Behind every great NASA Championships event, there is a great woman.
That woman is Marie Adams, NASA National Project Manager and NASA Texas Regional Director. Adams was hired as the NASA National Project Manager in 2019. She and her husband Scott took ownership of the NASA Texas Region from Will Faules in October 2022.
Her journey in NASA began while she was still in college. What started as a part time gig at regional events became a full-time position and a lifelong passion. Over time, she has become well versed in the art of event planning and is a major player in the success of NASA Championships. Her hard work and dedication to her position leads to continually improving NASA events and overcoming obstacles. She says that using previous events as stepping stones and being open to advice/feedback are two integral reasons she succeeds in her role.
We chased down the booked-and-busy Adams to get her insight on the 2024 Championships.
Q: We just want to start by talking really quick about your background. I know you got involved with NASA because of your husband, so what was that journey like to becoming a national staff member and now Regional Director of NASA Texas?
A: I love the story of how I got started and where I am now. I think it’s inspiring for anybody in any career, really, that says, “I don’t know anything about this, but I think I have to be involved.” When I started dating my husband, he said we were going to go to a racetrack, and I literally didn’t even know what that meant. So I started going to some NASA weekends with him, just tagging along, hanging out, learning a little bit here or there and watching him race. And then eventually — I’m just kind of a go-getter — I was like, “Well, surely someone needs help with something, so let me go poke around.”
I got introduced to the registration ladies that were running driver info and just offered them help. Help with staff lunches and trophy presentations and just little odds-and-ends jobs. And slowly but surely, the more I learned, the more responsibility they gave me.
So, the registration ladies at the time — all had kids that were going into college, and they were kind of being pulled in different directions with their husbands racing and were getting busier. So they started training me to actually take over running driver info and so that’s really how I got started. I ran driver info from 2014 until 2018. It was just a part-time gig – six to eight events a year on the weekends – and I was going to college and had another full-time job and was living my 20s.
In 2018, the NASA Championships went to COTA [Circuit of the Americas] and that was kind of my job interview with NASA National. The Regional Director of Texas at the time told the national office, “Hey, I’ve got this girl in Texas who I think would be a good fit for the team if you’re looking for someone.” And so that was kind my working interview, then I got hired full-time in January of 2019. So, I didn’t help plan the 2018 Champs at all. I just kind of worked it from a normal driver info role. And then when 2019 rolled around, that’s when I really got involved with the planning of championships moving forward and becoming a NASA National staff member. And so again, I kind of did that for a few years of double dipping with helping with NASA National and still running driver info for the Texas region.
We’re really good friends with the previous NASA Texas owner, Will Faules. He’s literally the guy who married Scott and me — he was our officiant — so he’s a good friend and has always been one of my biggest mentors in motorsports along side my husband Scott. And we’d had some conversations throughout the years of, “Hey, if you ever want to move on, we’re definitely interested.” That call kind of came out of the blue so we scrambled to pull it all together, but we were really excited for the opportunity. But I literally came from a 21-year-old in college, knew nothing about cars or racing, and now it’s my full-time job. To me, It’s really a cool story.
Q: Now that you and your husband have been the Regional Directors of Texas for, it’s been almost two years coming up on the anniversary here in October, what have you learned since coming on as the regional director?
A: I would say the biggest thing I’ve learned is just to be open and let people help you right out of the gate. I’ve been doing this since 2013, 2014, so I’ve learned a lot and I’ve seen a lot behind the scenes, but there’s still a lot of people in NASA that have been doing this 20-30 years and they’ve seen a lot more of these scenarios than I have. So, I really try to be open to letting other people help, give me historical context and say, “Hey, this is what we’ve seen happen before. How do you want to handle it?”
Just being open and going with the flow. You’re never going to make everybody happy, but I think if you make people feel seen and heard, and you take advice and you try different things and you learn as you go, then that’s the best thing you can do as a Regional Director.
Q: Event planning in general is just super messy. It’s kind of hard to plan for every single thing that’s going to happen. How do you learn to do that and go about all of that?
A: I will say I have learned a lot since I’ve gotten involved with this. I had a couple of really great mentors with Will Faules and Jeremy Croiset, who’s now the CEO of NASA. But between those two and my husband Scott, they’ve really been my support system of what they’ve seen at other events and here’s how they’ve handled it. Just surrounding yourself with people that know more than you do and want to help will help you get through almost anything.
Same thing for department heads — you’ve got a head of tech, you’ve got a head of timing, you’ve got a head of race control. Bringing all those people together and having us work together, I think, is the best possible scenario because no one person knows everything. But if you get a lot of people with a lot of experience all on the same page, it’s much easier to work through it together.
Q: Yes, I totally agree. So, you were kind of at the helm of the 2024 Championships. What was the planning process like and what are the first steps you take in planning such a large event?
A: So, back to 2019 was kind of my first champs to be a part of the planning process and I literally had no idea what all went into it. I’d seen my small regional events and it’s literally that times 10. It’s everything you do, but just on a bigger scale. Every single year it’s a different place, it’s a different staff, it’s a different everything. And so I try to start with the facility piece and the logistics of where each department is going to be set up.
You’ve got to figure out where tech is going to be, where impound is going to be, general traffic flow, parking plan for anywhere from 200 to 400, maybe 500 rigs and competitors. So I try to start with really big picture stuff and just have a general idea of how I want it to flow, and then I start to hone in on the look and feel and the design elements of the event and all the little odds and ends that go in it after that.
Q: Going back to what you said before, you’ve been doing Champs for a couple of years now. How do you think the planning process for you has changed since when you first came onto the National team versus now?
A: I think I’ve just done a good job keeping documentation that I can go back and reference. I have previous maps and price points for different vendors and venues, and so I’ve kind of been able to compare and contrast and say, “Oh, well, we tried this before and it didn’t work.” Or we did this and it worked really well, or maybe it didn’t work at a different facility for other reasons, but maybe we could try it again.
I think just kind of the ebb and flow of going to different places and working with a lot of different people has allowed me to grow in the planning process of just … the more you see and the more you do, the more you get comfortable with making different decisions to try different things.
A: How many hours do you think it takes in total to plan the event?
A: Since I wear multiple hats between the National Office and Texas, I think I kind of split my time in thirds between championships, other NASA projects at the national level and then my Texas time. So the Championships planning kind of happens between January and September. Usually the end of the year – October, November, December – we’re kind wrapping up the champs and planning for the next year, etc. So really it’s a nine-month process. I would say if I split my time in thirds, I’m probably spending somewhere between 400 and 500 hours planning the Champs. Yeah, so definitely a labor of love.
Q: What struggles come with planning such a large event and how do you work through those?
A: I would say one of the biggest challenges is managing the one hundred plus staff members from the NASA side that we’re bringing in from multiple regions. It is a lot of people from a lot of departments from all different regions. And also the event moving from facility to facility each year. It’s different in your regional events – you go to the same three or four tracks and you have a rinse and repeat. You have a relationship with the track, you’re able to grow and learn each time you go there. The hardest thing about the Champs for me is that it’s always at a different place with a totally new set of staff. And so that in itself, to me, seems to be the biggest challenge but it is one that I enjoy.
Q: Yeah, definitely. What are the best and worst parts of planning?
A: Oh, I like the challenge of going to new places and I love getting to work with the different regions. Every region does things just a little bit differently and they might divide up their departments differently or they might have different processes. I love seeing how the different regions do things. It helps me grow as a Regional Director and as a Championships event manager to see, oh, well, I’ve never thought about doing it that way, and I think it helps me grow a lot. So I love that part of the event. And I guess the worst part is just the things that are out of your control.
I can plan and plan and plan and spend all the hours in the world, and there’s still going to be things that happen that are out of your control, which is hard, but that’s the nature of any event. And you just have to have the attitude to be OK to roll with that and know that there are going to be problems, and all you can do is solve them as they come up.
Q: Yeah, so tell me a little bit about the weekend of Championships this year. How’d you feel throughout the weekend? Was it a relief to get home or was it kind of bittersweet to get home after the event?
A: It’s a little bit of all those things. During the weekend, it is just a gauntlet. I get there the Monday before the event starts to start unpacking boxes and setting up and just triple checking everything. So it is a week-long haul. It’s super exhausting but also super rewarding. I always schedule myself a couple days to stay wherever the Champs are afterward, so I can recoup and enjoy and be proud of what we accomplished. So, it is a little bit bittersweet that it’s done, but I try to enjoy it as best I can.
Q: I watched the livestream, as much as I could anyway, and I was really impressed by how put together everything was. But it was kind of interesting for me as a new member of the team, because it is kind of cool to look and be like, “Oh wow, this is my team that I get to work with and I have the opportunity to learn from this team.” When you’re at the event, are you able to pause and be proud of everything you’ve done or does it kind of hit you a week after the event?
A: I really do try to pause during the weekend and say, “Hey, this is what we’ve been working for all year. Let’s enjoy it.” And it’s funny, our NASA National staff all live in different states, and so we only get to see each other a few times a year. So especially the team that, when we’re together we’re like, “Hey, we’ve really gotten into a groove,” because it’s been the same team for the last three or four years. And we do try to sit and have a cheers at the end of the day and say, “Wow, look how much better we are this year than we were last year.” And even though there’s things that we can continue to improve, I think our team does do a pretty good job of taking it in the moment and being proud of what we’re doing.
Q: Yeah, I think that’s a really good way to approach it. Has anyone ever thanked you for all the work that you put in?
A: Oh my gosh, that is literally what makes it all worth it! Even if it’s the one or two emails or text messages, I think this year has probably been the most I’ve ever received of people reaching out and saying, “Hey, you helped me with my parking spot,” or you did this or that and you really made my event smooth because of what you did. Those are the messages that keep you going and make it all worth it. And I talked to Aldrin, Roman, Brett and the team, and they say the same thing.
Even if it’s just a handful of people that say, “Hey, we saw how much better it was than last year,” or, “Hey, we saw that you made these changes that we asked for.” I mean, that’s just the cherry on top of a good event.
Q: I’m glad people are actually appreciating it. So, obviously the Championships weekend is super busy and I know you said you guys try to pause to appreciate everything. Do you guys try to stay in the moment or do you kind of enjoy the rush of it all at the same time?
A: I mean, it is still a mad rush, and we do the best we can to slow down and enjoy it, but it’s definitely hard to do, especially at different points during the event. And that’s what the ebb and flow of the event is, right? Wednesday, when people are moving in, it’s nuts. If people get parked in the wrong place, their whole event is off on the wrong foot. So, you get everybody parked and then the test day and qualifying is not quite as intense, and then it really ramps up again for Sunday.
So, there’s definitely ebbs and flows of the atmosphere of the event and the stress levels of all the staff, but I think we all do a good job of when the other departments are at their really stressful point, we try to step up and help each other and see those moments to lift each other up, which is cool.
Q: Did anything big go wrong? If so, how did you handle it or how did you prevent those things from going wrong?
A: This was one of the more smooth Championships in terms of any big, big issues like we dropped the ball on something or it was so bad that we couldn’t recover. Usually there is always facility damage or wrecks of some sort – at this event there were barely even any yellow flags.
It was the first event that I’ve been a part of since 2019 that we didn’t have a single facility damage. That’s usually a big stress point for me is that you’ve got to be the bearer of bad news to a driver that they’ve got a bill on top of already having a wrecked car and a bad weekend.
We did not have any big major instances like that which was a huge relief for me. There’s always a little bit of compliance checking, body contact here and there, but I mean it was very minimal for an event this size. I’ll accredit some of that to a good job with the planning. Also, sometimes luck is just on your side.
Q: Do you think there’s anything in specific you did differently this year that might have attributed to that?
A: I think we’re getting better and better with pre-event communication and drivers having clear expectations prior to arriving. I do feel like there was a lot of people that hadn’t been to the Champs before, but I do feel like we’re slowly but surely ramping up the pre-event communication. It’s tough. We put it all into a giant email that’s overwhelming to read.
We try to do a little bit better each year by breaking it up into smaller, more digestible pieces of information using the text-blasting system, some of that stuff and letting the race directors communicate some of the information instead of us as the event directors trying to communicate all of it. I think that might’ve been a small piece of it, but hard to say for sure.
Q: What did you learn overall from the 2024 Championships, and are there any big takeaways that you think will affect how you approach the 2025 Championships?
A: What I learned, I think, is you can always start sooner. I mean, I set all these deadlines for myself. We have a task manager system we use to set deadlines and when we want to start projects. And we do, I think, continue to do a better job of getting farther and farther ahead of things. But even managing my staff when I do my post-event feedback calls, they say, “Well, if we would’ve known this a little bit sooner, or you could have given me this template, or I could have worked on this a little bit leading up to the event.”
So, I am definitely still learning to delegate and let go of some projects and get people involved sooner, I think, is the biggest piece of the puzzle. And like I said, the staffing is one of the toughest pieces of just … there are so many positions to fill and you’ve got to pull from all over the country. So, I think starting even that process earlier and knowing who’s going to be in what positions and better setting them up for success will help the ‘25 Championships be even better.
Q: Speaking of the 2025 Championships, it’s going to be at Ozarks International Raceway, which is kind of exciting. And I know we’ve kind of talked about how Champs has never been there before. So what are you looking forward the most about that?
A: Right out of the gate, it’s a place we’ve never had Champs, and when we start talking about three-to-five year plans of where we want to go, I love the idea of going to new places and letting regional directors host an event that has never been there before. That in itself makes it super exciting.
One of the things I’m most excited about is really the ownership at Ozarks International Raceway and the Regional Directors there, Donna and Randy Lane. Between them and the Peseks, I think its going to be the best NASA Championships we have had yet.
Its a really solid team that I know is going to bend over backward to make sure we all have a successful event. Some tracks are so big and commercial, you don’t get that feeling, but it’s literally a father and son and you have their personal cell phone number, and they’re going to be there on a tractor moving things around if that’s what it comes to.
I think that’s a really exciting thing going into this event of just … it’s intimidating going to a place we’ve never been because we don’t have any previous maps or, “This is how we did it before.” It is totally new and I hope drivers will give us some grace on that, but I really do think we are set up for success with the staff that we’re going to have there to help make it happen. So, I’m super excited about that.
Q: Speaking of the drivers as well, do you think Ozarks is going to be more challenging in any way for the drivers or in terms of planning the event?
A: For the drivers, for sure. It’s a long track that’s tough to learn, so I think it’s going to require drivers to go ahead of the event and do some practicing if they truly want to be successful. It’s a newer track. So I mean, I think that should be the mentality for most Championships is to go and get some practice. But so many people have had so many laps at most of the iconic tracks that we go to that it’s not quite the same as it will be next year with this being a newer track that a lot of people haven’t been to yet.
It’s a challenging course. There are walls, but it’s no different from Road Atlanta or Watkins or VIR. It’s technical, and I think that’s going to make for an exciting event from the driver’s perspective.
And from the planning perspective, like I said, we’ve never been there, so it’ll be some learning, but we’ve got an event coming up here in a couple of weeks in October and then you’ve got already an April and a July event planned. So I think we will be able to see the traffic flow and the event logistics, and I think we’ll be able to plan a great event even having not had a Championships there before.
Q: I think it’ll be a good one for sure, and I think Ozarks will be a very interesting place to go see.
A: Yeah, it’s beautiful. I think it’s going to make for a fun, family-friendly vacation spot. It’s a beautiful area of the country, so I hope it’s one of those where we have a lot of spectators and a lot of families that come out and experience the Ozarks outside of the track as well.
