As a competitor in one of motorsport’s most adrenaline-charged arenas as well as an entrepreneur running her own company, Abbey McDonald is carving out a dynamic dual career that challenges stereotypes and rewrites the rules.
She is best known for her fierce competitive presence on the drag strip – that quarter mile of racetrack which, in her front-engine, naturally aspirated, 9-litre, methanol-slurping monster of a dragster, she can cover in a smidge over 7 seconds and reach speeds in excess of 280km/h.
Her passion for the sport, paired with an entrepreneurial mindset and a savvy understanding of the power of social media and promotion, has seen the 29-year-old build a marketing and consulting business – Built Different Marketing – and a potent online presence. As of June 3, 2025, Abbey has more than 70,000 followers on her TikTok and another 70,000+ on Instagram.
Based on the Gold Coast, Abbey is part of a new generation of women reshaping motorsport culture, building successful businesses, and embracing the power of living online.
“I’m currently involved in the automotive industry in two key ways,” she says. “The first way is my racing. I race a front-engine dragster in modified drag racing, and I also do a little bit of circuit racing. I have done that as a bit of a hobby, but this year I will be entering that competitively as well. I’ll soon be driving a Brock replica VK Commodore, and outside of that in my professional life as well, I also do race, but I do it in a marketing events and consulting setting. I have been a marketing and events professional for seven plus years, so now I’ve created by our own agency that focuses on providing those services for the motorsport and automotive industry.”
For Abbey, the track and the workplace are intertwined. Her workdays rarely look the same, blending the demands of entrepreneurship with the preparation of race days and content creation.
“A typical day for me? I’m not sure that even exists . . . Every day is so different,” she says. “Racing is in all facets of my life. It’s in my personal life and my professional life. There is constant crossover. One Tuesday, I could be working on the race car in the morning and be in a business suit meeting with clients in the afternoon.
“I’m always moving. I’m always on the road . . . and it’s a mix of business meetings, racetrack prep, maintenance, editing, posting content, filming content – just constantly being on the move, looking for new opportunities, networking, going to amazing events, supporting amazing events, and racing in amazing events. It’s different every day!”
The roots of her motorsport journey go deep.
“I’ve been a revhead for as long as I can remember,” she says. “I grew up in a family that was religious about watching the V8 Supercars . . . Bathurst was bigger than Christmas for us – it was the event of the year!”
It wasn’t until 2016, however, that she discovered drag racing. That pivotal moment came at the Winternationals, when she tagged along, not that enthusiastically, with her stepdad and mum and saw the track, saw the cars, heard the noise, felt the rumble of the engines, for the first time.
“I’ll admit I was a little concerned about how I was going to go for four days straight of just car racing,” she says. “Then I walked through the gates, and I was hooked. It was like a light bulb switching on and I thought, ‘Where has this been all my life!?’ . . .
“These cars are purpose-built and they’re unlike anything else out there,” she adds. “The engineering, the science, the detail that goes into drag racing is completely unmatched. I fell in love then and there and you could not get my bum out of that seat for four days straight. I pestered every driver that would speak to me – anyone that gave me time of day.”
From that point on the die was cast, and Abbey focused on how she could become involved in the sport. Her rise was rapid.
With initial backing from stepdad Mick, whose business – Mick Newport Contracting – remains a sponsor – Abbey had her hands on a drag-spec Holden Torana and, from there, the addiction took hold. Since then, Abbey has steadily worked her way through the categories and into the Modified class – one of the ridiculously fast categories in which those instantly recognisable, open-wheel, dart-shaped dragsters are driven.
At age 22, and based in Cairns, Abbey’s entry into Modified drag racing, driving a rear-engine dragster back then, kickstarted an epic learning curve.
“There was about two years there of maintaining it, learning the different tips and tricks, understanding how to read weather, how to read race car data . . .” she says. “My first competitive season was after I’d been in the car maybe a handful of times across two years . . . I came fourth in that season, and I learned a lot.”
Now based on the Gold Coast, Abbey competes nationally when she can, and at her ‘home’ track Willowbank Raceway near Brisbane as often as the chance arises. It’s something she would do every day if possible.
“The thrill that you feel driving and piloting something like this is unmatched . . .” she says. “I am just so honed-in on that finish line and on doing what I need to do . . . everything else just fades away.
“There’s the sheer sound. The vibrations through your whole body that you feel,” she adds. “You’re staring down the centre of the trumpets, watching the engine roar, watching the frame flex in front of you. By half-track, which is roughly 400m, I’m already doing 240km/h, and it’s taken me 4.3 seconds to get there. By the quarter mile I’m pulling upwards of 280km/h in under eight seconds . . .
“Then, right as you get past that finish line, you pull that parachute, and you feel the ‘whoof’ as it pulls you back. And you get this release of adrenaline.
“I have GoPros that sit above my roll cage and, after every single run, when that parachute pulls, all you’ll hear is a little ‘ARGH!,’ and that’s me in there just squealing out of happiness and joy and adrenaline . . . I wish everyone could get the chance to experience it.”
Abbey’s passion for her drag racing spills over to her marketing business – Built Different Marketing. She studied events and marketing management at university and her motorsport passion allows her to bring special insight to client work.
“I feel I can bring a really unique perspective to it,” she says. “I understand things from a driver’s lens. I understand from a chasing sponsorship lens. I understand from a financial lens and from a spectator lens . . . I bring a very unique perspective, and I think that makes me relatable on a professional level and gives me a unique insight that I can channel into my marketing, events, and consulting services . . .
“I get to take part of me in everything that I do. I get to put it into my racing, but I get to put it into my professional work too. So, it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like I’m just working with people that understand me, and that I understand. And it’s creating something that’s bigger ad better than both of us.”
Being part of the automotive industry through motorsport and through her business has not all been plain sailing for Abbey. Challenges and biases have arisen, but she is generally positive about the journey she has been on.
“I believe the automotive industry and the way that it’s accepting and embracing women is definitely changing,” she says.
“I want women to understand that there is a support network here to enter into motorsport there. There are opportunities there and amazing people that will support you inside the sport and outside of the sport.
“There will be people that don’t too, and that’s fine. That exists. Move on. Their opinions don’t matter really . . . at the end of the day, when we’re on the track it doesn’t matter who is underneath that helmet. What matters is your talent and your discipline to your sport.”
She does, Abbey says, get lots of support through her social media channels – channels which have not only helped her become more visible to the fans and backers of her sport., but also helped her to inspire others.
“I got a message from a lady who lived up north, and she said, ‘I just want to let you know that because I’ve been watching you for a while, you’ve inspired me to go to a drag race.’
The next day she went to that drag race and I got another message from her, that said, ‘I won!’ and I thought, ‘Wow, this has a bit of power behind it. I’ve just been having fun, but it’s made a difference to someone.’
“That kind of feeling is a little hard to describe,” she says. “It created a whole new layer to what I was doing. Not only do I love the sport, but now I love what my sport is doing for other people.”
Which brings us to Auto Women, an initiative which Abbey can see will help keep pushing that momentum of change through every part of the automotive industry.
“I think initiatives like Auto Women are fantastic contribution to the industry and so vital to the evolution that’s already happening,” she says.
“I absolutely love the girl community that already exists in motorsport and in drag racing, we are very blessed to have more and more women entering. Initiatives like Auto Women provide a platform for us to meet on a national level. We can engage with people from all over the country, which is so important.
We need to be supporting each other and uplifting each other. It’s the girlhood way!”
While not a trained mechanic, Abbey’s obsession with drag racing and hr accumulated knowledge of cars means she get can get hands-on in an engine bay or under a hoist with no hesitation. It’s something she does trackside but also at home, where there’s more than one project car getting the Abbey McDonald treatment.
“I own a 1996 S5 Hilux . . . the two-wheel-drive model, and I have that lowered and am currently doing an engine swap – removing the 22R carbie engine and putting in a 3RZ injected engine,” she says.
“So right now, because that is currently on jack stands, I’m driving a Ford Ranger to get me from A to B. I also own a 2003 Clubsport and a 1990 BMW E30, which is a project car as well.”
What about a dream car?
“If money were no object?! That’s a big question!” she adds. “I have so many and they all sort of stem into different categories. I could pick one for Euro, I could pick one for JDM, I could pick . . . there’s honestly so many!
“However, if I had to pick one . . . I have had a fixation since my very first Winternationals in 2016 when, right up the very front of the track, there was a pit set-up for Stuart Bishop’s Top Doorslammer. Out the front was one of the team’s personal cars, and it was a McLaren P1.
“I had never seen one in real life before, and I was glued to this car . . . From that day, I have just been obsessed with the McLaren P1 and if money were no object and they said pick one, that that’s what I’d pick. They are just they’re work of art on wheels. I think I’d be crazy not to!”
Owning a McLaren may one day come to pass. In the meantime, Abbey’s drag racing and business journey is gathering steam. There are still many goals to reach, challenges to be met, championships to win and clients to help, but there is little doubt that her significant resources of passion and drive will help get her where she wants to go. But if she were able to, what advice would she give her younger self just starting out in the sport and in business?
“Don’t listen to what they have to say. There’s a lot of hate out there and you’re not going to be perfect . . .” she says. “And be the ‘dumbest’ person in the room. That means you’re around people that you can use as motivation and inspiration and education. Learn from anyone and everyone and just run with it.”
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