Carter Fitzgerald

"My parents never expected me to be a girl. Boy, were they surprised!"

- Carter Fitzgerald, on her "gender-bender" first name

Carter Leigh Fitzgerald (born August 6, 1986) is an American race car driver. She competes in the TM Lights Series for Matthews Motorsports.

Early life
Fitzgerald was born in Newport, Vermont, but spent her formative years in the border village of Derby Line. Unlike most young racers who would start out racing go-karts, Fitzgerald cut her teeth racing snowmobiles throughout northern Vermont and southern Quebec. By the time she was ten, she made the transition to more solid surfaces: racing quartermidgets at Devil's Bowl Speedway.

She moved into late models at the age of 16, competing mostly across northern New England.

2013
Fitzgerald's first foray into ARLA would come at the Pocono Raceway, where she attempted to make the 2013 Stars & Stripes 776. She did not make it out of the qualifying stages due to a camshaft failure. She would make her debut proper at the 2013 Sleezy Cheezy 160 at Road America, where she ran as high as 10th place at one point before crashing out.

"I was so embarrassed," she said after that race. "I know it was my first start, at a road course no less, but I really made a fool out of myself."

Fitzgerald would next attempt the 2013 Rockford 200, and drew the pole in the first heat. She would finish second behind Richard Scott, though she would last only 39 laps in the main race before her car expired. She would officially finish 26th.

2014
Fitzgerald attempted to qualify for the season-opening Smash Beer 500 at Texas World Speedway. She qualified poorly, and was slotted into the E-main. Starting on the outside of Row 1 next to Laura Cyrus, Fitzgerald would pass Cyrus entering Turn 1 and would not be challenged the rest of the way, claiming her first &mdash; though unofficial &mdash; win. She would advance as far as the C-main, but would not advance further. Her first official start of 2014 came at the Albuquerque Speedbowl, where she would finish 8th in her 50/50 Sprint race. Starting second row in the feature, Fitzgerald would over around midfield until she was involved in an accident with Monica Rook and Cade Taylor, ending her day. She would finish 14th.

Fitzgerald returned to the track a couple weeks later at Circuit of the Americas for the 2014 Calvert Ignitions Austin 1000, the annual FARC endurance race. Instead of driving her own car, she would substitute for car owner Ryan Matthews. The duo would come home in 11th place. Her next scheduled race was the Epps Premium Synthetic Oil 200 at the New York Autoring. She failed to advance past the Sprint races, which, considering the events of the main race, might be considered a blessing.

Dash Cup
Fitzgerald made her Dash Cup debut in 2015 in the Spa GP, the series' most prestigious event. She impressed out of the gate, rocketing to second-fastest in the initial session of qualifying. Her speed would continue throughout the weekend, as she ran in the top three most of the latter half of the race before settling for fourth. Her other start that season was in the season finale at 2015 New York GP, where she also finished fourth (and was the only one of the Matthews Aspiras that finished in the top 20).

Her solid 2015 translated into a full-time ride for Matthews Atlantic Motorsports in 2016, but while she was competitive from the outset, she had a hard time cracking the win column. More notably she was the victim of a number of high-profile incidents, including one at Rockingham Motor Speedway.

Trivia

 * Is fluent in English and French, having grown up on the U.S.-Canada border.
 * Is a professional cosplayer in the offseason, specializing in portraying Samus Aran.
 * Has a driver helmet decorated like Aran's helmet from the Metroid games.
 * Married Ryan Matthews during the 2015 Dash Cup weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.