Amanda Balson Ready to Chase Wins with OSCAAR Tour

After a successful rookie campaign in the Modifieds at Sunset Speedway, Amanda Balson will be back with the Overkill Enterprise OSCAAR Modified tour in 2026.

“I'm definitely excited to get back on the tour again and get around all the different tracks,” she commented. “I've been at sunset for a few seasons now and not travelled a whole lot. So, I'm just excited to get back around everywhere again.” 

The jump to the modifieds for Balson came after success in the Hot Rods, due to wanting to try a division she had not tried yet.

“I wanted just a little taste of everything and I wanted to try and win in as many different classes and as many different cars as I could before hanging out for good,” she offered. “So the modified just seemed the only really one of two things I had left boxes to check - the other being a super late model. 

“It’s just about affordability. I really also enjoy the schedule, especially this year - the nine-race OSCAAR schedule is perfect. We just got sent out the tire rule, which I think is just perfect. So just the affordability and just the way the schedule is, everything shakes down is just the right fit for us right now.”

While expectations were high entering 2025, it did not start off smoothly. She spent the first half of the season battling ill-handling and other issues at Sunset, before capping off the season with a trip to victory lane. 

“That definitely capped off a little bit of a rough start to the rookie campaign,” she commented. “We've made a lot of changes for this year and are just excited about all the pieces of the program that we have found issues with. We're just coming back a lot more prepared this year; I think we're going to be strong right away.”

Balson went on to add that while she got used to the modified quickly in her rookie campaign, a better handling package will help make this year more successful. 

“I think the handling of the car is going to be right there right away or very close - a lot closer than we were last year,” she continued. “So I think it's just going to be settling into traveling around again. I mean, you get a little bit spoiled at Sunset, with it being so much room and two grooves and lots of space. Even though the track was a little tricky to learn at the start, it lends itself to not a lot of contact, not a lot of wrecked cars like in the grand scheme of things. So going back to Flambpro and Peterborough and Sauble, where it gets a little nitty, gritty, a little a little bit nasty.

“I do remember going back to Peterborough, actually even as far back to a couple of seasons ago, going to Flamboro in the hot rod and kind of having to remember, ‘oh yeah, you can't sail it in here’. It is a little bit nasty and there is a little more contact and I haven't done that in a couple years, so I felt like I lost a little bit of edge a little bit going to the little bowlrings. So, you know, just getting back that feel of the nasty, dirty short track racing, which I absolutely love; so probably I have to shake a little bit of rust off and get ready to get back in there.” 

If things go well, it is very well possible it could be another championship campaign for Balson and her team this season. They are no stranger to being part of the title picture, as evident by her winning the Hot Rod Championship at Sunset Speedway in 2024.

There was excitement laced with the most recent title, as it came down to the final feature of the season in a battle that lasted all race long between herself and Tom Walters. She admitted at least a couple times a month, she goes back and watches the race herself.

“I honestly think that lives in a lot of people's heads too, just cause how close it was and how it came down to that moment,” she commented. “It was such a fun day. It was just so exciting to be out there, doing it, hearing the crowd, feeling the crowd. I still think about it often. 

“It's what we all live for with racing - those close battles. I've watched the race from probably three or four different points of views - like videos that got sent to me - one from the beer garden, one from the grandstand and one from the pits, and watching the crowd's reaction and listening to the crowd. It just puts it all together what we were feeling that day. Like, we were all so excited, it was so intense, it was amazing and the way that we did it - was so clean. It had everything. 

“I think I remember Spencer (Lewis) saying in a podcast, or something like if you wrote this as a movie and people watched it, they wouldn't believe it, because it doesn't happen that way - who it is, what it is, where it was. But it's like it was a movie of lives for so many different people and just watching the crowd reaction on the video is just like, wow.”

The thrill of the moment, the elation of victory lane, and the competitive spirit is what fuels Balson to keep coming back and trying to capture the magic again. 

“I know it sounds a little bit funny, but if I can't win, I probably don't want to do it anymore, because winning fuels the fire,” she commented. “Winning has fueled the fire for every sport I’ve ever played my entire life. It's part of it. It's important. This is what you spend all your money on, this is what you work for, this is what everybody makes sacrifices for, because racing, it's a lot of sacrifice, financially. Personally, it's always a sacrifice, and winning is the payoff. 

“That's the drug, right? Like you win and then you just want more and you want it again and again. I've been lucky not to have gone through any kind of crazy drought or anything like that, where I lost that feeling. Jesus, if I ever do, it probably wouldn't take long for me to say ‘yeah, if I can't win anymore, I'm probably not wanting to do it anymore’.”