SAN ANTONIO, TX :: Berklee Jimenez is only 14-years-old but she has already won over 75 Quarter Midget races all across the country.  Now, Jimenez is stepping up in to the Late Model ranks.

Fresh off a strong 2014 season where she scored seven wins and a national championship in USAC Heavy World Formula in the 2014 season, Jimenez has signed a 15 race deal with Roger Johnson and Performancenter Racing to compete in the Late Model Stock Car ranks.

“I tested in November in a Late Model,” Jimenez said.  “That was the first time I’ve driven anything other than a Quarter Midget.  I’m very excited about it.  I’m thrilled.  When I was 12, I had a goal for myself that I wanted to go from quarter midgers to Late Models and I didn’t think it would happen but it did.”

Jimenez has been racing Quarter Midgets for nine years.  In addition to her national championship in USAC Heavy World Formula, she was the western champion in USAC Light World Formula in 2013 when she won five races.  Prior to that, she had won races in the local, regional and national levels of USAC Quarter Midget racing.

Jimenez thinks she can have the same type of success in Late Models and is optimistic that she will find success in her rookie season.

“I want to win a race in a Late Model,” Jimenez stated.  “It’s going to be a big adjustment from what I’ve been doing but I’m hoping to make it a smooth transition.”

When asked if she thought she could win a race in 2015, she said she thinks she can.  She’ll start the season running in Limited Late Models around North Carolina and then, later in the season, Johnson plans to run her in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour.

Jimenez hopes to spend her life in the sport of auto racing – preferably as a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“I would like to race in NASCAR,” Jimenez remarked.  “If that doesn’t happen, I would like to see my life associated around racing.  I want to study engineering so I can be around racing if I don’t make it.”

She says she is often asked if she is the next Danica Patrick.  To that, she says she wants to be better than Danica.

“Everyone always asks me if I’m the next Danica Patrick and I say I want to be Danica Patrick but I hope to be a better Danica Patrick and win.”