treat.”
As Greenemeier continues to race, she has goals for where she wants both her and the team to go.
“My hopes with the team are obviously to help continue to raise awareness for the Seattle Children’s Hospital through our racing. But also, if I can work my way from GT4 into GT3, that’s a goal that I have for myself. The biggest goal is… do the best that you can every single day, every single session. If you can give it your best, that’s all you can do, and you’ll see where you shake out,” Greenemeier said.
