Jody was born in April 3rd, 1970, and being the oldest of three girls, she says that she was designated the son that Joe never had.

When she was young, she would race the other neighborhood kids on big wheels. Joe knew that she had a competitive nature about her, and asked if she wanted to race go-karts. She didn't hesitate.

Her first karting experience began at the Wilton Go-Kart Club, where the track was set up in a school parking lot. It was not a start that one would normally associate with greatness. It had rained the night before, so there weren't many racers in attendance. She came in after one lap around the track complaining that her hair was in her eyes, went out for another lap and came in complaining that she had to go to the bathroom.

"It was so hilarious - I was acting, well, like a little girl. I figured that my father would have said 'Forget this' because I'm acting so scared. But the next thing you know, I'm whipping that kart around the track."

Soon after Jody started whipping her fellow go kart racers on the track and started working her way through the ranks of hard core kart racing.

Through the next couple of years, Jody's success was the talk to the local karting circuit. Because she was so competitive, everyone wanted to have the same equipment that she had. In 1979, Joe was able to start Joe's Kart Shop to help support her ever growing karting effort.