A Weekend in the Formula Regional Americas Paddock

Originally published on Substack. Cross-posted here for Beehiiv readers.

Remember the time I mentioned there was a regional formula series that drops by the New Orleans area every year? Well, I wasn’t exactly correct in labeling it as something that “ghost[s] through NOLA Motorsports Park yearly like a half-remembered dream”. How do I know? I spent four days this month at that very park with a press credential band around my wrist and a photography vest over my eternally black outfits. Nothing about it felt forgettable.

This little sidequest has been a few months in the making, going back and forth between the people responsible for media accreditation for the Formula Regional Americas Championship (as well as its F4 and Junior Formula series running that same weekend). Throughout the process, I was asked what I would actually report on. The rookies? The girls on the grid? A specific team? Or driver? What’s my story?

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really have one… at least not at first. I planned to stride into the paddock, explore, and see what’s the most worthwhile thing to write about. But once the first races made their way through the circuit, it hit me: there’s not a single story to tell in Formula Regional, but rather an entire ecosystem of them. From drivers to fans to even fellow content creators like myself, everyone in that paddock had a reason to be there and a story that got them to that gate.

15-year-old Ava Hanssen’s car stopped me during my first day in the paddock. Not just because it was all alone in its own tent, but also because of its bright blue, splattered-paint design. I stopped to photograph it—with the blessing of her father, who was working on the car when I asked for permission. I assumed the livery was his work. It wasn’t. That, he told me, was all Ava.

I was impressed enough with the design to post it on my Instagram stories. I had already included it in my post recapping the day’s events, but I felt it warranted a special mention. Ava reposted it shortly after, thanking me for saying it was cool and even giving me a follow.

I gave her a follow back and decided to do my due diligence to learn more about her. What I found was quite an impressive story. Ava has been racing since the age of four (she'd later tell me it started with karting, which gave her the need for speed that's been driving her ever since). She's now in her second season of the Ligier Junior Formula Championship, which holds a rather unique position in the formula racing ladder— not FIA-sanctioned and not quite F4, but still organized by the same people and considered a feeder into the actual American F4 championship.

Ava finished her first JFC season 10th in points, with a best result of fourth. Sure, it might not be a headline-grabbing debut, but it’s a consistent one— especially since she finished almost every race in the points. She even said her plan for the 2026 season was “focused development” and “turn[ing] into something complete and competitive.”

Then NOLA happened. Ava started strong with a P6 finish in the first race after qualifying in fifth. But then, something changed after adjustments were made to the car. She started the second race in third*, and despite dropping to as low as fifth, she darted her way back to P3 before the checkered flag—her first-ever podium in the series.

I was elated to be there to see it. The girl who designed her own livery was finally standing on a podium, just as her second season in JFC was beginning. The paddock felt it too. Everyone cheered when her name was announced, and the official emceeing the podium ceremonies noted she was the first girl to stand on a JFC podium in a very long time. Nothing about it felt performed—it simply landed the way many good things do.

I think what stuck out to me the most about Ava was that none of it was handed to her—not the seat, not the setup, nothing. Ava (and Ava Hanssen Racing, by extension) is just her and her parents, nothing more and nothing less.

And that in turn makes her racing even more impressive. In a series where most drivers have a full team behind them, every points finish, and especially that first podium, means something more.

I met Hannah during the practice sessions on Friday. I made it a point to introduce myself to anyone else who also had a photographer’s vest. She not only had that on her, but one of her companions also had a PJ’s Coffee cup. I asked if there was a PJ's nearby, since I was staying close to the track and forced to chug hotel coffee (which, while free, was ridiculously bitter).

There wasn’t, but that was enough to get Hannah and me talking. We introduced ourselves, explained how we got into motorsport, and somehow ended up on Ferrari's impressive start to the F1 season (as of this writing, the team is second in the WCC— its best result in years!)

We were in the paddock for different reasons. While I was waiting for a story to come to me, she was making plans to profile one of the drivers for the Sports Car Club of America, which was holding races at the same track between all the formula action. But despite those separate assignments, the pull was the same: this world just does something to people like us.

Meeting Hannah and taking photographs of the cars and the podiums alongside her was also something I didn’t know I needed: proof that working in motorsport can be something you, well, do. You don’t need a big platform or an impressive resume to get up close to cars or meet drivers (at least in feeder series). Hannah only has a few hundred more followers than me on Instagram, and yet she had a story she wanted to tell and got it published.

It helped with the impostor syndrome I’d been carrying for a large part of the weekend, too. I kept worrying I was just cosplaying as someone who belonged there. Hannah was evidence that I wasn't, and I hope I get to see her again at another race.

For this section to make sense, I first need to introduce you to one of the teams in FR Americas: Crosslink Motorsports. The Texas-based, tangerine orange-and-black team has a massive presence in the paddock. One of its drivers won the championship last year, and it’s supporting six drivers in the championship this year—more than any other (and that’s not even counting its one driver in F4 US).

So when I saw a young woman during one of Saturday’s podiums decked out in Crosslink’s colors, complete with a Crosslink cap, I had to walk over to her and say something.

What did I say? I complimented her outfit, of course! And it turned into a full conversation with her and her mom. She introduced herself as Astoria and told me the trip to the NOLA races was a high school graduation present— a far more unique post-high school trip than mine (which was just a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening with some friends). She added how much she loved the racing, the drivers, and all there is to see in regional formula.

Astoria and I ran into each other a couple more times on Sunday. By then, she had the chance to talk to some of the drivers she’d been rooting for. She even scored some autographs and one of the podium caps. Her passion for the sport was impossible to miss every time I talked to her.

To be honest, it rubbed off on me a little. That’s the thing about people who love something without apology. It’s contagious.

So is it worth it to go to your regional formulas race? Unambiguously, yes.

The racing is genuinely solid, even when I didn’t talk much about it here (there were three races across three separate classes over the course of the weekend. Summarizing all nine would’ve buried everything else). There was a fair amount of overtaking, yellow-flag waving, and even underdogs making it to the podium steps, as I mentioned earlier with Ava.

Just don’t go to the paddock expecting Formula 1-style masterclasses. Yes, the racers are feeders for the top class of single-seat motorsport, but most of the racers here are still kids. Kids who are taking AP classes in school while racing cars on circuits all over the country. Kids who are trying to figure out who they are, aside from being young drivers. Kids who, despite being more accomplished than I was at that age, are still growing up.

That’s on top of the many, many other people I met over the weekend. Including them all would have turned this piece into a small book, but every single person I talked to was lovely, from the teams who let me photograph their cars to the officials who pointed me in the right direction when I was lost. There’s no velvet rope here, just open gates and people who are genuinely happy you showed up.

And at the end of the day, isn’t that what racing is all about?

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Julia G, also known as Flowergothic, is a credentialed motorsport journalist and media critic based in Louisiana. She can also be found on X, Bluesky, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

*A quick note on how grids work across FR Americas, F4 US, and JFC: Positions for race 1 are set by a standard qualifying session, but for every subsequent race, positions are determined by each driver's fastest lap from the previous race. The driver who sets the fastest lap earns pole, the second-fastest earns P2, and so on, regardless of finishing position.