BlogConcession Trailers

Car Chix advancing women’s movement in male-dominated motorsports industry

Danica Patrick may be the most well-known woman inmotorsports, but Jeanette DesJardins is doing her part to advance the women's movementin the male-dominated industry.

DesJardins founded Car Chix in 2009 in order torecognize, inspire, and encourage women that are involved or interested inmotorsports and the automotive industry worldwide. Since then, she has built a socialmedia following that exceeds 100,000 and a subscriber base of 3,500 – nosmall feat for a suburban Chicago girl.

“Car Chix started off as a fun wayfor us local gals to share our racing photos and stories on a forum I built inmy studio apartment in college,” DesJardins said. “Now we travel the country hosting ladiesonly drag races and have become the number one resource for women in motorsportsand the automotive industry.”

The Car Chix following was built at the grassroots levelwith blood, sweat, and tears, as DesJardins traveled the country hawking CarChix merchandise and spreading the word at races and industry events.Eventually, the grind of setting up tents, being exposed to the elements, andstuffing her car with bins full of shirts became too much, so she sought a moreefficient solution.

That’s when she turned to Advantage Trailer.

“Initially, I considered building a trailer down South, but Idecided on Advantage because they’re right in my back yard,” DesJardins said.“They came highly recommended and I knew that if I ever had any issues with itor needed to make any changes Advantage could get it done.”

That was proven in February when her trailer was backed into before leaving the Lights Out 10 event at the South Georgia Motorsports Park inFebruary. It just so happened that Dan Rocco, one of Advantage Trailer’sservice leads, was attending the event, and when he noticed the damage to thetrailer’s bumper he fixed it on the spot, no questions asked. 

Car Chix custom retail trailer“It was crazy enough to run into one of the guys who builtmy trailer at an event 1,000 miles away,” DesJardins explained. “But then forhim to go out of his way to fix it before I hit the road, it just speaksvolumes about Advantage Trailer. That’s the kind of people they are, and if Iever decide to get another trailer I know who I’ll go with again.”

The trailer is a 7-foot by 12-foot concession trailer thatAdvantage had custom-built with a larger window and a higher ground clearance.DesJardins chose to customize the interior herself, utilizing milk crates ast-shirt storage, adjustable garment racks and mannequins for product display,and rope lighting to augment the trailer’s interior lighting.

Although she wishes she had opted to include airconditioning, which at the time she didn’t think she would need, DesJardinsdoesn’t have any regrets about making the investment.

“It has been a life saver. Instead of spending hours settingup pop-up tents and all the product display items, carrying bins full oft-shirts from my car to the tent, and trying to keep everything organized whileselling products – all while potentially standing in the mud or trying to staydry – I can just pull up my trailer, pop open the window, and be ready to sell.

“If the rain is coming in sideways, maybe I’ll have to close the window a bit,but other than that, it’s a game-changer. I can leave all the product displayedwhile traveling, I can haul my bike with me inside the trailer when I travel, andusually I even have my dog in here with me during events.”

DesJardins spent International Women’s Day working the CarChix trailer at World of Wheels Chicago and will support the Hot Rod Racing Expo in Detroit, Mich. and the 3rd Annual Autos for Autism event in Bonne Terre, Mo. next month before spendingmost of the summer at races throughoutWisconsin and Illinois.

If you run a small business that could benefit from atrailer, take DesJardins’ advice and make the investment. Not only did thetrailer significantly improve her physical and mental well-being before,during, and after events, it also allowed her to expand her product line from ahandful of shirt designs to well over 20.

Give Advantage Trailer a call at 630-584-5840 today or send us an email at marketing@advantagetrailer.comto start the conversation about your custom trailer. 

————————————————————————————————-

Car Chix is based inStreamwood, Ill. You can join Team Car Chix or volunteer at a Car Chix event and follow them on Facebook, Instagram,Twitter,LinkedIn, YouTubeand Pinterest

Car Chix custom retail trailer

Share This

Subscribe to our blog for valuable tips and resources delivered right to your inbox.

More From Our Blog