Tinkering Belles - Payton - Great Race Edition

Do you love exploring Why?, road rally racing, big engines and general Maker Shop Talk? 

If so, join Tamara Robertson (Mythbusters, Seekers of Science) as she revs up the fun in this all new mini-season dedicated to the Hemming's Great Race and the amazing team of Trailblazing Creators assembled by Riley's Rebuilds!

As a shout-out to Race Sponsor KnKut, this episode kicks off with a Tech Talk about Drill Bits before Tamara sits down with Drag Racer, Trailblazer and Maker Extraordinaire Payton ( @racinpayton_ )!

Topics they cover include (but are surely not limited to):

- Knkuts

- Drag Racing

- Muscle Cars

- Finding the "why"

- Stick Shift Racing

- Breaking Social Media Stereotypes

- Shoutout Shirley Muldowney

- Learning the Hardway

- Hemmings Great Race

- Being a Trailblazer

- Riley Rebuild's

- Jessi Combs and the Jessi Combs Foundation

- Debunking Financial Barriers to Fast Cars

- Payton's pointers for those starting in Drag Racing

- Redefining Car Girls on the Internet

- Shoutout Sears & Craftsman

.. and so much more

As we dig into Season 3's 29th episode of Tinkering Belles you're surely not going to want to miss it!

So join in on Tamara's adventure as a Maker as she works to amplify the BAMF Females Behind the Builds one interview at a time! 
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If you enjoyed the show join in on the Maker adventure with Tamara and her guests on the Tinkering Belles Instagram page.

You can follow Payton's adventures here, here, and here: 

Linktree - https://linktr.ee/racinpayton

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/racinpayton_

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@racinpayton

Tiktok - https://tiktok.com/@racinpayton

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/racinpayton

Music for this Episode was provided by Bill Trowell Music.  Visit BillTrowellMusic.com to hear more and to subscribe to Bill's Patreon, where he covers favorite showtunes, movie themes, classic rock and jazz, as well as requests from Patron's. 

Chapters

• 0:24 Maker Tease
• 0:47 Tech Talk - Drill Bits
• 1:51 Sponsor Highlight - KNKuts
• 2:46 Maker Interview - Payton
• 3:21 Where to Find Payton
• 4:16 Payton's Origin Story
• 5:58 Dragster Racing
• 8:45 Hemmings Great Race
• 9:32 Meeting Riley from Riley's Rebuilds
• 11:15 Payton's Jessi Story
• 13:05 Debunking Financial Barriers to Automotive
• 13:58 Payton's Pointers for Those Starting in Drag Racing
• 14:55 Building from Bare Minimum
• 16:39 Being a Trailblazer in Drag Racing
• 19:55 Dealers Choice - Superpowers

Transcript

Tamara Robertson: 0:00

Greetings, shopmates, and welcome to Tinkering Belles, a show about DIY, design, and all things hands-on. The sky's the limit as we talk props, metalwork, cosplay, woodwork, leather, electronics, and so much more. I'm Tamara Robertson, your host, so strap on your tool belts because we're about to get into some skill sharing, y'all.

Tamara Robertson: 0:19

Today I'm going to be joined by a maker who's been sharing her love of engines and all things on four wheels since she was 15. I don't want to give away too much, but this maker is currently rebuilding not one, but two cars aiming for a first place dragster. So if that doesn't make you want to stick around and hear more, then you might be at the wrong podcast.

Tamara Robertson: 0:46

But first, let's go ahead and have our tech talk of the day. So we're going to be talking all about the Hemmings Great Race and the awesome great partners who helped us prep the fair lane inside and out. This includes KNKut, who donated drill bits and the spot weld cutters, tools we could not have made it through the rebuild without. So let's back it up. Where did drill bits get their start?

Tamara Robertson: 1:10

Well, the first drill bit was patented in 1861 by Stephen A. Morse. Yes, that Morse of Morse Taper fame, which remains a standard in machining today. Before that, drilling was done by bow drills or hand-turned augers dating back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, primarily for stone and wood. Now, modern drill bits are made from high-speed steel, cobalt alloys, or carbide tips, each engineered for different materials and precision. KNKut specializes in American-made Jobber-length bits that are known for durability and reduced walking, perfect for chassis work, body panels, and vintage restorations where accuracy matters. Their spot weld cutters make it easy to remove factory welds without damaging underlying panels, which saved us hours on this build and is a very important thing when it comes to precision and accuracy when working with vintage cars like our 66 Fairlane. Well, that's it for our Tech Talk. As always, you can join in on the conversation with my maker friends and me on the Tinkering Bells Instagram and X pages. Just search for Belles Tinkering, hit follow and share your DIY adventures together with us. Have a tool you want to learn about? Let me know and it may be featured in a future episode. Tell us what you liked, what you hated or possibly even what we missed.

Tamara Robertson: 2:47

So now we're going to be getting into the main event and I'm so excited to introduce you to our next maker. So drum roll, please. Presenting Peyton. Peyton, thank you for joining me. How are you?

Payton: 2:57

Hi. I'm good. I'm excited. I'm a little nervous because I talk too much sometimes. So...

Tamara Robertson: 3:04

I am sure everything that you say will be great. Our audience loves all the tangents that we go on and all the crazy stuff we talk about. So bring it all. We love quirky. Believe me, they're stuck with it when they listen to anything with me on it as it is. So I love to start up the episodes by telling people where to find you, follow you, and giving them a little bit of a hint of what they're going to see when they go there.

Payton: 3:30

Okay, so you can find me on all social medias at racinpayton. Most of the social media is just race and Payton, just regular. And then the other one is with an underscore at the end because somebody had that already on Instagram. If you were to follow me, basically you'd see everything, I guess like Chevy powered. That's like really my thing. is i am building a 1988 fox body with an ls engine to go stick shift drag racing i am building a uh 2017 chevy ss that's getting a 416 very soon so it's i'm kind of all over the place but also not i basically i love anything with an engine so i do dirt bikes trucks cars i mean if literally if i can figure out a way to work on it it's on my list

Tamara Robertson: 4:15

I love that. And so I'm a superhero scientist, which means origin stories are my jam. You and I haven't met in person yet. We'll be meeting soon on The Great Race, which I'm super stoked about. But can you share with the audience your gearhead origin story? What got you started and why do you still love it today?

Payton: 4:34

To back up to me as a child, one of my first words was why, which I think is what absolutely just made me run into cars. My dad and my grandpa both our gearheads. I didn't grow up working on cars, though. It was about age 15. And I was like, wait, I don't think I just want to drive any car. I think I want to know something about it. And I think I wanted to be cool. And so I got a 96 Mustang GT. And from then on, I just figured out the small things I could do and learn how to work from there. And that very much fueled my why that I continuously asked since I was a child. And so I basically just fell into a rabbit hole of okay, well, how does this work and why? And how, how do I do it? And I basically have decided in my life that I'm not going to take, I can't do it for an answer. I'm going to figure out. It doesn't matter if I mess it up 12 times, I'm going to get there

Payton: 5:24

eventually.

Tamara Robertson: 5:26

I love that. It reminds me of, I don't, this may, this may be aging me, but there was this little cartoon on Animaniacs with this little girl, but be like, why, why, why? Okay. I love you. Bye bye. And like, for me, I was like, that's me. That's my spirit animal.

Payton: 5:46

Literally, my mom was like, one of your first words, she was like, aside from no, she was like, your other one is why. And I was like, oh, well, that actually tracks like 100%.

Tamara Robertson: 5:56

I love it. So it sounds like you definitely achieved your goal of not driving boring cars. And currently, like you said, you're not rebuilding one, but two cars. And one of them is drag strip bound. What draws you to dragsters and what do you hope to accomplish there?

Payton: 6:16

So basically one of my first like experiences outside of just like car meets was going to the drive drag strip. We had a local one like 45 minutes away. Whenever I went out there, I was like, there's a lot going on. I was like, I want to do that. My dad was like, I had a 2010 V6 Mustang at the time. My dad was like, you're not taking that car out. I was like 16 years old. And I was like, okay. So at 18, I bought a 2013 Mustang GT six feet car. And I was like, well, this is my car now. So I'm going down and I'm going to make a pass. And I made a few passes, went out racing. And I was like, okay, I love this. But then I broke my transmission. Um, because I had radials on a bone stock car and those MT-82s don't hold up well. So I broke it. And after that, I was like, okay, I need to like build a car that if it breaks, it's not my daily driver getting me to and from work. And so then I decided I wanted to build a car. And after stick shift racing and changing up the platform that I was going several times, like I started off with, I was going to build a 5.3 and have a power glide. And then I was going to do a five, three with a, you know, a turbo 400. And then I was like, no, just six, two. And then I was like, wait, what about a belt six, two? And I was like, wait, I want to go stick shift racing. I was like, that, that is my origin story of drag racing. I was like, I need to, I need to get to that. So that's basically kind of what like determined that. And I've always had Mustangs. And I was like, at the time, whenever I started it, I was like, I can't afford to put a coyote in one of these cars. I was like, there's no way. And I was like, I can do an LS. And then it developed into, at this point, I could have also had a coyote with all the money I have in it. But LSs are... basically all I drive. And I was like, if one car breaks, I have that same part on four other cars.

Tamara Robertson: 8:01

I remember rebuilding my Trans Am with my dad when I was younger. And like, same thing. My mom's like, put a governor on it. I don't want to racing it. And of course, he had me install it. So I knew how to uninstall it. And so the transmission was the first thing that went because I just had a lot to prove, I guess, when I was younger, and I smoked everyone off of you know every red light I was at and it was something that I lost my daily driver and it made me really sad after all the work we had put into it but some lessons we have to learn the hard way yeah

Payton: 8:39

exactly my dad was like I told you not to do that I was like yeah but like I had to figure it out. You could just tell me that.

Tamara Robertson: 8:46

So speaking of racing, we are going to all be taking part in the Hemings Creek race, which I had never, I had heard about because Jesse had been a grand Marshall, but I had never like had the ambition myself to like go and do it mostly because you have to have a vintage car. Is this a race that you, you knew about? I had, you had ambitions to be in it. Like what were your thoughts when you got the initial invitations?

Payton: 9:11

So I had actually never heard of it. I think it's probably because I'm stuck to drag racing. That's my thing. I hear about that. And that's about the circle that I run in. But once I heard about it, I was like, okay, that seems like a really cool thing. Of course, same with me. I don't have a vintage car. So I was like, this probably wouldn't have been on my list for a while, at least until I had one of those. But I was really excited when Riley reached out. So I was like, this could be so cool. And whenever she was like, We're going to make it like a powerhouse woman. I was like, absolutely. Even more. I already was already in like even more count me in because I got so excited of like the ability to sit there and meet other cool women in the industry and like make a point, I guess. I really, really loved the whole thought process behind what she wanted to do.

Tamara Robertson: 9:57

So I love the kind of joke that Riley has assembled all of us, like her Avengers, you know, she made sure that she's got this group of females that are the real deal that can work on vehicles that are creators that are genuinely just connected to her in some way. So I have to ask, like, what is your connection with Riley? How did you guys originally meet?

Payton: 10:20

So I saw her whenever she was like in the beginning stages of getting on like Instagram and Facebook, whenever she, basically started to have stories talked about with her and Maribel and Carburetors and being 16 or 17 years old and having her own business. So whenever I saw that, I was like, wow, that's amazing. At 16, 17 years old, I was not doing anything that great. And so I reached out to her and I was like, hey, I actually have a shirt that says the best man for the job is a woman on the back of it, which was a article about Shirley Muldowney, which was one of the first women in drag racing. And so I was like, let me send you some of these shirts. I was like, I love what you're doing. Like Like I said, at that age, I was not doing anything cool. And I was just like, so astounded by her. So whenever she reached out, I was like, absolutely. Like, you know, we have still haven't met yet. And I'm super stoked for that. But yeah, that's my story of meeting Riley.

Tamara Robertson: 11:15

So obviously we're all going to be a part of this race. And one of the things that I love, you know, I met Riley because we were signing autographs together at SEMA and the She Shed booth, which was like the Jesse Combs Foundation, Real Deal Revolution, and All Gangs Garage. And so when we were there, I got to learn about her like being Jesse's rising star and all of these different things. And she has just been such an amazing proponent to lifting the girls that are part of the foundation. But We are actually going to get the honor of having the Jesse Combs Foundation as our charity partner on this race. So we'll all be rocking the dots. We'll be following in Jesse's footsteps because Jesse was the Grand Marshal for this event back in 2016. Had you ever gotten a chance to meet Jesse or what is your connection to Jesse Combs?

Payton: 12:10

So I unfortunately never got a chance to meet her. Um, but all I've ever heard is of her stories, like just that she walks in room, she lit it up. That's exactly how she was. And you know, I always like, when you hear the fastest woman on four wheels, you're like, I want to be that one day, like, you're just absolutely like astounded by that. So unfortunately, I never got the chance to meet her. But every single story I've heard about her just like makes me wish even more that I had to had had the chance to meet her at one point in my life, because I'm like, that's the kind of woman you like look up to and you want to be eventually.

Tamara Robertson: 12:45

I love that. And one of the things you know, speaking at events with Jesse through the years and knowing her as a friend, prior to joining the board, she was one of the things I used to love that she would say when young, young people would be like, I want to be you one day is she would share. She's like, no, be you. Like, you're really cool. Did you know how cool you are? And it's one of those things that like in looking through your profiles and learning about you coming into this interview, like one of the things that I really, really love is that you are lifting the veil and approach of being able to come into rebuilding cars and taking away the, fear of not having enough money down to the tools that you're using you know you're debunking that myth that you have to have a ton of money to get into this and I just you know as a kid of two military parents you know like getting my first car from a junkyard and having to rebuild it to be able to even get it on the road to be my daily driver like I just love that you're sending that message out there because I do think that there's so many young people especially that don't tend to get into motorsport and don't tend to get into car rebuilds because they don't have that, the money that they think that they need to have it. So can you share with the audience some of the pointers that you give to people that are looking to first get in this where that might be one of the barriers that they're facing?

Payton: 14:08

So one of the things that I always give people like any information is that whenever I first started working on cars, I went to Sears before they closed and I got a craftsman toolkit on sale for like 30 bucks. So like my start of cars and I was able to just do the basics, you know, change my oil, learn how to, you know, change my tire, all that sort of stuff. So it's like, I guess my thing is at the end of the day, like, yes, if you want to build a fast car, eventually you're going to have to have a lot of money. It's not, you can't just go into drag racing and be like, I'm going to be the fastest person out there for $3. But it's a matter of, you have to learn a lot more in between. So it's like, it's going to take time. Like you shouldn't go out there and be like, I only want to be the fastest person. Don't you want to be one of the most knowledgeable people? Don't you want to be like, okay, like, yeah, that person's faster than me, but like, I was able to learn how to do this with the bare minimum. You know, I really... try to show people that I have been building this car. I owned it since 2018, my Fox body Mustang. It has been a very long process. It's still not done. I absolutely wish it would. I remember whenever I was growing up and I bought the car and people were like, Oh yeah, an LS swap is easy. It's so cheap. And then whenever you come down to it, you know, you're like, okay, but do I want to do it cheap? Do I want to do it right? I think it's a matter of like learning patience. Like, yes, you can absolutely do it, but it depends on what level you're wanting, you know, a car to be. Like my car absolutely could have been done, you know, two or three years into it. But then I changed my mind so many times. So it's really like dedication and pushing through it, I think is like the hardest thing is, no, you don't have to spend a lot of money to learn how to do the basic things. I try like on TikTok to teach a lot of people, like, you know, here's how to jump a car if your battery dies. Here's how to diagnose something simple because there's a lot of things that People have not learned anything. They're paying for people to do. And I hate whenever I see that if I see someone like our local county page and they're like, does anyone know how to change this? I'm like, give me your address because I'm not going to let you pay for someone to change that, you know? So I think it's just a matter of understanding that you can get into it with the bare minimum. and just evolve with what you're doing. You know, like maybe you have a little money eventually that you can make that car faster, but like you can start off and learn all the basics with really nothing. I've gone to Ross and gotten toolkits before too. Like there, there's no stopping you except for like what you plan in your own mind.

Tamara Robertson: 16:40

I love that. And so one of the things that the foundation has really been trying to hammer out home for all of the young ladies on this group is that we are all trailblazers in our own ways and so I have to say like growing up next to a quarter trip and like being out there for races like I never saw drag racers like you so I just can imagine that it must be such a big deal for little girls to see you so what does it mean to you to be a part of you know this this trailblazing group but also to know that you're a trailblazer within you know the drag community

Payton: 17:17

so it doesn't feel like I am I feel like I've watched so many women do cool things before me so it doesn't make me like I don't ever think like oh yeah I'm doing something that you know not a lot of people have but like I really hope that I can set and instill the mindset of you know the younger generation of women that if I figured it out and like I said no my dad and my grandpa were gearheads but I didn't grow up in a shop I didn't grow up working on my cars but 15 and 16 I picked this up and I was able to figure it out then you can too the internet is in some ways one of the most horrific things but in other ways it really is one of the most amazing places because that's why i've learned a lot of stuff you know if i can't figure it out i'm going to jump on the internet and google it until i mean until it's the end of me um so i really hope like i can show people it's not going to go perfect the first time you know you have to learn um you're going to make mistakes i i I've made so many mistakes and I'm posting them and I'm like, Hey, I messed up. Um, so I really just hope that I can instill that and then instill into women something that like for me growing up, I had gotten an Instagram. It wasn't too new. And every time I saw a woman, it was, you know, just pictures of woman with cars. And I was like, Oh, like, you know, is that the only way like anyone's going to, you know, want to be a part of following you? And then I realized, no, people really just care at the end of the day, like the cool things that you're doing. Like, that's really it. You know, I hope that I can instill that as long as you're sharing your passion and you're doing what makes you happy, like everything else is going to follow. You're going to find your own happiness. You are going to get your car built the way you want to get it built. People are going to be like, Oh, that's amazing. Like, you know, the same thing I said where I saw Riley at 16, 17 years old doing that stuff. And I was like, I needed that inspiration whenever I was younger, because whenever I was younger at her age on Instagram, that is not what I was seeing on Instagram. And it definitely, you know, made you feel a little less and you're like, But like, I don't want to only model in front of a car. Like I want to work on them. And so I really love this next generation and seeing everybody post about like, hey, I don't know what I'm doing. I love that. I love it so much. Makes me so happy because I'm like, hey, me too. And I've been doing this for 10 years now.

Tamara Robertson: 19:38

I do think to your point, like getting to see all the different types of women and men that work on cars and not having that stereotypical imagery being the only thing that you see, it's so empowering to be able to know that there's other options. And so we're getting near time. There's one question that I love to ask every guest that comes on the show. And that is if you could have a superpower, what would it be? And why?

Payton: 20:07

Hmm. If I could have a super power, would it be to have more patients to work on my car? Maybe actually, if I could just like change my body temperature and, To camouflage better whenever it's way too hot outside or way too cold outside, I actually would, that would probably be, if I could control the weather in some way.

Tamara Robertson: 20:29

I like it. I like it. My first, well, my favorite superhero when I was little was Storm because she could control the weather. So I like it. I like that answer a lot. Well, amazing. The Hemings Great Race kicks off June 21st in St. Paul, Minnesota, and will run all the way until we hit the finish line. hopefully on June 29th in Moorpark, Irmo, South Carolina. Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with all things Creator Race as we tackle this iconic vintage rally road race one mile at a time. That's it for Tinkering Bells. This episode is assembled and ready for delivery. Peyton, this has been so incredible. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Payton: 21:10

Thank you so much. I had a blast.

Tamara Robertson: 21:12

I want to thank you for choosing Tinkering Belles as your user's manual for all things Maker on a bi-weekly basis. If you want to continue to hear more, don't forget to rate and review the show on your podcasting app of choice, as well as sharing it with your friends. I look forward to seeing you next week. Until then, don't forget to keep making.