Like any other 8-year-old girl, she would cling on to her father and accompany him to the Irungattukottai racing track in Chennai where R A Abdullah would hone his skills to become a seven-time national champion.
It didn’t take longer for Abdullah to realise that his daughter, Alisha too belonged to the circuit.“I was eight (years-old) when my dad took me to the circuit in Chennai. It didn’t take long for me to gather that I belong here,” says Alisha while talking to Deccan Herald.
Alisha now stands as the only lady racer to win the National go-karting championships. She went on to clinch the top honour in 2002. “It is my love for speed that has made me who I am today. Even when I am off the circuit, my lifestyle hardly slows down. I walk fast; I talk and when I have the steering in my hand, speed is all that I care about,“ continues the 25-year-old.
Coming from a Motorsport background, convincing family to allow her to pursue her passion was not a difficult task. With her dad being a champion himself, race analysis and review began from home.
“I never had to convince my parents to allow me to get into professional racing. But when your dad is a champion in the sport, then criticism and analysis starts from your house itself. On a few races days, I end up getting into arguments with dad and we end up the worst of enemies. But all that’s part of life and I believe that the no-nonsense attitude has helped my cause,” opines Alisha.
Getting into a male dominated area was never easy for Alisha. She says it is the challenges that made her stronger and determined to achieve what she set out for.
“It was hard for me to find motivation in the circuit. The guys, after every race, would say stuff that would have a bad effect on me. I would finish among the last and they would tell me that I was a girl and that I did not belong here. Such things made me stronger and with every race I aimed at improving my position,” she says.
Alisha crawled her way up, competing with men, to become one among the best in the circuit. Even her national title was won competing in races which included both men and women.
“Today many come up to me looking for answers about the track and the strategy one should adopt,” says the racer who also had a brief spell on superbikes before switching back to cars.
The move paid in dividends as she won the Toyota Vios Cup, a street car race held in Thailand in 2011 that featured the best women racers in Asia. She has also been a regular on the podium at the Volkswagen National Polo Cup before shifting her focus to Dubai, the hub of motorsport. The Chennai girl will be seen in a Porsche in the upcoming season, starting later this year.
Determined to bring changes in the Indian motorsport arena, she went a step ahead to launch her own motorsport academy in October 2014 in Chennai. The Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women is an all-women academy which helps upcoming female racers who wish to make big in the sport.
“It is my dream to see more and more women race in our country. And I believe in coming years the Academy will be capable of producing quality female racers,” she says. The Academy is in the initial stages of scouting young talent and will see the first batch graduate in 2016.
Though driven by passion and determination to be the best in her field, Alisha, who has also made a guest appearance in a Tamil movie, realises that the road ahead is not an easy one.
“Though the Indian scene got a boost with the arrival on Formula 1 a few years back, the scenario hardly changed at the national level. People are still unaware of any other races other than Formula 1 and Moto GP. And this make it difficult for us to get sponsors,” says Alisha.
But, with the likes of C S Santosh, the first Indian to complete the gruelling DAKAR Rally, attracting more attention to motorsports in India, she hopes that the picture changes soon.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Sports Scene / by Naveen Peter / DHNS, February 08th, 2015