Jolanta Lāce on building an international drag racing festival in Ventspils

Motorsport is traditionally seen as a male-dominated field, but Jolanta Lāce, organizer of the LuckyBet Drag Racing Festival, is proving otherwise through her work. She argues that a strong idea, a clear goal and a reliable team matter far more to a project's success than gender.

From a niche discipline to a festival

Lāce explains that together with colleague Elīna Saliņa and their team, they transformed what was once a little-known motorsport discipline into a full-fledged festival. According to her, the goal was never limited to the races themselves — creating an overall festival atmosphere and experience for spectators was equally important.

Why Ventspils

The event has been held in Ventspils for several years because the city's airfield is reportedly the only venue in Latvia with a surface and track length suitable for competitions of this scale. This year, with support from the Ventspils city council, three qualifying rounds in this discipline were held as part of the festival, and the long-term cooperation with the municipality continues, with the event now a fixture of the city's annual celebrations.

International ambitions

Lāce says growing the festival beyond Latvia's borders matters to her. This year's edition featured participants from several European countries, which she considers proof of the event's growing international recognition. The competition included the Latvian Cup, the Baltic Championship, and a round of the Lithuanian Championship, with a record number of participants taking part this year.

Asked about the hardest part of organizing an event of this scale, Lāce points to responsibility — behind what spectators see are months of preparation and the work of many people. She names her family as her main source of motivation, along with the satisfaction of seeing participants' joy after the races.