Jean Racine started out as a 13-year-old luge athlete and was a member of the US junior national team for the sport from 1992 to 1996. In 1996 she switched to bobsleigh and was trained by Bill Tavares . She had been a member of the national team since 1999, but had already taken part in international competitions before that. In the 1998/99 season, she and pusher Krista Ford finished second in the overall ranking of the Bobsleigh World Cup behind Françoise Burdet . In the following two seasons she won the World Cup and was the first female pilot after the dominance of Swiss female drivers and before the dominance of German female drivers. In 2001/2002 she was third in the overall ranking, again second in 2003/2004 and fourth in 2004/05. In eight years in the World Cup, she was able to place five times among the top five of the overall World Cup.