In February of 2010, 67-year-old Burt Kehoe died, his family by his side, including his wife, Lynn Schultz Kehoe, who was suddenly adrift. What to do? She tried various distractions. None stuck. “I was looking for anything that could take me out of the grief and loneliness I was experiencing.”
She worked in real estate, and a fellow real estate executive, part-time Trans Am racer Mel Shaw, put up a prize at a charity auction: two days behind the wheel of a real race car at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
“I’d always liked driving fast and thought the adrenaline rush of doing it legally on a track would push me out of my comfort zone, and maybe give me a new life perspective,” she wrote in a memoir. “My first day at the track was miserable. I just didn’t get it. But my second day, when it all came together, was magic; I was hooked. I started taking driving lessons and hitting the race track every weekend that I could, no matter where the race was located.”
Little did Kehoe know just how completely her life would change. She knew little about cars, even less about racing, but she was determined to learn. She worked her way through various series, earning the nickname Gypsy Lynn for her tendency to wander through the garages and pits asking for advice and borrowing tools as she taught herself how to bleed brakes and change tires. She will never sit on the front row of the Indy 500, but she found that distraction she so desperately needed in NASA, where she drives a Spec BMW E30, and other series.
And then, in 2014, she decided to help other female racers do the same thing.
After falling into racing about a decade ago, Lynn Schultz Kehoe started Shift Up Now to help more women experience the thrill and empowerment of driving on track. Photography Credit: David S. Wallens
Shift Up Now is the name of the organization Kehoe founded, and it’s a “collective” of female motorsports enthusiasts–drivers, mechanics, public relations representatives and just interested parties. Men are welcome to join, too.
“I first met Lynn a few years ago and ever since then, Shift Up Now has been a huge part of my racing career,” says Sarah Montgomery, the first woman to podium in the Mazda MX-5 Cup series. “Shift Up Now has made many introductions for me to different racing teams and has helped me find funding I needed to finish a season in 2019.”
“This is not an us-against-them [organization],” Kehoe notes….
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