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Highs & Lows of 2007

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Its been quite the year at Horsepower & Heels, but I’m excited to enter 2008. I wanted to take a moment and reflect on a seemingly lackluster year…

Lows

  • Lost my father to cancer: One of the hardest things I’ve ever had to deal with in my life. Papi was the rock in the family, and our entire family dynamic changed overnight.
  • Lost a dear friend: Vinny Chagnet left us after a massive heart attack far too early. Only in his 30’s, it really hit hard to lose someone who had been such an uplifting part of the racing community.
  • Moving Away/On: Life changes are especially hard. I kept this struggle private for me, but it was very hard time in my life. There are always two sides, and I dealt privately with many hurtful things coming from people that weren’t even involved.
  • Losing my “children”: My little chihuahuas were everything to me, and losing them was as painful as losing a child. I know eventually I will get another, but months later, I still have dreams that they come back.
  • A Career/Job Change: I just wasn’t happy in newspaper anymore, and was forced to work from home for about a month until I found my new job. I think they found out I had been looking elsewhere, but an unexpected layoff is hard financially and I’m struggling to catch back up.
  • Letting my sponsors down: Perhaps the hardest thing for me to swallow was disappointing my sponsors, who have all patiently waited for me to get the new car done. I’m hoping that a great 2008 will make up for this, but its not something I’m proud of.

Highs

  • Picked up my new Mustang VFN body: Braved the winter storm to pick up my new racecar body for the Thunderbird to Mustang make-over.
  • My first mainstream magazine feature: Being featured in Latina was a huge deal for me. Its the Cosmo of hispanic-america.
  • Interviewing with Don Schumacher: When Gary Scelzi announced he was retiring, Oakley was looking for a candidate to fill the seat for their Nitro Funny Car. Although I bombed the interview (hello, STAR SHOCK), I view having the opportunity to interview with Don Schumacher high on my accomplishment list for 2007.
  • Moving on/Away: As they say, when one door closes, another opens. I’ve settled well into my new enviroment, and am quite happy with how my life has formed. I learned many things about myself and learned to do a lot FOR myself in the process.
  • Welcoming PNN: I had the great pleasure of meeting Lauren Elliot and becoming involved in the PNN.com community. Look for great things coming up in 2008 with PNN.
  • New Car: I’ve been wanting a fun street car again for a really, really long time. I finally got my wish. Call it retail therapy.
  • Nitrous Pro Mod: Though right now it seems to have stalled out, I was approached about driving a Nitrous Pro Mod.
  • My first TV Segment: Was featured on Hispanics Today, a nationally syndicated TV show.
  • My DREAM!: All I’ve ever wanted was to race in NHRA. And now, I’m actually going to be given a shot. I’m a signed driver for a Top Fuel team, provided we can find the funding to get out there.
  • Starting a new job: Finally, a job I’m really excited about!

I’m hoping to start 2008 fresh and work hard towards a great year of racing, personal growth and career development. 2007 is officially over, and no dwelling on the past will ensue.

 

Be safe as you celebrate the ringing in of 2008!

Representing: Risky’s Bar, Lake Ozark, MO

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From a recent trip up to Lake of the Ozarks, MO..

Meet Ryan, owner of Risky’s Bar, who was nice enough to stick up a Horsepower & Heels decal front and center at the bar!
We had a blast on Christmas Eve hanging at Risky’s.
If you’re ever at the Lake, check them out!
Risky’s Nightclub
302 Arrowhead Plaza
Lake Ozark, MO 65049
Phone: (573) 365-7224

Winter Adventures of the Floridian Type

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For Christmas this year, I decided to go in search of my first “white” Christmas. Born and raised in Orlando, my life was more “sand” men instead of snowmen, and I’ve collectively seen snow maybe 5 times in my adult life.

One of my little dreams has always been to go experience a true “white” Christmas… falling snow, cold weather, the works. So this year, I went to Missouri to hang out with Chop’s friends & family. Of course, I was not all so happy that we arrive to low 60’s and plenty of sunshine on Friday.

But on Saturday night, the temperature plummeted quickly, and in a matter of minutes we had sideways falling snow and lots of ice. A group of us were piling into a car to head for an evening out, and the ice on the windshield was pretty thick. My stupid quote of the weekend had them laughing for about 15 minutes as they were scrambling to find an ice scraper: “This is gonna sound dumb, but what exactly does an ice scraper look like?” I get the concept, but growing up in Orlando, its not like we had them lining the shelves at the hardware store. We never ended up finding the scraper, so a gift card substituted enough to get us a little visibility out the windshield. In the about 2 hour time frame, I got to experience about a foot of the snowy white stuff, even if it wasn’t going to accumulate any for snow angels or snowmen.

There was some ice accumulation, and the next night, I got an up close introduction to it, followed by another teary-eyed spell of laughter. Standing on the hillside driveway, Stacie and I were climbing in her truck to go to the convenience store. She just started to say “Careful, its slipper…” when I did one of those comic book, slow-mo banana peel face plants on a blade of ice. “whoa. Whooa. WHOOAAAA. Smack.” I about died laughing at myself.

Comic moment #3 came coming back from the store. Stacie tried to pull back up the driveway, but when we hit that same patch of ice, we started sliding back down. After a few attempts, Stacie stops and looks at me. “What do we do?” Right. Ask the Florida native what to do on ice. We sat there and pondered if we put the truck in park and hit the e-brake would it still slide down the hill. Not knowing the truck was 4-wheel drive, we decided that it would be best to back in down the driveway and park out front. Only problem: the ice sliding we’d done had moved us a little off-course from the narrow drive, and our attempt at backing back down the driveway resulted in getting the truck completely STUCK in loose gravel and snow. Stacie’s fiance, Ronnie came out to rescue us, and made me feel like a complete moron when he put it in 4-low and proceeded out of the gravel and up the icy drive.

The rest of the week was warm and sunny, and I still didn’t get my white Christmas. My real snowman will have to wait until another year.

Happy Holidays!

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I’m enjoying a few days off from work and taking advantage of the time by traveling to try and find me my first White Christmas. I can count the number of times I’ve ever seen snow on one hand, and at 27, I think its time I finally experienced that White Christmas I’ve been dreaming of since I was a little girl.

Chances are, I’ll be out of the loop until after Christmas, so I wanted to take a moment to wish all of you readers out there:

Have a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah or just a Happy Holiday to you and yours from all of us here at Horsepower & Heels Racing!

Dear Santa

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Dear Santa,

I’ve been a very good girl this year. I’ve been very patient while not racing, worked hard and continued being optimistic, and helped others any chance I could get. So this year, here’s my list: (I know you’re not as racecar oriented as Blitzen, so I included links)

  • A new pump for my Pro Jacks
  • Cam-lock seatbelts
  • A Sponsor for my Top Fuel team
  • Crew Uniforms — Some pretty pink & black Horsepower & Heels crew shirts would look great all year long next year!

Thanks Santa! And since I won’t be at home for Christmas, you can just leave them in the yard or deliver after Christmas. I’m not picky!

 

Love, Erica

Dear NHRA: Ideas to Make Drag Racing bigger

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Dear NHRA:

We know that drag racing is breakneck exciting and very accessible to your fans. We know that those who experience it love it. We know that you work hard to grow the fanbase and the brand that the late great Wally Parks created. Yet, still, drag racing pales in comparison to the NASCAR fan storm, and you ask why?

I think there are a plethora of things that the NHRA is missing out on marketing-wise to grow the sport and develop the kind of fan-following that NASCAR enjoys. And it begins with your DRIVERS.

The fans like following personalities. They like cheering on their favorite drivers. NHRA has that, but not in just their star John Force. They need to promote not only the series alone, but each of their drivers. Create friendly rivalries amidst fans for their favorite drivers where each match up, from qualifying through the final round is exciting. PROMOTE your DRIVERS, and help the teams promote themselves too! Here are a few of my ideas:

The Driver Blogs on NHRA.com are great, but they are sporatically updated and lack all the true “blogging” technology. Why do they not take advantage of RSS syndication, which is the biggest growing trend in online readership? Allow a fan to subscribe to their favorite drivers. And where are those drivers selected? Feature your stars, but also leave room for other drivers who have blogs to submit their blog also. Ron Capps has a blog, and its not even listed there. How many NHRA fans would love to know that and subscribe? And allow us to comment! Opening up discussion makes the experience personal.

Driver Profiles: The NHRA series takes advantage of this idea. Give casual fans a way to learn about the drivers they are watching and choose their own favorite. Sure, I like seeing the career and season stats, and the few headlines, but why not make them much more personal? Let me get to know the driver as a PERSON too?

Driver Twitters: I discovered Twitter not long ago, and admittedly, I didn’t “get it” at first. But I’m seeing the advantages that this micro-blogging has to fans and newcomers. The premise: a quick (140 characters or less) glance at what they are doing right now. They can be sent via text message and updated to blogs, websites, etc. During the season, it will be an instant update tool for me to send out instantly at the track to fans and update the race situation as it happens.

Video Podcasts: Wouldn’t it be great to have a free subscribe-able Race Recap you could get on your ipod or mobile phone on Monday after the races? A highlight reel of sorts… throw in some driver interviews (more DRIVER promotion, hint hint!) and some bloopers and you’d have another way to reach fans away from the weekend.

Chat Sessions: Why not host a chat room where you can announce a time and place that a driver will come in and chat online in 1 hour segments. I’ve taken part in these over at ProModSource with various Pro Mod drivers all the time. It only takes an hour of a driver’s time, and with all the drivers, there could be one per week. Have it on a Wednesday to build excitment for the race weekend. Its fun and very popular.

The key in all this, is that NHRA needs to offer these FREE to their subscribers. Media now is geared more toward the reader than traditional media. NHRA doesn’t need to charge for these services (Audio Cast, etc.) their money can be made in advertising from the viewership alone! These are just a few ways that the NHRA could really connect to their audience and build a new fanbase. And the best part, they don’t cost a fraction of what the ESPN coverage does!

Just my marketing outside view! What else do YOU think can be done to help promote drag racing?

Latina Drag Racer Erica Ortiz

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Erica Ortiz: Latina Drag Racer

Hispanics Today (National Syndicated)

Who says fast cars are just toys for the boys? Erica Ortiz grew up in Florida with a fondness for horsepower…and lots of it! Today as a driver for her own racing team appropriately dubbed “Horsepower and Heels,” this Latina speedster is taking the male dominated world of drag racing by storm. See her in action!
Latina Drag Racer Erica Ortiz — Hispanics Today TV