Makayla Grote dreamed of one day driving in NASCAR races to prove that women are strong and can change the world, her boyfriend wrote two days after the 19-year-old was stabbed to death in Longmont.
“Makayla was always the one to comfort people, always the one to take care of everybody else,” Noah Malik wrote on Facebook Monday. “She never took anything for granted, and she always tried her hardest to be successful in every aspect of her life. She loved making people smile, most of all.”
Grote was deeply involved in racing. She started driving go-karts at age 8 and went on to race a late-model stock car numbered 97 at the Colorado National Speedway, according to her Facebook page dedicated to her racing career.
Race car drivers are gathering sometime on Sunday at the speedway in Dacono to celebrate Grote’s life.
Grote graduated from Green Mountain High School in Lakewood in 2016. A 15-year-old boy who also attended the school faces first-degree murder charges related to Grote’s death.
Grote had many interests outside of racing.
Malik, her boyfriend of more than two-and-a-half years, said she was involved in business science, theater and art, and had aspirations to become an interior designer one day.
A tribute to her posted by the speedway describes her as a “humble and generous soul who gave without any thought of herself … despite balancing both a full-time schedule of college courses and racing, Makayla still made time to volunteer in her community and organize special events for children in need. Her smile was infectious and blindingly bright, and even among her competitors and rivals, she was known for her compassion. The Sportsman of the Year award is generally given only to those in the racing community who demonstrate the very finest moral fiber in every aspect of the sport. Such was her character that Makayla won it twice in her short racing career.”
Alana Schneider, a year younger than Grote, said she met her when she joined the softball team her freshman year. She said Grote also was part of the theater program at Green Mountain.
“She was very quiet and innocent, but once you got to know her she was always laughing and having fun,” Schneider said, describing Grote as having a bright smile. “She was definitely a team player, all about being team captain and having everybody coming together.”
A GoFundMe campaign was set up to help Grote’s family.
“A lot of us in the racing community know who she was and more importantly a lot of us will remember that laugh and that smile she always had on her face,” wrote Chris Heldenbrand, a friend. “Makayla was the type of person that enjoyed life, especially racing, and I know how involved she was in the circle-track life.”
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