The Driving Range: Dani Ben-Ari

“Survivor: alum Julia Landauer is out to see how long she can last as a professional racer after signing on to be part of Bill McAnally Racing’s 4-car NASCAR K&N Pro Series lineup. She only lasted 19-days on the show.

benJulia, 24, who actually drove in a few NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model races for the team in 2009, will now compete alongside defending K&N West champion Chris Eggleston, 16-year-0ld Riley Herbst and 15-year-old Todd Gilliland. Todd is the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup driver David Gilliland. The team, which has won six K&N West titles, plans to run all four drivers in the K&N West Series along with select K&N Pro Series East events.

Landauer, who describes herself as “competitive, passionate, intelligent and driven,” not only was the 1st female champ in the 31-year history of the Skip Barber series (winning it at the age of 14). She also made history again becoming the 1st woman to win a NASCAR Limited Late Model championship at Motor Mile Speedway this past September. Julia began the night only 2-points ahead of second place, then managed to drive her #70 Intellidact/Computing System Innovations LPP racecar to 3rd place, snagging the title by 10 points.

Note: Landauer was also the 1st woman to win a race in the Limited division at Motor Mile, was the 1st woman to qualify on pole in that division, and the 1st female to ever lead the championship points in that division