Former Carolina TopCat is Newest Miss Sprint Cup
By Jon Busdeker
Orlando Sentinel
Former Carolina Panther TopCat Kim Coon in the middle
Kim Coon’s uniform is black, form-fitting and will keep her from igniting.
“This is definitely the only job I’ll ever have where I get to wear a fire suit,” said Coon, a 27-year-old Orlando native who is the newest Miss Sprint Cup.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Coon, who now resides in Charlotte, N.C.
Coon is one of three women who travel the U.S. and appear at every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, 36 in all, to promote Sprint products, interview drivers and interact with fans. They also offer a behind-the-scenes account of NASCAR to their more than 300,000 social-media followers.
“I just try to make race day that much better,” Coon said.
Since last week, Coon has been in Central Florida for the run-up to the Daytona 500, the opening race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Fans can meet her and the other Miss Sprint Cup representatives at the Sprint Experience outside Turn 4 at the speedway or at the Sprint Fanzone next to the garage area.
“It’s a huge party,” Coon said about the Daytona race. “It’s like starting off our season with the Super Bowl.”
Growing up, Coon didn’t know the difference between Dover and Darlington (racetracks in Delaware and South Carolina, respectively).
A graduate of Lake Highland Preparatory School, Coon, whose parents and sibling still live in the area, played softball, track and danced. NASCAR just wasn’t her thing.
“I didn’t really give it the time of day,” Coon acknowledged.
In 2005, she went to her first race at the Daytona International Speedway and experienced the sight, the smell and the sound of cars zooming by at 180 mph.
“Once you go to a race, you’re hooked,” Coon said.
She’s not a fanatic, though — just an average fan who likes Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart.
After high school, Coon studied broadcasting at the University of Miami, and later earned her master’s degree in public relations at the University of Alabama.
“I bleed orange and green, but I root for ‘Bama,” Coon said.
She moved to Charlotte to work in marketing and public relations, later joining the Carolina Panthers cheerleading squad. Earlier this year, Coon appeared on ABC’s “The Bachelor,” an opportunity that arose when her sisters sent in an application.
Coon made it to the third episode before being cut.
“That was just the right amount of time,” she said.
Kimberly (left) during the 2009 season
Before leaving to tape the show, Coon applied for the Miss Sprint Cup job. She figured her background in public relations, marketing and broadcasting made her a perfect candidate.
“They just don’t want a pretty face out there,” Coon said.
She went in for a few interviews, which combined the usual question-and-answer sessions with mock on-camera and radio interviews. She didn’t hear back until the same night she was kicked off “The Bachelor.” She quit her public-relations job and began training for Miss Sprint Cup.
Veteran Miss Sprint Cup Paige Duke, best known for her thick Southern accent, gave Coon a few insider tips. Duke told Coon that the fire suit is hot in the summer, so wear an ice pack underneath. And to keep her eyes closed when the drivers celebrate by popping open champagne because the bubbly “burns.”
But most of all, Duke told Coon that being a Miss Sprint Cup is a blast.
“She’s going to have the time of her life,” Duke said.
