Motorsports history is littered with sons of famous fathers following in dad’s footsteps and trying to make their own names.
Michael and Mick Schumacher. Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bobby and Graham Rahal. The Andretti and Sainz families. Bill and Chase Elliott. The list goes on.
But motorsports isn’t just a man’s world anymore.
One of the women rising through the racing ranks is F1 Academy driver Lia Block. She’s the 18-year-old daughter of Ken Block, who made his name with his rally racing, the popular “Gymkhana” video series and brands such as Hoonigans before dying in a snowmobiling accident in January 2023.
Lia grew up in paddocks and naturally drifted towards off-road racing, eventually becoming a rally champion and later winning the Pro-Stock division of the Baja 1000 with her mother Lucy and the Block House Racing Team just over a year ago. Having become successful in her own right, the Williams Academy driver is now staring down her second full season in single-seaters, wanting to fight for the F1 Academy title.
Block is grateful that her father and his reputation opened doors to the motorsports world early in her career, but “it’s been really hard” navigating her career as ‘the daughter of.’
“I don’t want people (to) think that I’m…
