Regina McCloud

"You remember at Watkins Glen when I said that winning that race was the greatest moment in my life? It just got topped."

- Regina McCloud, after being crowned the 2012 Hanmore Formula Overdrive Road Course Champion at Mayville.

Regina McCloud (born Regina Marie Douglas, January 19, 1986 in Washington, D.C.) is an American open-wheel race car driver, former crew chief, and businesswoman who currently competes in Formula Overdrive for Gravity Racing, Inc. She is married to the co-founder of GRI, Rush McCloud. Her friends sometimes refer to her as "Reggie".

She is the first ever Hanmore Formula Overdrive Road Course Champion, winning the title by 4 points over Tommi Arjanien in 2012.

2010 Season
At the beginning the 2010 season, Regina was assigned to be the crew chief of the new #3 team for Gravity Racing, Inc. in the ARLA Elite Series, with Sara Hackson behind the wheel. At the same time, she was hired to drive the #71 car for GRI in the ARLA Street Stocks. She saw minimal success in the Stocks, earning just one top 10 in ten starts. In the meantime, when Sara Hackson was booted from the #3 ride due to legal troubles, she was put in the car for one race at Albuquerque, but completed just 2 laps. Eric Jackson took over the ride the next race at Tampa Bay. Although the team didn't win any races, they showed considerable promise.

2011 Season
In 2011, Regina made the switch to open-wheel cars, much like her husband did the year before. Once again, she would drive for GRI (due to her having a lifetime contract with the team), which, under Formula Overdrive rules at the time, would take on the name of their manufacturer, thus being called Volpi Gravity Racing for the 2011 season. Despite not leading a lap, earning a pole, a win, or a podium, Regina finished 4th in the points standings, with 2 top 5s and 6 top 10s in the 9-race season.

On the Elite Series side, she won two races as the crew chief of the #3 team, although it was not with Eric Jackson, who had been signed to a long-term deal with the team but was severely injured at the 2011 Xenos Alberta Duels and would miss the rest of the season. Todd Wodarczyk took over at the 2011 Mosport 175 and won in his second start at the 2011 Verdugo 250. Regina earned her second win as a crew chief when Wodarczyk won his second career race at the 2011 Watkins Glen Twin 150K's. In both instances, GRI swept the event.

2012 Season, Road Course Champion
2012 will be pretty much a repeat of 2011, with Regina still the crew chief of the #3 team, now with Eric Jackson back behind the wheel, and driving the newly renumbered #71 Dublin Downs Casino and Resort ClarTech chassis in the Formula Overdrive Series, now with Hanmore as title sponsor.

Regina had a decent showing in the season opening Formula Overdrive California Grand Prix, finishing in 12th and scoring 2 points, although it was slightly disappointing due to the fact that Regina had started in 3rd. At Milwaukee, she started 20th and was up and down the running order all day. She got to as high as third, but fell back to finish 17th at the finish, only the second time she has finished out of the points in Formula Overdrive. But she would bounce back by scoring her best career finish to date, 3rd, her first career podium at the Missouri Grand Prix. But at the next race, the 2012 Delano 200, she was involved in a three-car wreck which also involved Cliff Raymond. She finished 20th, the third time she's finished out of the points, and the first time she has DNFed in her FO career. She finished 18th at Cleveland after having to pit for fuel late in the race. She finished 10th at Darlington after the race was called 8 laps in due to a massive crash that severely injured Irish drivers Tanya Carter and Meghan Gallagher. She followed that up with a 5th place finish at Mosport to end a somewhat decent first half of 2012.

The second half of the season started with the #71 not taking a qualifying lap due to fuel pressure problems at Atlanta, so she started 28th out of 28 cars, but she came through the field and managed a 6th place effort, her third straight top ten and fourth of the season. She followed that up with a 7th place finish at Road America, her fourth straight top ten and fifth of the season. But she struggled to a 21st place finish at Carbondale. But then, finally, in her 20th career start, she took the checkered flag after leading all 23 laps from the 2nd starting spot at Watkins Glen. She wasted no time passing polesitter Garry Carter for the lead on the outside in turn 1, and she was never challenged from that point on. In victory lane, she called it "the greatest moment of my life". Even sweeter was the fact that her husband Rush was on top of the pit box watching her dominate the race, and was there in victory lane to greet her. Ironically, before her impressive win at the Glen, Regina had never led a lap in Formula Overdrive.

Unfortunately, she was wrecked under caution by Lukas Schmitt at Las Vegas. She managed to finish the race, but she was six laps down and out of the points, meaning her season title hopes were pretty much over. But she still had a shot at the road course title, and she headed into Mayville with the lead in the road course championship. She started 19th, but quickly made her way through the field in the 30 lap race. One of the drivers still mathematically eligible for the road title, Tommi Arjanien, won the race after pulling a last lap pass on Natalie Kendall. However, despite Arjanien's win, he was 19 points behind Regina for the road course title, and with her 7th place finish, her 7th top ten of the season, she edged Arjanien for the road course title by a mere 4 points.

When she learned that she was crowned the first ever FO Road Course Champion, she immediately dropped to her knees, crying tears of joy. Of course, the celebration wouldn't be complete without her husband Rush and team owner Packer Carroll, who was certainly hopeful that Regina would come away with the road title. When she was interviewed, she had this to say...

"You remember at Watkins Glen when I said that winning that race was the greatest moment in my life? It just got topped."

She is currently 5th in the points standings with one race to go. She is mathematically eliminated from the season championship, but being crowned the first ever Road Course Champion in Formula Overdrive is certainly a nice consolation prize.

Career Statistics
Hanmore Formula Overdrive Series

ARLA Elite Series

ARLA Street Stocks Series