Celebrating, promoting and supporting women in motorsports and Moto Enthusiasts

Brittany Force lands Monster Sponsorship

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Monster Energy Brittany ForceThe long-awaiting announcement of the primary sponsorship on the Top Fuel dragster of Brittany Force was just announced.    Monster Energy Drinks has come on-board at John Force Racing to fully-fund the program, starting at this weekend’s 35th Annual  Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals in Atlanta, GA.     The contract with Brittany and the Top Fuel operation will extend for the next 3 years as a primary sponsor, with associate billing on the rest of the John Force Racing camp.

Monster Sponsorship

VP of Sports Marketing for Monster Energy, Mitch Covington, is excited for the company’s return to drag racing, having previously backed veteran driver, Kenny Bernstein in 2006.

““You can’t even mention drag racing without including John Force and John Force Racing,” said Monster Vice President of Sports Marketing Mitch Covington. “Their winning dominance and high performance heritage are simply unmatchable. John is a personality that actually transcends the sport and his daughter Brittany is every bit the fierce competitor as her dad – and she’s a lot prettier than John. The next generation of JFR, Monster Energy is thrilled to have Brittany at the controls of the Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster this season. Monster is all about unleashing the beast, and there is no other beast like a 10,000 horsepower, asphalt wrinkling, Nitro guzzling dragster.”

Brittany Force Monster EnergyHaving tried to make in-roads himself with Monster previously no to avail, news of a meeting from persistent efforts by Brittany and Courtney left him skeptical.    But the girls were able to put the presentation and pitch together, landing a deal that pleasantly surprised Force.

John Force first approached us about this deal over a year ago, but it wasn’t his presence that sold this opportunity,” said Covington.   “The credit for this goes directly to Brittany and Courtney Force, who were the ones that really delivered the presentation, and put this deal into motion.”

“When the meeting finally occurred with Monster, you could already feel an electricity in the room.   It was as if they were already Brittany’s best friends.  I am so proud of this next generation, because they are showing they have what it takes not only on the racetrack, but that they are doing what it takes on the business end as well.”  John Force, CEO of John Force Racing, Inc.

Monster’s activation of their brand and their athletes is also a great added bonus to the partnership between the companies.   Known for the cross-promotion of their athletes across a wide variety of different extreme sports, Brittany’s likeness would join that of Ken Block, Rob Dyrdek, Vaughn Gittin Jr and many more in the Monster camp.   The expected involvement with NHRA Drag Racing will be similar to their presence with NASCAR in terms of marketing activation, with some limitations in respect to the series title sponsor, also a beverage company.

Brittany Force could not be more pleased with the pairing, saying that her entire team are huge fans of Monster, stocking the drinks in their pits long before the announcement was made.

I am so excited to be teamed up with Monster Energy as the primary sponsor on my Top Fuel Dragster. You see the Monster logo on everything from NASCAR to Action Sports and to have them back in the NHRA seems like a perfect fit. The great thing about partnering up with Monster is how easy it will be for me to promote their brand because my team and I love to drink Monster. I can’t wait to get them into the winner’s circle. My whole team is fired up and we will definitely unleash the beast starting this weekend,” said Brittany.

The team is expected to debut their full Monster Energy livery at this weekend’s NHRA event in Commerce, GA .

Shannon McIntosh launches new website

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Newly redesigned ShannonMcIntosh.com

Shannon McIntosh20 year racing veteran Shannon McIntosh has just announced the launch of her newly redesigned website, www.shannonmcintosh.com.   Starting when she was just a child, Shannon has driven over 30+ cars in a wide range of motorsport categories, anything from Quarter Midgets, Micro Sprints, Dirt Late Models, Indycar and most recently ARCA stock car racing.  She has amassed over 100 wins, and race on over 50 tracks across the county.

Moving and planning for the future

The Ohio-born McIntosh recently relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina from the St. Petersburg, FL area, and is currently exploring some Late Model (pavement) and Dirt Track racing opportunities.  She is focused on securing new sponsors and marketing partners for a full-time racing return.

Be sure to check out her new site, and stay tuned for more updates on her racing career.

FiA Women in Motorsports Newsletter

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FIA Women in Motorsports FiA Women NewsletterThe FiA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) has a wonderful newsletter dedicated to Women in Motorsports and a page devoted to archiving news for the ladies called Auto+ FIA Women in Motorsports Newsletter.

The newsletter features coverage of women in all different forms of racing, from female drag racing drivers to ladies racing in open wheel and all-girl rally teams.

Check out the FIA Women In Motorsports Newsletter and page:  http://www.fia.com/campaigns/women-motorsport/news

Re-inspired Vision and Direction of Horsepower & Heels

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The Mission & Direction of Horsepower & Heels

2005 Horsepower and Heels
The Horsepower & Heels website back in 2005. (Courtesy: Wayback Machine)

In March 2005, after dabbling in self-learned website construction for a number of years on friends and family’s websites, I finally got the idea that I needed to build a website of my own.   Initially, it was a site to update my family and friends, and to experiment with the brand new world of Blogging. (Do you know how many people asked me what the heck was a BLOG back then, lol?)     During that time, I was in the process of selling my radial car, purchasing the Pro 5.0 Thunderbird, and making all the changes to go Pro 5.0 racing.

From its start in early 2005, through my “golden season” in 2006, and even for a few years afterwards as we embarked on the new build, the site grew beyond my wildest expectations, averaging 10,000+ unique visitors a month.   I found my voice in the racing world, and enjoyed the discussions I shared with readers who commented and contributed to the stories.   During that time is when I began to struggle, and those readers really helped me through some tough times I faced alone.

The Dark Times

By 2009, I was pretty involved with fighting my personal battles.   I felt myself starting to sound like a broken record of defeat on the racing front, as I just didn’t have the energy available to take on my struggles and finish the race car too.    That alone quieted the blog significantly from past years, but the final nail in the coffin was actually on the technical side.  Long story short, my blogging platform ceased support to externally hosted blogs, so while my content remained, I no longer had the ability to add new blog posts or update without starting over on a new website.

Examiner.com

Women In Motorsports ExaminerNot having much in the way of energy to devote to the daunting task of setting up a new website and hand-transferring 4+ years of content, I decided to try another outlet for my writing in March 2010.   I signed up to be a columnist for Examiner.com, and was granted my own Women In Motorsports column after a few months of other assignments proved my merit for the site.     Always a labor of love (I probably made less in the past 4 years on all of my articles than the cost of all the Lattes I bought staying up late to write them), I had always hoped that being part of a larger News organization would grow my readership and my catalog of published work vastly, until that ever-elusive motorsports PR/Freelance position would finally materialize (still waiting).

Changing Direction

4 years and 450+ articles later, I believe I have accomplished all I set out for with my Examiner.com Women in Motorsports column.   Even after I was finally able to relaunch the new site in October 2011 on the improved WordPress platform, I still had a hard time leaving my Examiner column behind.   It gave me a voice when my site was broken, and allowed me to continue to support all female racers and women competing in motorsports.  I am proud of the work I did and the wonderful press relationships that were made during these years.

But now that I am finally feeling 100% again, and able to invest the time and effort into making Horsepower & Heels everything I originally envisioned it could be for Women in Racing, I have re-evaluated my role with Examiner.   Though Examiner is a mass-media platform, my column was a highly specific niche and thus never more than a ripple on the site’s radar.   The majority of my readers were those sent to the articles via my own promotional efforts, and not a result of a larger Examiner readership.   The reality is, I was putting in hours of work to not own any of the content, all for essentially free.

ScreenshotWomen in Racing Advocacy

I don’t want to lose the work I’ve done there, so I still plan to write once or twice a month for Examiner (the minimum to keep my column active), but will now concentrate my effort on bringing content to THIS WEBSITE again.    I’ve set aside an entire category for Women in Racing, from regular news updates (much like what you’ve seen on Examiner), featured sites related to ladies in racing, resources for women in motorsports, and much more.  There’s a lot of housekeeping work still left to do to make it more user friendly, but I plan to continue to expand and grow this site as a powerful central source for all girls out there racing, to best tell our stories and celebrate our successes.    I hope you will continue to follow my work here, as I would love to hear and interact with all of you like never before.

Thanks for allowing me to chase my passion and advocate for all Women in Motorsports, then, now and into the future.

Helping Cale Aronson

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Cale and Tinzy AronsonCale and Tinzy Aronson are two of the hardest working people I have had the pleasure of meeting in the drag racing world.  I originally met them back in the Fun Ford Weekend days, when they were just dating, and was always proud to see how far they had come, both as a couple and in the Pro Stock ranks.

A few weeks ago, I got an opportunity to chat with them at the Bradenton IHRA race, where they were competing in Pro Stock.   We caught up and reminisced some on the Fun Ford Weekend days, and discussed some ideas for the possibility of a Fun Ford Reunion.

Sadly, just one week later, on April 25th, at the IHRA Palm Beach Nationals in West Palm Beach FL’s PBIR, Cale was involved in a terrible accident, with the car crossing the track and impacting the wall before rolling onto its roof and sliding down the track.    Initial reports were that Cale was alert and ok, but he was airlifted to the hospital and things got really quiet about his condition, until now.

Competition Plus.com just released the family’s statement.    Cale has suffered some very serious injuries to his spine, and is recovering from surgery to fuse vertebrae damaged in the crash.   Good news is that he has tingling sensations across his body, showing there is connectivity, but is still limited on the amount of movement he has over his upper body.    For now, he must let his body heal before beginning a long road of therapy to regain his strength and mobility.

The family has had an outpouring of support from the racing community since the accident, and continues to draw on that strength during this difficult time.   The Gwynn Family (of the Darrell Gwynn Foundation) stepped in to provide the Aronsons guidance and support, having experience with Spinal Cord injuries.

Tinzy and Cale AronsonHelping Cale Aronson and Tinzy

Cale remains in the hospital in Florida, surrounded by his family, all displaced from their Missouri home.    They will need support during this difficult recovery, helping them to offset the costs of his care and the family’s accommodations in Miami.   Godspeed Ministry, the official chaplain for the IHRA, has set up a Bridge the Gap fundraiser for the Aronson Family to help defray medical expenses.

For anyone wanting to send the family care packages or get well notes, they can mail these to:
Bupa International Patient Services Center
DTC Building, Ground Floor Central 152 for patient Cale Aronson
1080 NW 19th Street
Miami, FL 33136

Details of the Crash

Cale remembers every moment of the crash, and vows to help make these cars safer upon his recovery.  All the details can be found on Competition Plus.   Please visit their story for more.

Girls Torque Collector Card: Erica Ortiz

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Girl Power Card- Erica Ortiz
Girl Power Collector Card- Erica Ortiz

Girls Torque, an Australian organization dedicated to helping girls succeed in motorsports, recently added Horsepower & Heels Racing driver, Erica Ortiz to its Girl Power Collector Card Series.   The collector card series features female racers and other women involved in motorsports.   Erica’s Girl Power card will be available in the Drag Racing box set, and features Erica’s photo and car rendering, with stats about her racing career and accomplishments.

Girl Power Drag Racing Box Set

The Girls Power Drag Racing Collector Card box set is the first of several to come, and can be purchased online at the Girls Torque website for AU$10 + shipping.    Each boxed set includes 34 cards from different drivers all across the world.

Girl Torque Racing Collector Cards

Pippa Mann’s run at Indy 500 for Susan G. Komen

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Pippa Mann 2015 Indy 500

Pippa Man enters 4th career Indianapolis 500

This year is the 99th running of the legendary Indianapolis 500, and British Indy driver, Pippa Mann, is ready to represent women racing with a special pink tribute car.  Paired with a large campaign on Indiegogo, the international crowdfunding website, her racecar livery is dedicated to the race against breast cancer at the Indy 500 for Susan G. Komen program.

This marks the 4th run at the Indy 500 for Pippa, who is one of only 11 female racers to compete in the historic race.  Her best finish so far has been in the 20th position, a mark she hopes to improve with her Komen team in 2015.

Susan G. Komen

The Susan G. Komen organization is the largest and most widely-recognized breast cancer assistance and resource non-profit organization.   Mann joined forces with the organization in her 2014 Indy 500 campaign to increase awareness and raise funds.  Her partnership with Indegogo has strengthened the funding efforts for her 2015 return, with a goal of $50,000 and a more fan interactive initiative.

As we started to prepare for the second year of this program, I wanted a much more interactive way to host the fundraising component that would show a goal, our progress towards it, and give us the ability to reward people who contribute to the campaign,” said Mann. “I am incredibly grateful for the way the racing community has stepped up to be a part of this campaign to raise money, and I love the list of perks we will be offering through the site.

Want to help Pippa fight Breast Cancer with Komen?

You can join into the fight by visiting pippamann.com/getinvolved, through midnight after the Indy 500 race concludes. Race fans, benefactors, media and other supporters can follow along the progression of the campaign leading up to race day. Donors get cool perks, including Komen wristbands and koozies, tribute T-shirts, Honda and Firestone hats, garage tours, a Race with Pippa night at Fastimes Karting, new exclusive Doug Garrison Artwork, and Bell mini helmets painted by Pippa’s Indy 500 helmet painter.

I’m excited about our campaign finally going live, and to see people clicking through, talking about it, telling friends about it, and getting involved with what we’re trying to do,” said Mann. “This isn’t a campaign for just my fans; this is a campaign for anyone who has been directly affected by breast cancer, and also for those we hope will never be affected. We believe our $50,000 goal is achievable, and we believe we can get there with the help of our fans and supporters. If just 5,000 people donate $10 each, we will be able to meet our goal.

The online buzz can be followed via the #GetInvolved hashtag on social media, as well as the URL pippamann.com/getinvolved.

Good Luck Pippa, we’ll be cheering for you!

Speed Scene Live TV- Erica Ortiz returns

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Speed Scene Live Episode 577Erica Ortiz returns to Pro Mod

Horsepower and Heels Racing driver Erica Ortiz joins Scott “Lucky” Hudson, Diana-mite, Bruce Barker, Bob Beck and the rest of the Speed Scene Live TV crew on air to discuss her history in drag racing, the struggles that took her away for several years, her triumph over health issues, and her return to Pro Modified Racing and current rebuild efforts.

Listen to the archive of the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPwr_0B1Ifo&feature=youtu.be    (segment begins around 15:00 mark)

On Air:   April 21, 2015  Episode # 577speed scene

Speed Scene Live TV

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On Air: Speed Scene Live TV

speed sceneTonight, listen in as I join the crew at Speed Scene Live to talk about the new car and Horsepower & Heels returning to racing.   The show airs live on www.speedsceneracing.com Tuesdays at 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern (worldwide, GMT -8 hours winter, GMT -7 hours summer).

Be sure to tune in and support us!