It's no stretch to say that Jamie Little is a leader in motorsports broadcasting. Her resumé is full of firsts and only's: the first woman to call play-by-play for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and the only woman to be a play-by-play announcer for the NASCAR Cup Series. She was the first woman to cover the Indianapolis 500 as a pit reporter, and the first woman to cover both the Daytona 500 and Indy 500. She also has firsts in Supercross, X Games, and MotoGP. Outside of motorsports, she has broadcasting experience in the Westminster Kennel Club's dog show and the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

Little keeps up a full schedule with Fox Sports, and she is also a tireless advocate for pet rescue. Her activities on behalf of shelter animals have raised more than $130,000 in donations for various animal welfare organizations. Today, she lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with her husband and two children.

PRI: Tell us a bit about your background. How did you get into motorsports broadcasting?

Little: I think I'm pretty lucky, and it's kind of a unique way that I found it, but it's true. I found broadcasting through my passion for racing. I was 15 years old, growing up in Las Vegas, raised by a single mom and an only child, so I didn't have a dad who raced or brothers who raced or anything. But I met these guys who raced dirt bikes, and I loved to hang out with the guys with dirt bikes and quads. These guys introduced me to Supercross, and of course in Las Vegas, in the desert, that was the only sport that we really had. As time went on and I learned more about Supercross, I was that weirdo who would bring Dirt Rider magazine to school.

Over time I realized, 'Well, why can't I be the one interviewing these guys?' I would watch Supercross and Motocross on TV every weekend, and I wanted to be that person. So I found a guy with an ESPN microphone at an event and I said, 'Hey, I really want to do this. I want to give it a shot. What do I need to do?' He was a freelance cameraman for RPM Tonight for ESPN2 at the time.

Long story short, I started going to local races with him, moved to San Diego, and got my degree at San Diego State University. I went to school for journalism Monday through Friday, and then I would get on a plane and cover Supercross. I was paying my dues doing the interviews on ESPN2. I became the live announcer, and I did that for four years. I would travel with the Supercross series, and then from there ESPN got to know who I was, and the rest was history. My boss took me into IndyCar racing in 2004 and then took me to NASCAR in 2007. I was with ESPN and ABC through 2014 and then started with Fox in 2015.

PRI: Is there anything you've learned working in motorsports that you apply to other areas of life?

Little: The main thing is that if you have a vision for yourself and there's something that you want, you have to ask for it. You have to go for it. A perfect example of that is in 2006, I was covering the whole IndyCar series. Rusty Wallace was a fellow broadcaster because he had signed with ABC and ESPN to do NASCAR, but they wanted him to cut his chops and get used to broadcasting in IndyCar. I remember we were at the last race of the season, and he said, 'All right, Jamie, you're coming over to NASCAR with us.'

I said, 'No, Rusty, I want to get there, but everybody wants to do it, and everybody's calling the bosses, and I just don't want to be that person. If they want me, they'll call me.'

He said, 'Jamie, let me tell you something. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.' I took it to heart, and literally it was a month later that I went up to the bosses and I just said, 'Hey, you guys probably already have your schedule and your plans with all your broadcasters, but I just want you to know that I really want to be part of the NASCAR team.' And I got it. Throughout my whole career, I've always gone for what I wanted. I believed in myself. And I think that applies to life. You can't be scared to ask for and go for what you want because if you don't, you'll never know what you could make of it. That's the best piece of advice that I could give other people.

PRI: Do you see your career as breaking down barriers and smoothing the way for other women to come along behind you, or are you just doing your thing?

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