Michele Bumgarner

Who is Michele Bumgarner?

Michele Marie Bumgarner is a Filipina racing driver. She was born to an American father and a Filipina mother. She made her debut into single seater racing with the National Karting Series in the Philippines in 1999 at the age of 10. She has participated in the Asia-Pacific Karting Championships Japan, Shell Super Karting Series, Asian Karting Open Championship, and the Italian Masters Series.

In 2006 Bumgarner made her auto racing debut driving in the Asian Formula Three Championship, finishing third in the series' Promotion Class.

She competed in the first five rounds of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship season for John Walko Racing. Her best finish was 15th place coming in her final start at Portland International Raceway.

On September 19, 2008, she became the first female champion of the Rock Island Grand Prix in Rock Island, Illinois, the world’s largest street karting race. The 7th foreign-born winner in its 14-year history, Michele steered the Margay Team to a 1-2-3-4 finish with 11 minutes and 24.144 seconds. She said: “This will stick with me my whole career.