I get race fever more and more the closer we get to the beginning of the season! My trip to North Carolina made me super pumped for the 2010 season. I love working with Gann Custom and they have always been really good to me. While I was at their shop, I did what I could to our bike. I love working on our bike. When I was younger and raced Jr. dragsters, my dad put a lot of responsibility on me to help maintain my car. All my life, I have had to work super hard to be able to go racing on the weekends. I spend as much of my weekend as I can in the garage with my Dad and I absolutely love it!
It hasn’t always been easy for me keeping a balance in life, especially while I was in high school. In high school I played 3 seasons of sports, I was an “A” honor roll student, and I was still trying to get to the racetrack as much as possible. A couple times, I even tried to balance a boyfriend in my life. In the end, they weren’t so keen on my ambitious lifestyle. Racing has really taught me a lot of life lessons and lucky for me, I have an amazing support system from my friends and family. I think working so hard to be able to go racing has made me have a great appreciation for this sport. I have been asked before if I feel like I missed out on being a “kid” by spending all my time racing or working in our garage. I have never once regretted all the time I have spent racing, in fact I feel like the luckiest girl in world!
Now that I am in college, I am still as busy as ever! Last season, at the Finals in Pomona, I had to miss the first qualifying pass. When I got to the track everyone kept asking where I had been and why I missed the pass. I received some pretty funny looks and a lot of laughs when I responded with “I had to go to class.” I have had to learn that life is all about balance.
Here recently I have had even more excitement to add to the balance! My mom has decided she is ready to take her turn and hit the dragstrip! She has started to race a dragster that we have fixed up for her. I must say I am pretty proud of my mom. We took her to the track for the first time a couple of weeks ago. It was only her second time down the drag strip (her first being in a Subaru Legacy). It took her a couple of passes, but she eventually went 10.18 at 132 mph. She did awesome! I can tell she loved it, because she has been in the garage working on her car for her next trip to the drag strip ever since!
I am still going full throttle looking for financial help for next year. I even cut my trip to North Carolina a little short. Once I had done what I could to the bike, there wasn’t much for me to do there. So I changed my flight and headed back to sweet home California, where I would be better equipped to continue my sponsorship hunt. I am determined, and one way or another I will be out there racing next year!
My dad and I plan on taking out my bracket bike this weekend to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. I am so jazzed! I can’t wait to be back in that rider’s seat. I hope everyone is well and I will let everyone know how we do at the track next weekend!
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