Life Of Roadblocks Doesn't Slow Down Miata Racer, Crime Fighter

MCCALLA, AL. — Ritamarie Thomason lives somewhat of a double life.

Like a character out of one of the dozens of individually-framed comic books on the living room wall in the Thomason home in McCalla, she dedicates a good bit of her time to the night — battling crime and helping protect the streets of Tuscaloosa from the forces of evil. But unlike the secret daytime identities of billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne or mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent, Thomason prefers, in her off time, to be found behind the wheel of a souped-up, pink and white Mazda Miata, pushing high speeds in the hopes of zipping under a checkered flag.

An officer with the Tuscaloosa Police Department since 2011, Thomason was born into poverty in Rhode Island, spent time in an Alaskan homeless shelter, didn't learn to drive until she was 23 years old and overcame a host of other challenges to bring her to where she is today.

But if you ask her, she'll tell you the bumps and sharp turns along the way made all the difference.

A LIFE ON TRACK

Thomason didn't grow up a racing fan.

While her father worked multiple jobs to support the family, they still lacked the funds to have their own car. She would learn to drive in her 20s, with her first car being a yellow convertible Mazda Miata purchased from a used car lot.

"Since then, I've always had Miatas," she pointed out. "But I've joked [racing] is a midlife crisis."

Autocrossing was one of first organized racing platforms that piqued her interest. In this sport, a normal "daily driver" car navigates a marked-off parking lot course or open area, with drivers clocked for the fastest time in a vehicle that is straight from the factory.

An autocross club in Birmingham caught her eye and she set out to take to the track and put her dreams into action. While she already owned one factory Miata capable of running a course, fortunes had changed for the aspiring driver and her aspirations were growing.

"It was a big, far-reaching goal," she said. "After I got married to my husband, we were in a good financial position where I could get a second car and autocross the other one."

Undeterred as a female driving prospect, Thomason became fascinated with club racing and was drawn in when she saw others taking it on as a hobby. Most female drivers, she said, will normally have the backing and encouragement of a male counterpart, like a father, husband or boyfriend, but for Thomason, this has primarily been a solo venture.

"I showed up to my first track day in that car by myself and the kind of guys that are into track days aren’t always that friendly," she said with a laugh. "I’ve discovered that every guy with a car thinks they know more than me."

Thomason's custom Miata, sporting a number 13 that represents her police call sign, features a paint scheme taken from an older Mazda F1 Series car. The painted racer is kept in the Thomason's garage, which has been modified into an unorthodox type of his-and-her workspace — half racing pit, for her, and half wood shop for her husband, Sam.

On her side of the home garage, the floor is divided perfectly down the middle, coated on the racing side with glossy gray FloroPoxy finish to preserve the concrete under her car. It was through this workspace that she would transform a car with factory specifications into her dream on four wheels.

"When I bought this car, I bought it at the dealership and it was stock,"she said. "I gutted the interior, taking out the dash, seats, down to the bare minimum. I installed a new seat, put the center console back together, put the dash back in, installed the removable steering wheel, gauges … It had a full factory interior. It had never been raced."

From those humble beginnings, Thomason says she has won two events, but was quick to clarify that she was the only driver in her class that competed. Over that time, though, she has logged races at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Atlanta Motorsports Park, Road Atlanta, Carolina Motorsports Park, Memphis International Raceway and Road America.

Things weren't always as smooth on the track, however, as her fledgling racing career got out of the gate.

"My very first day on the track, I wrecked my car," she said. "When I turned [her no. 13 car] into a racer, I had never been on a race track before, but I thought this sounds like fun, I’m going do this and this car was only halfway built. I had already signed up for a track day in Atlanta, so I took the daily driver. I was in the rain and plowed into a wall and destroyed the entire passenger side of that car. That was a fun start to racing."

Never looking back and uninjured by her debut accident, Thomason said her ultimate goal is to make it to the professional ranks and one day win a spec Miata national championship, which can be done in two different racing associations: the National Auto Sport Association and the Sports Car Club of America.

"I love being a cop, but I was lucky enough to find my passion in life," she said. "Realistically, having a pro career is unlikely, but if the opportunity were to arise, it would be great. I think being a female racer helps."

The lack of women in racing is something Thomason also hopes to change, especially considering she is the only female driver in the ranks of the two clubs she competes in.

"I want to see other girls racing," she said. "I think a lot of girls are intimidated by the super macho environment and anything I can do to help them, if they want to tag along, but I want to see more girls involved."

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic also had an impact on her progress, but events are coming back with social distancing and masks, hopefully signaling a return to racing for the aspiring driver.

"My last race was in February and I didn’t go on the track again until May," she said. "But, for the most part, things are back. This last weekend was a track day over at Barber [Motorsports Park], a practice weekend and people started coming up to me and complimenting my driving and that had never happened before."

ALASKA TO ALABAMA

At night, Thomason leaves behind her husband and racing dreams to put on a uniform as a sergeant and midnight shift supervisor for the Tuscaloosa Police Department. Her path to a career in law enforcement, though, was sparked by the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 when she was more than 4,000 miles away from New York City.

"I was 18 years old, living in a homeless shelter in Anchorage, Alaska," she said. "I heard about it and I was like 'I want to help.' I had just enough money to get a plane ticket to New York ... ever since then my goal has been to be able to do something, be able to help."

She worked in airport security in Alaska before traveling to the Lower 48, eventually making her way to Tuscaloosa, where she finished paramedic school and worked for five years with Northstar EMS.

In her supervisor's role at TPD, Thomason spends most of her time coordinating and offering support to her staff of officers to ensure the shift runs smoothly from an administrative standpoint.

"A lot of my duty is just making sure they can do their jobs," she said. "I’ll come out on calls if they need a supervisor, but I'll go out on calls sometimes just to check on them, and it's a lot of checking up on them to make sure they can do their jobs."

Like racing, she also described the specific set of challenges that come with being a woman in law enforcement, such as sexism and misogyny, but also pointed to how there were other aspects that actually helped on the job.

"I've found that men are very unlikely to punch me in the face," she said, maintaining her sense of humor. "I’ve discovered I can talk to people and get them to comply a little bit easier than a male officer. A male officer might be a threat to their masculinity and, if they submit, they feel like they are less of a man. But with me it doesn’t matter. I think I can use my voice and my skills of talking to people and get people to comply without having to use force."

Thomason's husband, Sam Thomason, said worry isn't a factor at home, despite the inherently dangerous nature of his wife's law enforcement career and daytime hobby behind the wheel.

The couple has been married since 2017 and both said their dynamic is an easygoing one.

"It’s fine and the cop stuff doesn’t bother me at all," Sam said. "I know she knows what she’s doing, but with the racing, I've never been a big racing fan, but I love that she loves it. "

Sam said with the ongoing nationwide outcry against law enforcement in the wake of police violence prompting protests, the couple has been thankful to live in west Alabama and the attitude they see on a daily basis has been a positive one.

"I know it bothers her, so it upsets me," he said. "But even in Tuscaloosa, people generally aren’t mean. We’re in a small enough town. It’s not the same. It wasn’t a week or two after things were really tense where some guy randomly buys her lunch one day. I love stuff like that."

From the hardships of her youth to the social climate of the present, a life of hurdles has not been enough for Ritamarie Thomason to put the brakes on her ambitions when many would have been discouraged. In fact, she cites overcoming adversity as being central to who she is today.

"I was bitter for a while, but that doesn’t get you anywhere," she said. " All of those experiences, good and bad, put me here with this guy and that car and this job and I think had anything happened differently, none of this would have happened."