Back the Blue!

When you read about NASCAR drivers, many have a fairly predictable story - they got started in racing when they were barely old enough to walk to school alone, had parents that supported their passion, and were fortunate enough to have the financial backing of their family. 

There are a select few drivers, however, whose sheer force of will and love of racing propelled them into NASCAR despite all obstacles stacked against them. 

Rita Goulet is one of those few drivers.

 
Born into extreme poverty, to a mother who struggled with mental illness and a father occupied with his own battles of poor health along with a gambling and alcohol addiction, Rita dreamt of a better life. That better life did not come without challenges, as she found herself homeless at age 16. She recalls a pivotal moment in her life, when she was dropped off at the front steps of a homeless shelter 250 miles away from her mother's apartment. Rita declared, "My life is not going to end this way!". 

She spent her last dime purchasing a bicycle, taught herself to ride it, then used the bike to find a part time job. Slowly, she clawed her way up, despite falling into an abusive marriage for several years. She put herself through a medical assisting program, then EMT school, and finally paramedic training while working full time. 

Rita moved to Alabama at age 23 in order to finish paramedic training and while in Alabama, purchased her first car, a 1992 Mazda Miata. Rita mentioned that she had no idea how to drive a manual transmission at the time and had to convince a co-worker to teach her in a mall parking lot. Thus started Rita's love affair with fast cars. She'd daydream about racing them, but when you're living paycheck to paycheck, a dream it must remain. 

After five years spent working as a paramedic in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Rita decided she needed to do more to protect her community and became a police officer with the Tuscaloosa Police Department. 

2018, Rita started autocrossing her Miata and that was all it took to dive headfirst into racing. She turned her little Miata into a race car and started road course racing in the Spec Miata series. She found some success - placing first in her class twice, along with several top 10 finishes, but yearned for something that a Miata can't quite accomplish. "I'd watch NASCAR videos and wish that I could do something like that - but those drivers - they started so young, and most of them were born into money. I didn't think I had a chance", she said. 

But a passing conversation with a friend introduced her to NASCAR's ARCA Menard's Series. She explained that he told her it was relatively affordable path to racing in NASCAR. That was all the catalyst she needed - within a few short months, she sold her Miata and purchased an old NASCAR K&N car.

 
She discovered very quickly that NASCAR was a lot different than racing her Spec Miata with friends around her local road course track, but persistence pays off, and she found skilled people willing to help her assemble her car, test it, and provide trackside support for her first ARCA race at Berlin Raceway in June of 2022. She went on to race in three other ARCA events that year.

One part of her first season in ARCA went exceptionally right - she met her now-husband, Tim Goulet. They both shared a love of racing and formed their own team towards the end of 2022 – named Rise Motorsports. Both Rita and Tim feel they “rose from the ashes” in their own lives. They use the team to provide awareness to assorted nonprofit organizations, along with opportunities for underfunded drivers to affordably race in the ARCA Menard’s Series. Under Tim's care, Rita's old K&N car built of spare parts became an amazing machine. 

Never the one to do anything halfway, Rita resigned from the Tuscaloosa Police Department and found new employment as a police officer in Gastonia, North Carolina, in order to further her racing career. In 2023, she completed the majority of the ARCA Menard’s Series East division races, as well as several National Series races. For 2024, she has paired up with the National Police Association to promote its “Support the Police” program. 

“I need to show others who grew up like me - poor and hungry - that you don't have to let that limit what you can do with your life". – Rita