Look Who's Talking! Track Chic's Woman Behind the Wheels: ESPN's Jamie Little

by: Theresa Earnheart

We have all watched Jamie Little as an action sports and motorsports reporter for ESPN, ESPN2, SPEED, NBC, TNN and ABC since 1998. She has covered all things motorsports, including MotoX, BMX, Freestyle Dirt, X Games, IndyCar and Rally Car. The first female reporter on Motoworld, regularly covering Supercross and Motocross, Jamie now brings the excitement of NASCAR into our living rooms each weekend as a NASCAR Pit Reporter for ESPN.

Jamie definitely lives life in the fast lane and is as competitive behind the wheels as the drivers she interviews. She not only took home five victories competing downhill mountain bikes in the “Sport” class, she also took top honors in the 2008 Fast & the Famous Toyota Pro/Celebrity Challenge edging out NASCAR Craftsman Truck Champion, Mike Skinner, by a mere 0.324 seconds.

We caught up with Jamie as she prepares to catch a plane to Los Angeles for her 2009 Toyota Pro/ Celebrity Racing School for the next four days. Excited about defending her 2008 Championship she recognizes that everybody is out to get her. It’s kind of crazy, as she says, but it’s also fun to be in that position.

How cool was it to beat Mike Skinner in the 2008 Toyota Pro/Celebrity Challenge? What was going on in your mind during that last lap duel when you crossed the finish line a fraction of a second first?

That whole day was the best day of my life. People laugh, but it really was great. This is what I do for a living. I am a huge race fan and racing is my life. For me to be able to prove that I don’t just talk about it, that I could actually race. To be able to learn the skills and put those skills to use, and then going out there and beating a NASCAR Champion, that was pretty amazing – it really was one of the best days of my life.

I can only imagine, Mike is exceptional – did he give you a hard time?

Mike gave me a hard time on the racetrack but afterwards he was great. I didn’t know it was Mike until I crossed the finish line. They teach you, you don’t drive in your rear view mirror, you drive straight ahead. I knew he was there, I felt him trying to spin me on the last corner, but I just kept my foot on the gas and crossed the finish line and looked over and said to myself ..."Mike Skinner? ... I just beat Mike Skinner and held him off?" It was great.

When did you first know you had a passion for Speed?

I remember when I was very young riding motorcycles, dirt bikes, with my real Dad. It was so great, I remember the feelings of freedom, the air, the smells – I loved every minute of it. I knew I was meant to be in racing since I was very little.

Then later, when I was 13, I moved to Las Vegas with my Mom, who raised me. I never really had a chance to compete when I was growing up, I didn’t have brothers or sisters. I became friends with guys who raced dirtbikes. I was a little tomboy growing up and begged and pleaded to tag along with them. I worked in stables and rode horses growing up but got hooked on mountain bikes in my early teens and found out that I was good at it.

My love and passion was first with Supercross and Motocross, that’s where I began my career. I became friends with the Freestyle Motocross phenomenon, Carey Hart, who taught me so much.

As I became more involved, I grew passionate about all the different forms of racing, particularly NASCAR.

Your rapid rise within the world of motorsport reporting is impressive! When you were 18 working behind the scenes for ESPN in 1998, and then only two years later becoming the first female reporter on Motoworld announcing “live” for the AMA Supercross, did you imagine you would become the “Go to Girl” as a Pit Reporter for NASCARŽ ?

You know, it didn’t seem that rapid at the time. I moved to Los Angeles on my own at the age of 18 to spread my wings and see what I wanted to do with my life. At that time, I thought I would try modeling. I quickly determined that modeling was not for me. I still loved motocross and wanted to be sure that somehow I stayed connected to the industry.

I read my motocross magazines constantly and got tired of seeing women always portrayed in bikinis on a dirtbike. That’s fine I suppose, but there wasn’t a woman spokesperson that actually had a voice in the sport. Something came over me and I determined that this is what I wanted to do, to actually make an impact in the sport.

I convinced Mike Flagg at a race in San Diego, then a freelancer for ESPN, to let me help behind the scenes and I learned the ropes of television. I began "live" announcing for the AMA Supercross series in 2000 and did that for four years. I convinced ESPN to give me a shot at X Games and the relationship grew and continued to where we are today.

During all this time I put everything else on the back burner. I worked really hard throughout my twenties, I didn’t take much time to smell the roses along the way. That’s all my life has been, I loved racing so much. I didn’t realize I was moving up quickly, I just kept charging forward and setting new goals for myself.

At the age of 28, I was broadcasting INDY and I set the goal for myself to get to NASCAR by the time I turned 30. And lo and behold, later that year, ESPN announced that they got the NASCAR contract back. I let it be known to my bosses that I would like to be part of the team. When they told me, I was in the middle of the airport, and I just started crying. I have worked very hard, made a lot of sacrifices and now I am living my dream.

The great thing has been the motorsport community is pretty tight, whether its two wheels or four wheels. When I came into NASCAR most of the drivers already knew me from SuperCross, MotoCross and the X Games. They knew I was a legitimate reporter and that they could trust me. They were all really cool and wanted to talk to me about all these two wheel sports because they are such huge fans.

A few weeks ago Jeff Burton came running up to me on Pit Road and wanted to ask me all about the big New Year’s No Limits jump. He was so excited. He had enjoyed watching the jump with his son and wanted to know what Robbie Maddison was planning for next year.

So it’s fun, everyone is living their dream and everyone is very supportive of each other and we’re all fans of each other.

That’s my transition. There are some who are a bit more skeptical. I am a woman so it might be a little harder from some to accept, but overall, I have proven myself so it has been very satisfying and a lot of fun. It’s a big family.