She’s been driving since she was 4. Kennewick racer lands deal

Kennewick’s Brittney Zamora has spent the last two weeks in Tennessee, prepping for this Sunday’s All-American 400.

She’ll be driving for Willie Allen Racing as part of a two-race deal. Her first race with WAR, she placed seventh out of 24 drivers in a local late model race at Nashville Fairgrounds Raceway two Saturdays ago, trying to get the feel of what the track is like.

It’s hard to believe, but Zamora has been racing for 17 years now. And when you consider that she’s only 21, that’s really impressive.

As a 4-year-old, Zamora could dominate on the kart tracks too.

Each year, she’s gotten better behind the steering wheel.

And one of her key attributes is she’s a quick study and can be pretty flexible when it comes to the track, the event or the competition.

Take the All-American 400, for instance.

“It’s one of the most prestigious races in the country for Super Late Model drivers,” Zamora told the Herald. “Darrell Waltrip has won it.”

With the race being in the South, it will draw great drivers from all over the Midwest and South too.

“The talent level in the Midwest and the South really jumps up,” Zamora said.

Tennessee is too far to tow Lucy, her longtime Super Late Model she’s named and driven for a few years that dominates the Northwest tracks. Lucy has 63 competitive races under her chassis.

So WAR fitted Zamora into one of their cars, and then had her race it in Nashville a few weeks ago.

She did well, and she’s got an idea of what the track is like for this Sunday’s race.

“It’s not an easy track,” Zamora said. “There is a lot of banking in it.”

To get ready for the race, Zamora has been exercising and doing a lot of film work.

“I’ve been studying a lot of the past races and in-car camera video,” she said.

Because the race is so long, she’s doing a lot of cardio work on her own. If she can find a gym down there, she also works on strength training.

“Making sure you have good upper body and lower body strength in a race this long is so important,” she said. “You’re in this car for a few hours. So much work goes into the weekend, so you don’t want something you can control, like your fitness, to be the cause of something going wrong.”

Zamora knows this is a big opportunity in what has become a strange season.

The coronavirus has plagued motorsports around the country and world, canceling events left and right.

Last season, Zamora raced in 24 events.

“I’ve raced in six races this year, and the All-American will be the seventh,” she said.

To do consistently well in auto racing, it must be done on a weekly basis.

“I haven’t that chance, just like everyone else,” Zamora said. “When you’re not in the car racing, on the other days you’re in the shop, working on the car. Or you’re training in the gym. Or you’re working on sponsorships.

“Racing consumes your life every day.”

Baseball

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers for winning their first World Series title in 32 years this week with a 4-2 verdict over the upstart Tampa Bay Rays.

For the Dodgers, it was a complete team victory, so much so that plenty of choices could have been made for Series MVP.

Corey Seager got it, but so could have Max Muncy or Clayton Kershaw.

Speaking of the Dodgers, it turns out that reliever Blake Treinen is currently a local.

Treinen pitched in Games 3, 4 and 5 — earning the save in Game 5.

Treinen has pitched for the Washington Nationals, Oakland A’s, and now the Dodgers. He had a 3-3 regular-season record with Los Angeles this year.

The right-hander is from Kansas, but he makes his off-season home in Walla Walla, where he lives with his wife, Kate, and their two children.

Kate Isham Treinen has been an assistant coach the last seven years for Walla Walla Community College women’s basketball coach Bobbi Hazeltine.

Kate had played for Hazeltine in 2008-10, then completed her college basketball career at Boise State before coming back to be her assistant.

Small world.

College football

Former Chiawana standout AJ Vongphachanh had two tackles, including a quarterback sack for a 7-yard loss, in Utah State’s 42-13 road loss to Boise State last Saturday.

Vongphachanh is a backup inside linebacker for the Aggies on their current depth chart. But he still saw plenty of playing time.

Former Hermiston standout Garrett Walchli also is on the Utah State roster as a wide receiver.

College commitment

Chiawana senior Delaney Pink recently announced she is committing to the University of Providence.

The interesting thing is the Great Falls, Mont., school is going to have Pink play both soccer and basketball.

Pink was a first-team All-Mid Columbia Conference defender last season for the Riverhawks girls soccer team.

In basketball last season, Pink was second on the team — behind all-everything Talia von Oelhoffene — in scoring with 9 points a game. She’s a deadly outside shooter, and was pegged to play for the Tri-Cities team in March for the Media Classic event that eventually was canceled because of COVID-19.

Prep football camp

The Mid-Columbia had a few all-stars named a few weekends ago at the Oregon National Preps Showcase football camp in Eugene.

Chiawana senior Kobe Young was named the camp’s overall Offensive MVP for his performance at wide receiver.

Young was also named fastest man among all camp wide receivers. Young has a few NCAA Division I offers in both football and basketball.

The 2022 MVP was Chiawana junior quarterback JP Zamora, who already has offers from Utah and Nevada in his pocket.

And Kamiakin sophomore Gabe Tahir was named the camp’s Defensive Back MVP.