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›››fitness role models LIFE IN THE FAST LANE NBC PHOTO: TK As the sole woman on ESPN/ABC’s NASCAR coverage crew, pit reporter Jamie Little continues to bust barriers. It helps that she’s as fit and strong as they come. By STEVE MAZZUCCHI Flick on the tube this weekend, stop at the channel where stock cars muscleandfitnesshers.com are zooming around a track, and you can’t miss Jamie Little. Wearing headphones, a fireproof suit and a ponytail, NASCAR’s first and only female pit reporter will be all over the place — interviewing drivers, reporting on crashes, explaining exactly how Jeff Gordon just took the lead. If she seems surprisingly at ease in this male-dominated atmosphere, it’s no accident. “If you want something bad enough, you’ve got to do whatever it takes,” says 29-year-old 75 Little, who had made it her goal to cover NASCAR by age 30. Photos by IAN SPANIER For Little, that meant chasing her dream with SPEED FREAK ON THE BALL Little mixes balance and tireless passion, meticulous preparation and a At left, Little at Las Vegas Motor Speedway; strength with this bodyweight rock-hard physique. “When you’re physically below, she demos one of the exercises squat on a ball fit, it commands respect,” she explains. “I pride prescribed by her trainer, Rick Baird, CSCS myself on being strong.” Over a decade of determination and hustle, she has covered physical fitness. Along with regular weight and everything from squash to the Indianapolis cardio sessions, she competed in mountain 500, competed as a pro mountain biker, biking, winning five National Off-Road Bicycle Fappeared in two movies (Supercross and Association races before hanging up her cleats Fantastic Four) and a video game (MX World in 2004. Her thirst for firsthand knowledge Tour: Featuring Jamie Little), learned to drive and commitment to truly understanding a racecars, and made the world safe for women sport and its athletes wins her respect from and who want to report on fast things rather than camaraderie with the people she covers. When merely pose with them. But it has been a long she chased after a competitor who had tossed a road to the top. snowball at her during last year’s Winter X Growing up near Lake Tahoe in California, Games, the cameras rolled right along with it. Little wasn’t one to sit and play quietly with His faith rewarded, Feinberg, now coordi- dolls. “I was a hellion — very independent and nating producer for ESPN/ABC motorsports very active,” recalls the woman who filled her cast gigs such as the Great Outdoor Games, coverage, tapped Little to join the NASCAR childhood with skiing, snowboarding and World’s Strongest Woman and Slamball. team late last year. She spent the next four horseback riding. When she was 6, her dad At the same time, Little continued a practice months researching the sport, attending mul- took her out on a dirt bike, and she was that has defined her career — actually experi- tiple driving schools and introducing herself instantly exhilarated by the speed. Years later, encing the sports she covers. “I’ve ridden dirt to every driver and team. “My first race MOVIN’ UP Little hits the StepMill after her parents divorced and she moved to bikes, done racing schools — I’m not scared to [February’s Orbitz 300], I was on fire,” she as a warm-up to her Las Vegas with her mom, the thrill remained. try anything,” she says. “I can’t talk about recalls. “I was excited, nervous and anxious, training, which usually At 14, she began attending AMA Supercross something unless I’ve done it. I’m a bad liar.” but more than ever, I was prepared.” And she covers her whole body events and rooting for Carey Hart, the tattooed Helping make that possible was a high level of wasn’t the only one — one of her assigned in one session star now married to pop singer Pink. “There was something about that feeling I never forgot,” she says. “I fell in love with the sport, RACING SHAPE the people and the stories.” IT’S NOT Just ABOUT LOOKING GOOD ON CAMERA — JAMIE LITTLE HAS TO staY FIT TO HUS- So, after six months as a struggling model in TLE FROM PIT TO PIT, IN AN OverheateD FIRE suit, ON race DAY. HERE’S HOW SHE DOES IT Los Angeles, then-18-year-old Little found herself at a Supercross race. “I realized I was >> Glove work: On Mondays and Wednesdays, Little does a fast-paced boxing-style routine tired of seeing women portrayed in motorcycle with mixed martial arts fighter Alex “The Assassin” Karalexis. She puts on wraps and mitts and magazines as sex objects,” she says. “I wanted hits a heavy bag and speed bag, spars in the ring, runs stairs and does push-ups and ab work. people to hear me, and not just judge me on my “It’s 100% cardio,” Little says. “It’s the hardest workout ever.” looks.” Spotting an ESPN cameraman, Little >> Core competency: On Tuesdays, 24 Hour Fitness trainer Rick Baird, CSCS, pushes her strode up and asked if he needed help. For the through full-body functional fitness exercises such as fast high-rep curls, squats and crunches next two years, she worked weekends as an on an exercise ball. Then she performs push-ups, pull-ups and, yes, more ab work. “I do 100 unpaid microphone holder, interviewer and push-ups and 150–300 crunches every time I work out,” Little notes. She’ll finish with 20–30 writer for supercross.com. That led to stints as minutes of cardio on a stair-stepper or treadmill. a Supercross announcer and co-host of NBC’s Gravity Games. >> Heart kick-start: Little spends most Thursdays traveling to race venues, but she still By 2001, Little earned a journalism degree squeezes in some form of cardio, such as a run or a Spinning session. “It’s never the same thing,” from San Diego State University (good use of she says. her free time, huh?) and, at 23, had five years of >> On-the-job training: Possibly her best workouts come on Fridays and Saturdays. For pre- broadcast experience. In another bold move, IKE. N race research and on the actual race day, she’ll spend 8–12 hours at the track gathering and she cold-called ESPN bigwig Rich Feinberg reporting stories. “Pit row is a half-mile to a mile long, and you’re running all over the place,” OPELAND and explained why she should cover the C she explains. “You burn a ton of calories.” X Games. “I begged,” she says. “I said, ‘Hey, >> Quick snacks: To stay energized, Little brings Kashi TLC bars and fruit everywhere. That I’ve been doing the Gravity Games, I need to be HRISTINE C on this show. I’ll make you proud.’” She got the helps her avoid unsavory alternatives. “There’s food at the track, but it’s Southern cooking — job, and when she wasn’t working Summer or everything is fried and fattening,” she notes. She also drinks loads of water to stay hydrated. Winter X (and later, the Indy Racing League), >> Protein priority: “I try to eat protein with every meal,” Little says. That means egg whites, she humbly shouldered more obscure broad- fish, chicken, steak and sushi, balanced with carbs such as oatmeal, green veggies and pasta. TK GYM: 24 HOUR FITNESS. WARDROBE: HAIR AND MAKEUP: Her most basic secret? “I eat when I’m hungry, and I stop when I’m full.” 76 MUSCLE & FITNESS hers NOV/DEC 2007 muscleandfitnesshers.com 77 TAKING STOCK Little will patrol pit row THE STRONG SURVIVE drivers, Kevin Harvick, won the race. “I got to throughout this year’s The hang power clean and go to victory lane and do the postrace inter- Chase for the Nextel push press gives Little lots view,” Little says. “That’s the best part. Talking Cup, which culminates of benefit in one five-step to guys who didn’t win can be a little tough.” in the final event of the move — it’s yet another way Of course, not all of racing is so glamorous. season, the Ford 400 Baird has made her routine For 38 weeks a year, Little spends Monday in Miami on Nov. 18 extremely efficient through Wednesday perusing websites and watching TV to learn all she can about the upcoming weekend’s race(s) before traveling to the venue on Thursday. Friday, she’s at the track for 10–12 hours, visiting garages to uncover the backstories she’ll report on the fol- lowing day. “It’s one whole week of prep for four hours,” she explains. “But you have to dig for new info and understand what’s going on with the cars. People can be skeptical, and you have to make sense to win them over.” Come the weekend, Little and the other three pit reporters will each be assigned 10 or 11 of NASCAR’s 43 teams. Throughout the race, she listens to team radios, runs from pit to pit for details and checks in with the pit producers, who make split-second decisions on which sto- ries — race stoppages, unusual pit stops, crash- es — are compelling enough to warrant cutting to her for the inside scoop. Sure, it’s exhausting, but like riding a dirt bike at age 6, it’s exhilarat- A B ing, too. “Being healthy and fit, when I’m sweating it doesn’t even bother me,” Little says.