Maryeve Dufault
Maryeve Dufault was born in a pure racing environment. Her father and her brother both raced motorcycles in Quebec. She began riding herself at just four year old, then raced motocross and turned to go-karts when she was eight years old. But by the time she was nine, she had broken both arms while racing...
She began racing karts nationally in Canada and the United States in several series, including the Rotax International Series, winning several karting championships.
She then turned to car racing and competed in various professional open-wheel series, such as the Skip Barber Pro Series, the Formula Russell, the Pro Mazda Star Series as well as the highly competitive Formula BMW USA.
The young lady also had the unique chance to train in a Formula 3 British car and Formula Renault machine in China. Dufault exceptional driving talents have lead to her to climb onto the podium on several occasions and capturing major victories in several series.
Her resume became so sensational that she became the first driver chosen to be part of the exciting, new FAZZT IndyCar driver development program. She has also put her talents to good use as a stunt double for the movie "Fast girl" and a precision driver for factories such as Honda, Polaris and Yamaha.
In 2010, Maryeve entered two of the most prestigious rounds of the NASCAR Canadian Tires series, Trois-Rivieres and Montreal. Several key representatives noted her impressive performance and a few months later she was chosen to be part of the Dodge Motorsport program USA.
She became the first female Canadian to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in August of that same year, driving for MacDonald Motorsports.
In 2011, she turned to the ARCA stock car series in the U.S. In early season testing at New Smyrna Speedway and Daytona International Speedway, Dufault impressed NASCAR star driver Brad Keselowski.
Against all odds, she qualified on her first attempt at the highly intimidating, 2.5-mile Daytona speedway, her first ARCA race and her maiden oval race in life! Maryeve garnered remarkable success during her rookie season in the ARCA series, where she collected six top 13 finishes, one top 10 and won two Hard Charger Awards.
Dufault was also called "Most Popular Driver" by Speed Channel, all of which helped her make headline news on the homepage of Yahoo, the New York Post, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the Gazette, Montreal news paper and Maxim magazine to name a few.
Dufault was listed as one of the "Top female drivers in racing today" by Fox Sports, and was also named as one of the "Top 12 Up-and-Coming Female Drivers in Motorsports" by Bleacher Report.
In addition, Dufault competed in the inaugural Dodge Viper Celebrity Challenge at Miller Motorsports Park in October 2011, competing alongside racing legends such as Roger Penske, Kurt Busch and Allen Johnson.
A fitness enthusiast, Dufault has also been featured in Men's Fitness' 2011 Top 10 fittest women in the world. She was also featured on a Press Pass trading card in 2012.
However, she participated in the 'Drive for the Fans' social media contest, representing Fiat Abarth 500.
Then, she was a judge on the popular show GT Academy Playstation with Danny Sullivan and Boris Said top 16 virtual racers trying to make it as a real race car drivers was aired on Spike TV in November 2012.
After competing in three ARCA Racing Series events for Carter 2 Motorsports in 2013, Maryeve showed again her talent at Salem Speedway, the hardest short track in the U.S., where she managed to battle against Frank Kimmel for 6th position out of 32 starters.
Despite running for a low-budget team, she made great impression that day. Unfortunately, she was taken out of the race by a lapped car…
Dufault then joined Go Green Racing. After a successful test, she was assigned by the team to compete in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway.
In November 2013, it was announced that Dufault would contest the full 2014 ARCA Racing Series season for Team Stange Racing, as well as running in selected NASCAR Nationwide Series events for Go GreenRacing.
In February 2014, Maryeve stunned the motorsport community at the ARCA Lucas Oil 200 in Daytona, FL when she took the lead of the race over NASCAR superstar, Chase Elliott following a restart.
She took the start of the race in 35th position and captured the lead on lap 21. She held on for the next four laps and remained in the top 5 for the next 28 laps. That was an impressive feat from a racer with limited experience at this level and from a team running on a very limited budget.
In June of that year, Maryeve got married to Guy Zubchevich. Guy’s sister in law is no other than show business reporter and host of “Entertainment Tonight”, Nancy Odell.
In 2015, Dufault was the host and racing instructor film in a new 9-episode reality show titled "Pilote Academie" broadcasted on Canadian national TV. Lexus and other major brands supported the TV show, which was a big hit, with the network having renewed a second season.
She also continued train hard physically and to race karts as well as Late Model stock cars to remained focused. She was also involved in the filming of several TV ads and she also made guest appearances at racing events for sponsors.
