Getting behind the wheel in this year’s Indy race ‘very full circle’ for Markham’s Chalkias

By Gene Pereira, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Demi Chalkias feels the emotions and excitement building inside her when she’s even asked about it.  

“I get goose bumps when you even ask the question,” said the Markham racecar driver about what it would mean to her to hit the track in her hometown this summer at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy on Aug. 14-16. “I just reflect on growing up in the streets of Markham, and to be able to race there definitely feels like it’s come full circle to come back and do that. Especially as a new mom, to have my son there.

“I was once a newborn in Markham growing up, and to have him (Teddy) being able to watch me race where I grew up, all of it just seems very wholesome, and very full circle for me.”

The three-day motorsport event, part of a new five-year agreement to bring the race north of Toronto, will be held in downtown Markham, near the Unionville Go and Pan Am Centre, on a new 12-turn, 3.52-kilometre temporary street circuit.

Having already secured a pair of previous third-place finishes at the Toronto Indy in her No. 34 Mercedes-AMG GT4 race car, Chalkias still can’t believe one day she’ll have the opportunity to lay rubber in downtown Markham.  

“I would never, in a million years, imagine that I would be able to race on our home streets,” she said. “It’s kind of funny because I can say I’ve done 260 km down Lakeshore (Boulevard) legally, and to be able to go back on the streets I learned to drive on and be able to do the same thing, will be very cool.”

Chalkias spent several of her younger years in the city around motor sports, thanks in large part to her father Bill’s passion for cars and racing.

Having immigrated to Canada on his own with very little, Bill would go on to race cars himself and become a long-time member of the Porsche Club of America (PCA) Upper Canada Region.

“Some of my earliest memories are being on the driveway at our home in Markham with his racecar on the driveway and all the neighbourhood kids coming by and saying, ‘Oh, that’s so cool,’ and I just remember being so proud,” said Chalkias…‘My dad’s a racecar driver.’ I thought it was just the coolest thing.”

While he always wanted a son, Bill was “blessed” with three daughters. Still, he never treated his girls any differently.

“We were always in the garage helping him work on cars,” said Chalkias, the youngest daughter. “He taught us all how to drive a manual car by the age of 10. He very much instilled that driving aspect in us, but he never forced racing on us.”

While he would later return as a high-performance driving instructor, with a family of three and a business to run, he eventually left the sport to focus on family and business.

Always a competitive person herself, Chalkias would gravitate to sports. A talented runner and cyclist, she eventually found her way into triathlons and “instantly became addicted” to them.

Training with Olympic coaches and competing at a national level, her dream was to represent Canada and compete one day at the Olympic Games.

That dream would take a major hit when she suffered a devastating hip injury at the age of 16.

“I trained day in and day out, but with my competitive mindset, I started overtraining,” said Chalkias. “My mindset is that if I’m not training, somebody else is, so I was working out six to seven times a day.

“It definitely became more of an obsession than anything healthy. Eventually, my body just broke down, and rightfully so for what I was putting it through.”

She was told by doctors she could have an expensive surgery, but with no guarantee that the femur bone they had to shave down would grow back.

It ended up being the biggest blessing.

“For me, it was like a rug had been pulled out from beneath me because I had to stop cold turkey,” explained the Markham native. “At the time, it was the most devastating thing that could happen to me. All my dreams were shattered, but after sulking in my own misery for a bit and knowing if I’m not that, what do I do, I said I’m not useless.

“I still have a very competitive mindset. What else can I do that doesn’t utilize my hip? That’s when I thought of go-karting. My go-karting career started and eventually transitioned into car racing.”

After all, the sport fits her competitive personality. The need to challenge herself.

“I just like to know I can do things,” said Chalkias, who was the first female driver to win the 2020 CASC Pirelli GT3 Sprint Championship. “To not only see that I can do things, but to be able to see how far I can take these things. It’s just that dedication, that want and that drive, to see how far I can push these things. How far can I push myself?

“That’s where my competitive mindset stems from more than anything. It’s more for me. . . And I like to, often, take it to the extreme.”

Chasing her dreams on the track also meant walking away from her path to med school. While it was an easy choice for her, it was also hard knowing she was the daughter of an immigrant who came here with little, and she was the first in the family to have the privilege to attend university.

“It was a very difficult path, but sometimes those sacrifices felt like they were supposed to be part of the process,” she said. “I never looked at it as sacrifices. ‘This is just what I got to do.’

“I’m so grateful that I stuck with the path and I didn’t listen to people who wanted to doubt me. I’ve had and continue to have a very cool career. I’ve made something of myself in this sport, and it means a lot.”

While it started as a passion, Chalkias soon discovered there was something bigger about her being on the racetrack. She started having little girls approach before and after races.

“Often, I’d beat their dad, which was funny,” said Chalkias, who would eventually tune into the fact that she was the only woman at driver’s meetings.

“I think representation is huge,” she added. “I never started racing with the idea of being a bit of a trailblazer, but it kind of fell into my lap. I looked at it as a privilege to be able to do that and be a role model for young girls.

“It’s so cool, because I have nieces and nephews now, and they’re involved in go-karting.”

The path has also led her to her family. She met her fiancé, Connor Attrell, racing against him on the track.

“So much good has come from racing,” said Chalkias. “Obviously, in my personal life. Meeting my fiancé, and us now welcoming our son into the world. Just seeing how that all worked out. We would have never met had it not been for racing.

“Even how it’s shaped me as a person. You go through a lot when your career is being a racecar driver. There’s so much to navigate, and it’s a sport that really pushes you physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.”

Like her decision to start a family and continue her racing career. So many times, she was told it was one or the other. Questions that were only asked of females.

Women, she said, can do both.

“Me coming back to racing as a new mom, just months post-partum, I think there’s so much power in that because that’s something I was told my whole career wasn’t possible,” she said.

“Me coming back, with it not only just being my hometown, but having a lot of stereotypes to break, I think is supercool.”

Her career has taken her to some of the highest levels of racing in North America, from flying on private jets to speaking on stages alongside British Formula One driving champion Lewis Hamilton.

A movie was even made about her career, a documentary titled The Car Knows No Difference.

“I would have never dreamed in a million years that was going to be my life when I had my hip injury, but I would have never been able to experience this if I had let myself collapse and be like, ‘OK, that’s it for me. I’m no longer an athlete.”’ said Chalkias.

What she wants is to set an example for Teddy, for others. Let them know that you can dream big and that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

“It’ll be cool for Teddy, my son, to grow up and see that,” she said of her racing career. “I can’t wait to tell him my stories, including my struggles that it took to get where I’m at.

“I want him to know that I’m so proud of how hard I worked to get here, and everything that I had to navigate to get where I am.”

Chalkias is still busy securing a budget to ensure she can compete in her hometown race.

“Racing is extremely expensive,” she said. “We still have a bit of work to do.”

If any local business wants to be represented and would like to partner and help support the mission and vision the driver is pursuing at the Markham Indy, she would “absolutely love” to have a conversation.

Chalkias can be contacted through her email at [email protected] or via her Instagram account @demichalkias.

 

 Photo: “I get goose bumps when you even ask the question,” said Markham racecar driver Demi Chalkias about what it would mean to her to hit the track in her hometown this summer at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy on Aug. 14-16.