Jessica L. Friesen (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Zemken, born May 6, 1986) is an American professional

dirt track racing Dirt track racing is a form of motorsport held on clay or dirt surfaced banked oval racetracks. Dirt track racing started in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 1930s using both automobiles and motorc ...

driver. She primarily competes in

sprint car racing Sprint cars are Open-wheel car, open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short Oval track racing, oval, circular dirt track racing, dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them fr ...

, and has raced in series like the All Star Circuit of Champions and

World of Outlaws World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

. She will also compete part-time in the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...

in 2023, driving either the No. 62 or a third

Toyota Tundra The Toyota Tundra is a full-size pickup truck manufactured in the United States by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since May 1999. The Tundra was the second full-size pickup to be built by a Japanese manufacturer (the first was the Toyota T100 ...

truck for her family team, Halmar Friesen Racing. She is married to fellow dirt racer and NASCAR driver Stewart Friesen.

Racing career

Zemken attended her first dirt race when she was two weeks old, and grew up supporting her father's dirt career. She started in

kart racing Kart racing or karting is a motorsport discipline using open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on kart circuit, scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on fu ...

after her father repaired karts and constructed a backyard track, which was followed by racing competitively. Zemken competed in karts for six years and won two local track championships before moving

open-wheel cars An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

. By the age of 14, she had won five track championships and over 100 feature races. She began competing full-time in the Sportsman class at Afton Speedway in 2001. Zemken also competed in the DIRT Sportsman division at Utica-Rome Speedway, winning the track championship in 2004. In 2009, Zemken was honored as an Outstanding Woman in Racing by the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame. In 2010, Zemken joined Tony Stewart Racing to compete in a "true outlaw" sprint car schedule that included starts in the World of Outlaws and All Star Circuit of Champions. In March 2021, Halmar Friesen Racing announced Friesen would make her

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series i ...

debut in the Pinty's Dirt Truck Race at

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Bristol International Raceway from 1978 to 1996 and as the Bristol International Speedway from 1961 to 1978) is a oval Oval track racing#Short track, short track in Bristol, Tennessee. The track ha ...

. However, she did not make the event after the qualifying heat races were canceled due to rain. Serving as a teammate to her husband, the Friesens would have been the first spouses to compete in the same NASCAR race since

Elton Sawyer Elton Everett Sawyer (born November 5, 1959) is an American former NASCAR driver. He is married to former NASCAR driver Patty Moise, and is the older brother of Roger Sawyer, who has also competed in NASCAR. Sawyer is currently the senior Vice P ...

and

Patty Moise Patricia Moise-Sawyer () is a former NASCAR driver. She drove in five Winston Cup races from 1987 to 1989, and 133 Busch Series races from 1986 to 1998. She is the wife of former fellow NASCAR driver Elton Sawyer. Racing career Moise began raci ...

in the 1990s. After failing to qualify at Bristol, Friesen would enter Truck Series' other dirt race, the Corn Belt Weekend at

Knoxville Raceway Knoxville Raceway is a semi-banked half-mile dirt oval raceway (zook clay) located at the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa. Races at the "Sprint Car Capital of the World" are held on Saturday nights from April through September eac ...

, in July, which she did qualify for. She ran the same two races in 2022. Her husband Stewart stated on '' SiriusXM NASCAR Radio'' on December that she would return to drive for HFR in the Bristol dirt race in 2023 and that

Layne Riggs Layne Griffin Riggs (born June 11, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 34 Ford F-150 for Front Row Motorsports. He is the 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto P ...

, who also drove the No. 62 truck part-time in 2022, would drive that truck at least part-time in 2023 with the possibility of a full season if additional sponsorship is found. If Riggs is able to run full-time, Jessica would likely drive a part-time third truck for HFR in the Bristol dirt race. It would be the team's first time fielding a third truck.

Personal life

Her father Ray Zemken competed in DIRT Modifieds, while her mother Shauna worked as an

optometrist Optometry is the healthcare practice concerned with examining the eyes for visual defects, prescribing corrective lenses, and detecting eye abnormalities. In the United States and Canada, optometrists are those that hold a post-baccalaureate f ...

. Zemken formerly dated team owner and

NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

champion

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

. In September 2014, she married fellow driver Stewart Friesen. Shortly after their marriage, the two raced together at Utica-Rome and finished first and second. The two have a son Parker and operate an apparel company One Zee Tee's.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

Season still in progress

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friesen, Jessica Living people 1986 births NASCAR drivers People from Montgomery County, New York Racing drivers from New York (state) American female racing drivers Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame