Kelsey has been competing in Formula Drift, the top professional drifting organization in the US, for 10 years and was the first woman to earn a Formula Drift Pro 2 (now ProSpec) License.
However, she didn’t discover drifting, or any motorsport, until she was 18 years old. In 2008, Kelsey convinced her parents that a 1997 Nissan 240sx would be a good first car before heading to college at the University of Florida, but she frequently visited home for drift events at Orlando Speed World. While earning her English degree and battling a diagnosis of Sjogren’s, an incurable autoimmune disease, Kelsey’s love for drifting grew, along with her skills. She started competing in competitions in 2011, but at the time, she had never considered it as a possible career.
Kelsey earned her professional Formula Drift license when she placed 2nd overall in a local ProAm series, and in 2015 she began competing in Formula Drift Pro 2 (now known as ProSpec) in 2015. Kelsey qualified for top 16 competition in her very first Formula Drift competition with her ProAm-level car, with the lowest horsepower of the entire field of drivers; However, she quickly realized that 500 horsepower would not be competitive. For the 2016 season, she and her team built an S14 powered by a 700hp supercharged Ford 5.0 Aluminator, which was the first of its kind and is the only Ford-swapped Nissan in the entirety of Formula Drift.
After years of R&D, Kelsey and her team have the chassis dialed in. In 2024, she upgraded to a new Ford 5.2L engine with 800hp, and they are more competitive than ever, securing a personal best 6th place finish at Formula Drift New Jersey in 2024.
