Abby Jolly holds off husband Zac Reimer for emotional win at Carteret

Abby Jolly’s racing journey came full circle at Bobby Watson’s Carteret County Speedway on Saturday as, after seven years of trying, she finally raced her way to victory lane, holding off a challenge from her husband, Zac Reimer.

Jolly, 25, a Carteret County native, was watching races from the stands during the track’s infancy in the mid-2010s. In 2018, she decided to go racing at Carteret – which is how and where she met Reimer, whom she married in a ceremony at the track in September 2023. The only thing she had not done at the track was win.

That changed during the Battlefield Tire Pros Mini Stock portion of Saturday’s Morehead Motor Company Spring Showdown.

“It’s been a long time coming for sure,” Jolly said in victory lane after her first Carteret win. “Sometimes you think you’re never going to make it happen, and then there are days like today when you’re able to pull it off. I have to thank my husband for building me such a fast racecar.”

Maybe too fast.

Reimer was able to race his way up to second after starting in sixth and closed in to within a few car-lengths of Jolly. Ultimately, she was able to drive away from him in the closing laps.

“I’m very proud,” Reimer said. “Honestly, I wasn’t going to give it to her. She outdrove me. I started pushing real bad and she just ran a phenomenal race and did a good job. I’m proud of her… I just actually got to work on [my car] instead of hers.”

The victory was the second of Jolly’s racing career. She won a U-CAR race at Coastal Plains Raceway in Jacksonville in 2023.