Jody Fisher, 19, of South Kingstown, will race her Mazda Miata at the New Hampshire International Speedway this weekend, part of the Sports Car Club of America’s Race Against Leukemia.

The Providence Journal / Kris Craig

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Jody L. Fisher has a torch-bright smile and a competitive race car driver’s license, newly acquired and faithfully earned.

The only woman from Rhode Island listed with the Sports Car Club of America as a competitive racer, Fisher, 19, is gearing up for two major life moments, both happening this weekend: returning to the University of Connecticut, where she is a sophomore, and racing her screaming yellow and red Mazda Miata at the New Hampshire International Speedway in the fourth race of her career.

She flutters like a hummingbird in anticipation of the race, her golden hair flying as she moves swiftly around the Fisher family garage in Wakefield, where tools and photos of race cars fill the ample space. Fisher climbs into her 1990 Miata, demonstrating the required helmet and the tight fit for her 5-foot-6 form, and explaining the use of a window net “so nothing comes flying out to hit you.”

Her dad, Doug, will be expecting her to join him in a few hours for “garage night,” she says. “We have to keep up with the cars.”

She’s dressed for the summer day in hot pink shorts, T-shirt, and delicate jewelry. But she’s also wearing new gloves that safeguard her hands from grease and cuts, which come with the territory. Fisher knows that if she doesn’t understand how a car operates, she won’t be able to talk about wheel alignment and other mechanical tweaks when preparing to race.

And she wants to be prepared for this race, and years of others. Racing, she said, is her past, present, and especially her future.

“I always played basketball, soccer, ran track and snowboarded,” she said, “but I was never competitive. I never really had a passionate interest in anything, until this. It’s such an exciting sport. There’s nothing that compares to how you feel when you are out there.”

This weekend, Fisher will not only feel that thrill when she races, but also a quiet surge of private determination. She’ll be racing not just to improve her skills, but also to raise money for leukemia research in the sports-car group’s Race Against Leukemia.

“I will personally be driving this race in memory of my godmother, Carol Pacitto, who was a dedicated pediatric nurse at the Children’s Hospital in Boston who passed away this past January due to cancer,” she says, her smile replaced by a look of sober determination. And, she says, she is racing “in support of my close friend Beth Wyman, who has been fighting leukemia since being diagnosed two summers ago, right before her senior year in high school.”

JODY FISHER GREW up with the roar of racing as a significant part of her weekend landscape.

“When I was young, it was about weekends away from home,” she says. “Camping at the race track, helping out with timing cars and hanging around with other kids in the evening. I’d watch the grownups race, and dream of maybe someday doing it myself.”

This isn’t professional racing — drivers compete for trophies and the love of the sport. Still, her father, and his father, Emerson K. Fisher, each had racing in their backgrounds. “A lot of my interest had to do with them,” she says. And for many seasons, “it was just the thrill of watching my dad race.”

But with each passing year, she considered her own place in the sport.

Fisher put off doing anything about it while in high school, pursuing other commitments — she was class president at South Kingstown High School and an honor student — and regarding racing as something down the line, like going off to college. Still, though she participated in school athletics, she hesitated to commit to travel teams, fearing it would take her away from being with her family at the races. She even chose a college based on proximity to family so that they could get to racing events.

And last year, she applied for a novice permit. The weekend after she finished her last exam of her freshman year of college at UConn, she was back at school — drivers’ school.

Fisher attended the Sports Car Club of America Driver School at the International Speedway in Loudon, N.H., and earned her regional competition license. Fireproof socks and a black one-piece race suit became part of her weekend ensembles, and her reading material included Sportscar magazine and Pit Talk.

BEFORE ANY OF THIS could happen, she had to turn 18, know how to drive a standard shift, and demonstrate to her dad that she was serious.

It helped when she chose to focus her college application essay on what she sees as the symbolism of race car driving and her own personality traits.

Doug Fisher took it as a natural part of family life when all three of his daughters and his wife “came out and supported me,” spending weekends at races, cheering when he competed. While older daughters Lindsey and Kristen always enjoyed the races, it was Jody, his third child, who wanted to join him in the garage.

“Anytime you have a son or a daughter that shares your interests it’s gratifying,” says Doug, who — though his days are spent as a pharmacist — grew up tinkering with cars like some children play musical instruments. “It’s not to make me happy, by any means, but if she wants to do it, it’s great. When you love it, that’s what justifies it.”

The Fishers recognize the demands of racing, but while they all say there is a certain amount of tension at race time, they aren’t paralyzed with safety concerns.

“No, I’m excited for her,” says Jody’s mom, Kathy, citing the family’s lifelong interest in the sport, the precautions taken, and the knowledge necessary.

Still, when Jody raced for the first time, she was competing against men with a great deal more experience, some of them many years older.

“I was a nervous wreck the first time she raced,” says her father. “You’re just really aware of all the things that can happen.”

“It was very intimidating,” said Jody. “I had no experience with speed. I had never driven over 70.

“But they put you right on the track, right out front.”

FISHER RACES WITH a camera tucked in the car videotaping the entire process.

“When I’m out there, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world,” she says — but, dressed head to toe on a summer day, from helmet to her fire-proof socks, she sweats like crazy.

“It’s so hot, it’s unbelievable. But as soon as you get on the track, it doesn’t occur to you anymore.“It’s all about making each lap around the race track smoother and quicker without hurting myself or anyone else. Naturally, the speed is exhilarating, much like riding a roller coaster. But the fact that I am in control of things takes my emotions to another level.”

Officials of the Sports Car Club of America say Fisher is one of about a half-dozen female racers in New England.

Nationally, the group licenses some 9,219 drivers, says Erin Cechal at the group’s headquarters in Topeka, Kan. Of these, fewer than 300 are listed as female, and about 800 aren’t listed by gender. But “as far as our records indicate,” she says, “Jody Fisher is the only SCCA licensed female driver in Rhode Island.”

Not many people here are aware of her hobby. The girls that know “think it’s a little crazy,” Fisher says. The boys aren’t sure what to think, so they ask her technical questions.

“I tell them, ‘I don’t want to build cars, I want to race them.’ ”

DOUG FISHER SEES Jody’s participation in the sport as an inspiration to other young people to discover the pleasures of racing.

“Kids are distracted by so many other things,” he says. “My generation used to tinker with cars. The club really wants to bring young people into the sport for the next generation, and we wonder how we can funnel new blood into the organization.”

“If anyone can do this, it’s Jody,” says Beth Wyman, of Wakefield, who met Fisher in seventh grade. “She has the determination to do anything.

“The fact that even two years after my diagnosis she is still doing things to support leukemia research means a lot to me. She always has other people on her mind.”

Wyman says she is being treated for her illness but is “back at work, back in school and enjoying life one day at a time.” And, she adds, “I think it is inspiring that Jody is living her dream.”

TOMORROW NIGHT, Fisher expects to dash home from New Hampshire, unpack the car, replace racing equipment with the paraphernalia needed for a college dorm, then head off to Connecticut.

Last week, sweet voice steady, she hugged her father as they discussed upcoming races.

Would she have a pit crew this weekend? “My dad,” she answered.

But a few days later, Doug Fisher was rushed into the hospital for unexpected surgery. With his blessing, Jody worked on finding an alternate “crew.”

From his hospital bed, her dad said, “I’m planning on being at the race. Friends will help.

“I’ll support her like she has always supported me.”

To make a donation for leukemia research, write to Biotech One, c/o UMass Memorial Foundation, 365 Plantation St., Suite 100, Worcester, Mass., 01605, and make reference to Jody Fisher.

afleming@projo.com