A Family Affair: Performance Tech Motorsports Danielle O’Neill

In all regards O’Neill is a typical 19-year-old girl; she loves spending time at the barn riding horses, going out with friends and baking. However, beneath the surface lies a passion for motorsports woven into every aspect of her life since birth.

Her parents, owners of Performance Tech Motorsports, Brent and Gwenn O’Neill have been letting her tag along to racetracks for as long as she remembers, unknowingly shaping the direction of her adult life.

For O’Neill, her first memory of being at the track stems back to her early childhood and is what she credits for igniting her love of the sport.

“When I was around six years old, we were at a club event at Homestead-Miami Raceway,” O’Neill said. “I was excited because they let me be on the radio with one of the drivers. I would sit in one of the corners with my dad and he would tell me when it was okay to go on the radio and tell the driver that he was doing a good job but to use more gas and less brake every time no matter what was happening.”

O’Neill has spent the past several years transitioning from the team principal’s daughter at the track, to a dependable, working adult. On any given weekend she can be found helping with hospitality and managerial items. O’Neill works with the team's marketing representatives to ensure sponsor and series obligations are met, she also organizes the drivers’ schedule confirming they are suited up and ready for whatever is next.

She hopes taking on these extra responsibilities is the steppingstone she needs to build a career in racing.

“I always knew I wanted to somehow stay involved with racing,” O’Neill said. “I knew I couldn’t live without it in some part of my life, but I never thought I wanted to do it as a fulltime career until about four years ago. Prior to that, I wanted to go to school to be a vet which caused me to lose interest in racing and go to fewer races, tests and club events. Missing these events made me realize how much I missed it when I wasn’t there and that it was something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Upon realizing this was a long-term career goal for her she began brainstorming about what role on the team she wanted to fill. In her childhood she tested and dismissed the role of driver, but as a young adult O’Neill’s thought turned to a more advanced role, one she watched her parents execute daily.

“My dream job in racing is to be a team principal,” O’Neill said. “If I was to be a team principal though I want it to be for a team with the same philosophy that I was brought up on by my dad on his team. It’s one giant family where everyone is expected to always try to give their best.”

Growing up in motorsports instilled unique values and characteristics into O’Neill most children aren’t lucky enough to be exposed to. From a young age she learned grit, grunt work and passion are the key ingredients to success. These foundations have helped her grow into a young woman with multiple job opportunities in the IMSA paddock already.

“I think racing has had everything to do with shaping me into the person I am today, “O’Neill said. “I’ve spent the majority of my life doing this. It made me have to grow up quickly but at the same time, I think it’s one of the best childhoods anyone could have. It’s such a unique way to grow up.

“It was harder when I was younger because there weren’t a lot of kids my age, but it really wasn’t bad though because the crew guys would let me ride around with them on the tug which allowed me to make friends with the IMSA officials and different people on other teams. It definitely was never boring or lonely even when I was a kid. I think a lot of that shaped me into who I am today.”

While O’Neill fondly recalls the work that shaped her, it did so with some stress. Racing taught her how to balance work and home life. A skill most adults struggle with until the end of their working careers.

“The hardest part of balancing the real world with racing has always been planning the rest of my life around race weekends and tests,” O’Neill said. “Planning school around the races was always especially hard for me because they didn’t understand why I found racing so important and was willing to miss things for it. I also have to plan around doing things with my friends, riding horses and small everyday chores and errands to make sure everything fits into my schedule when I’m home.”

With the 2020 schedule still up in the air, O’Neill is itching to get back to the track. She and the team are treating this time as one long offseason building up to the next big race. In the meantime, she’s also partaking in college courses that apply to her future in racing.

“For me, the best part of racing has always been race day, even though it can be the most stressful day of the weekend,” O’Neill said. “It’s what you’re there for. It’s the day everyone spends weeks preparing and working towards the whole time. Even though it can be stressful, it can lead to the best feeling you can ever have during a race weekend which is winning. There’s a different kind of energy around the track that changes the whole paddock.”

Performance Tech Motorsports cannot speculate when the regularly scheduled season will resume. The situation is being closely monitored by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) in conjunction with the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. The team will relay updates as they are released.