At 42, Cristy Lee has an extensive history since she was born in Daytona Beach, Florida. Before she was a prominent car personality and part of All Girls Garage (which she recently departed for undisclosed reasons), Lee was a trained dancer, part of the dance group Automation. She was also a model, realtor, DJ, and emcee. Lee was also on TV before her time with All Girls Garage, covering Motocross Racing for SPEED and Fox Sports 1, Off-Road Truck Racing for NBC Sports Network, Supercross, Monster Jam, Flat Track Racing, and even the XGames on ESPN and ABC. Lee also receives some recognition from hosting Barrett-Jackson Live, which aired on Velocity alongside All Girls Garage.
Lee has also been a Motorsports reporter. During her time reporting, Lee covered a lot of events, including Xgames, Off-Road Truck Racing, and World SuperBike. Lee has also been an avid motorcyclist for over 15 years, as well as a Spokesperson/Brand Ambassador for OEM Manufacturers and well-known two-wheel Brands. It's safe to say she has created quite the resume for herself.
Lee's interest in cars began when she was young and she's had a variety of jobs in a wide array of fields. She started in Detroit after graduating from college, and her professional start was with AMA Pro Racing.
Her Interest Began Young
When Cristy Lee was only three years old, she had already begun developing an interest in cars. It began when her father would take her on trips in his dirt bike, sparking her love of vehicles. Lee remembers those days fondly, even though others may object to her father's child-raising methods.
Lee herself even mentions that cars, motorcycles, and racing were a part of her life for as far back as she could remember. As she was born and raised in Daytona Beach, Florida, Lee also had exposure to the local racing scene. Further, her father was a local car shop owner and mechanic, adding to her love of mechanical vehicles. “I spent my days lusting over pricey sports cars and flipping through automotive magazines, helping my dad with his garage projects here and there, but I didn’t really get into wrenching until later down the road, when my garage started to fill-up with a motorcycle of my own,” Lee said.
Lee also attends most automobile shows in America, even when she's not hosting them or attending in any kind of official capacity. Cars and motorcycles have been Lee's passion from a young age, and that interest has only grown and intensified as she goes further in life.
Jobs Before All Girls Garage Are Extensive
Lee had an extensive resume and a wide array of jobs before she hosted All Girls Garage. During her formative years in show business, Lee admitted that she started as a model and actor, being part of the TV and commercial circuit at a young age. She tried her hand at real estate after college, and while she did have some moderate success in the mid-2000s, the whole market crashed in 2008 during the financial crisis.
Despite that, Lee has her hand in real estate to some extent as of 2020, and has expressed a desire to host a real estate show. While Lee briefly appeared on the 1997 show Wild On, Lee got more exposure in 2013 when she was tapped to host the Tunnel of Fire TV Special.
After that initial hosting gig, Lee rose to power as a more prominent TV personality in the car world. At that point, Lee was covering many American racing events on several networks, such as ESPN, ABC, SPEED, Fox Sports 1, and NBC Sports, either as a pit reporter, analyst, or host.
Detroit Was The First Stop After College
When Lee graduated college, she moved from Central Florida to Detroit, Michigan for business opportunities. Upon arrival, she tried her hand at real estate. She also decided to apply her years of experience as a trained dancer to audition for the Detroit Pistons Dance Team ‘Automotion’ in 2006, making the team.
Her next stop after that was to do emcee work as a game show host at a local Detroit casino, followed by becoming a part of the Autoshow circuit as a Narrator for Chrysler. She then had her first race in 2007. When she won a contest, she landed her next big break, becoming a traffic reporter and DJ for 101.1 WRIF FM Radio in 2008. Currently, Lee's net worth is around $13 million.
AMA Pro Racing Was Her Start
Lee started her official racing career by working with AMA Pro Racing. She had been gaining experience in front of a camera as a host & reporter, and she desired to combine that with her love of motorcycles. “Reaching back to my Daytona roots, I started working with AMA Pro Racing and developed online video content covering our American Motorcycle Road Racing series, featuring interviews, stories and race coverage from the series top riders in 2012,” Lee said.
She also spent some time beginning her motorsports career as a color commentator, producer, reporter, PA Announcer and host. During an event she was working, talent agencies sought her out and requested she audition for All Girls Garage, an all-female automotive how-to show.
Lee got other roles after that, taking on the role as a Co-Host of the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car auctions, SEMA specials, and even SEMA live. Despite all her success, she continued to cover motorcycle racing for AMA Pro as a pit reporter, staying with the show when it became MotoAmerica in 2015.
Sources: topspeed.com, cristylee.tv, celebcenter.net,