10/1/2018
Mandie Downey
Off the Clock Comsumers Energy Employee Spotlight
OFF THE CLOCK: Mandie Downey – Race Car Driver
IT WASN’T HOW she expected her first race to end – but
it provided a valuable lesson that Mandie Downey
carries with her each race.
She only had four laps remaining on the dirt track at Mt.
Pleasant Speedway’s Season Championship two-day show.
It was the Friday before Labor Day 2017 and her 1987
Foxbody Mustang was humming along between 70 and 80
miles per hour.
“You know that 10-second feeling you have when you are on
a roller coaster and it drops,” said Downey, who works as a
business support specialist in Hydro Generation. “Well that’s
how a race feels for 20 straight minutes. There’s no other
feeling like it.”
Suddenly, she found her Mustang ricocheting between two
other vehicles after she was bumped coming out of a turn.
Her vehicle and another were totaled. The wreck left her
fingers black and blue from the wheel spinning violently out
of her hands as she was trying to bring the car back under
control.
She was a little shaken up. But her determination didn’t
waiver. She was hooked.
“It helped that there was a race the next two days at
Merritt Speedway,” said Downey, who also fixes her vehicles
before races. “I was able to get back in the seat right away
and not let the experience of the crash gnaw on me over
time.”
After a successful 2018 rookie season – finishing fourth out
of 20 racers in total points – Downey credited her first race
with making her mentally tougher.
“The crash was a blessing in disguise,” she said. “It gave me
a lot of respect for what can happen on the track. It taught
me to be mindful when racing. Reading other cars on the
track is just as important, if not more, than what I am doing
with my own car.”
The racing experience is something Downey hopes to enjoy
for years to come. She said, “the old fashioned comradery
found at the dirt track isn’t something you find just
anywhere these days.” It’s something she relishes sharing
with her fiancé Christopher and daughters MaKenzie and
Zaylyn.
“I had a great season and I look forward to next Memorial
Day when the racing season starts. I have plans, starting
with the goal of getting my first checkered flag.”
To learn more about Downey and the journey for her first
checkered flag visit her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RPMAddictionRacing/
Off the Clock features unique hobbies, second jobs and volunteer commitments of our employees when they aren’t fulfilling their Consumers Energy roles.
Connect is designed by Andrea Cecconie & Clay McAndrews, published by
Corporate Communications and distributed to CMS Energy and Consumers
Energy employees.
OCTOBER 2018 • CONNECT NEWSLETTER • 15
Article Credit: Tom Lambert, Consumers Energy
Article Media
