How a go-kart flip and a broken collarbone spurred Lanie Buice's racing career 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lanie Buice flipped a go-kart and suffered a broken collarbone. Five years later, the 18-year-old driver from Jackson, Georgia, credits her racing career to that flip. 

“My mom didn’t want me to race anymore,” Buice told Yardbarker. “We came to an agreement. We found Legend (Car) racing, which has a full roll cage.” 

The transition to Legend Cars was the first step in Buice building a racing career that now sees her compete on a national stage in both the zMAX CARS Tour and the ARCA Menards Series. 

But unlike many of her racing peers from the southeastern United States, Buice’s childhood wasn’t inundated with racing. If she was going to make a career out of driving a race car, learning the ropes was going to be her responsibility. 

“I don’t come from a racing family,” Buice said. “I got into (racing) at the age of 10. I’d always loved four-wheelers, and my dad built me a racetrack out in the backyard. I used to make him time me all the time.”

“I went with my dad one day to his work, and I saw a go-kart track out the window. I begged and begged him to take me. I’m super relentless; I didn’t give up on asking him to take me there.”  

When Buice finally got behind the wheel of a go-kart, she began to win on a frequent basis. That’s when the aforementioned flip and broken collarbone paved the way for her to transition to different disciplines of racing, despite her mother’s attempts to make her fall in love with different sports.  

“She made me play every single sport you could ever imagine,” Buice said. “Racing is definitely what I love. I’m sure of it because I’ve done everything else. I’m super thankful that my mom let me keep on trying.” 

In 2025, Buice is competing in the CARS Tour with Lee Pulliam Performance, the team she competed for in the 2024 South Carolina 400. Through three races in the 2025 season, Buice sits 15th in the standings. 

Buice described the Lee Pulliam Performance team as “one of the best groups you’ll ever be around.” 

The CARS Tour isn’t the only national stage that Buice is racing on in 2025. Buice participated in the ARCA Menards Series test at Daytona in January with Rev Racing and made her ARCA East debut for the team at Rockingham on April 19. She’ll also drive for Rev Racing in the ARCA Menards Series events at Kansas Speedway (May 9) and Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 23). 

Buice started fifth and finished eighth at Rockingham in her ARCA East debut. 

“It was a really cool experience,” Buice said of her ARCA debut. “I didn’t know I’d get that opportunity. Rockingham coming back, and then it being my first ARCA race, it was super neat.” 

Buice called the experience of racing on a national stage “super surreal,” a product of racing feeling like a world that was, at one point, out of reach. 

“Thinking back to the position I was in and the position I’m in now is incredible,” Buice said. “All the mentors, connections I’ve made, the hard work at the racetrack, even going to NASCAR races and handing out business cards — every bit of networking I’ve done has gone into this.” 

“I don’t just want to be a racecar driver; I want to be a winner,” Buice said. “I also want to be someone who cares about others. I’m going to give back any way I can."