Celebrating, promoting and supporting women in motorsports and Moto Enthusiasts

Erica Ortiz hospitalized for injuries

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We are reporting to you from Huntsville Medical Center. Erica Ortiz, your blog writer and driver for Horsepower & Heels has been brought in today for emergency treatment.

While working to prepare the Horsepower & Heels Mustang, Erica had a tragic accident causing some serious injuries to the driver. Evidentally, her 3 inch stilleto heel hit some spilled gear oil and sent the driver flying across the floor, snapping her favorite heel off the shoe and leaving her with some serious injuries.

Her injuries include a broken accelerator foot, 3 broken nails, and some damage to her hair in the fall. Specialist Ken Paves was called in to assist with the injuries. Doctors are expecting a full recovery following some inpatient rehab. The Horsepower & Heels driver will be transported to Bliss Day Spa for rehabilitation of her injuries. Treatment is said to include a full manicure/pedicure treatment, moisturizing hair anti-breakage treatment, and some soothing massage for mental trauma experienced as a result of the fall.

Erica is said to be in good spirits, though has not been told the fate of her favorite heels.

For donations to aid in her recovery, fans and friends may contribute to:

Horsepower & Heels Racing Broken Nail Fund

Happy April Fools!

Horsepower & Heels Feature with Hispanics Today available ONLINE

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Grant, AL– If you missed Erica Ortiz and Debbie Denny of Horsepower & Heels on the popular national TV show, Hispanics Today back in November, you can now view the segment online.

Hispanics Today is an English-language television show that highlights the largest and fastest growing segment of the U.S. population- the Latino market The goal of Hispanics Today is to inspire, educate and address issues that affect the Hispanic community, while showcasing the growing, powerful impact and influence the Hispanic community has in the United States.

Hispanics Today.com has just added a show archive feature to the web with each individual segment from their broadcasts. The segment, entitled Erica Ortiz: Latina Drag Racer, can be viewed at http://www.hispanicstoday.com/story-description.php?video=21.

THANKS TO THE SUPPORTERS OF HORSEPOWER & HEELS RACING

http://www.briskusa.com/ — BRISK SPARK PLUGS

http://www.pnn.com/ — PNN.com

http://www.trickflow.com/ — TRICK FLOW SPECIALTIES

http://www.harlandsharp.com/ — HARLAND SHARP

http://www.excessiveengineering.com/ — EXCESSIVE ENGINEERING

MOODY RACING ENGINES

http://www.exileturbos.com/ — EXILE TURBO SYSTEMS

http://www.hernonmfg.com/ — HERNON HIGH PERFORMANCE SEALANTS & ADHESIVES

 

Gator Nationals Day 4: Sunday Recap

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Great eliminations day! More beautiful FL sunshine left me more than a little sunburned, but I still had a great time! Even though Melanie Troxel didn’t qualify, the rest of the girls did pretty good! Gotta support that girl power!

We watched Scott Kalitta warming up the funny car, and it is surreal. You should see his face as he wops the throttle. Its the most intense thing…. he definitely gets pumped up!

Unfortunately, my good buddy Ben had some family emergencies come up, so he and Leanne ended up leaving early. I hitched a ride home with my friend Sarah and her dad, who live in Columbus, GA and then headed the rest of the way home Monday morning.

Gator Nationals Day 3: Saturday Recap

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After the rain drenched day on Friday, all of us were ready for some Florida sunshine. When I woke up Saturday morning, the sun was just starting to poke through the clouds. It looked a little iffy with the overcast clouds looming most of the morning, but by noon, the sun was out in all its glory.

There is nothing more exciting than getting your first whiff of nitro for the year. Frankie had us all hooked up with hospitality passes at the Kalitta camp courtesey of DHL, so we had a little VIP treatment with the team. Its also great to be able to get in from out of the sun at times as well.

 

Debbie, my Horsepower & Heels partner in crime, showed up for a bit with her family, but since our seats were not located together, we lost each other early in the day and never could hook back up. Not sure what it is about all that broadcast equipment, but when ESPN was filming, no cell phones were working.

 

The 1st Jeg’s Pro Mod Challenge event of the year kicks off in Gainesville as well, so of course I was excited to cheer on Mike Ashley’s return to Pro Mod. His first round run had him in #16 position entering the last attempt, and he was bumped out early in the round. We were all on pins and needles as he made his attempt to get into the show, but in grand Gotham City style, they moved straight to the pole with a 5.94! YAY Gotham!

 

After the final round of qualifying, we headed over to Max Naylor’s Vegas Fuel energy pit party. Max was kind enough to host the Nitromater.com meet-up at the Gators, and my sister and I had a great time meeting all the people who showed up from the Mater clan. They are all great people!

I really love what Max is able to do for VegasFuel. He’s got a great program together, and makes his sponsor proud! We did get to try the new Energy drink, and it tastes great!

Gator Nationals Day 2: Friday Recap

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Rain, Rain, Rain.

What every drag racer dreads. Friday ended up being a cold, rainy, muddy, miserable day at the track. They completely cancelled qualifying around 4pm, putting added pressure on racers to qualify in only two session on Saturday.

 

The only good to come of the rainy conditions, were that it gave plenty of time for the meetings I had set up this weekend with different folks. With the rain coming in around 10am and settling in all day, there wasn’t much else to do but sit, talk, and strategize.

 

After mulling around in the rain all day trying to stay warm, we headed back to the hotel early for some food and sleep.

Gator Nationals Day 1: Thursday Recap

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Since I was riding with Ben & Leanne, I got up extra early to get ready, get Spike (my dog) to the boarder’s, and get over to Ben’s house by 8am. I was so excited, I showed up around 7:30, hyper and pumped to get going.

We pulled out of Grant around 9am and started our 10 hour journey to Gainesville. I got the back seat, which meant I had plenty of room to stretch out for a nap. Between packing and the company event I went to the night before, I didn’t get into bed until after midnight, and had to get up extra early to finish off packing. Ben handled driving duty all the way until Gainesville.

We arrived at the hotel around 5:00pm in Gainesville. Leanne and I got changed to head over to the Ale House. The Ale House is always the unofficial hangout for drivers and crew since it is right across the street from the hotels that most all the teams stay with. We got there around 6pm to make sure we got seats, and waited for everyone else to show up.

Since I grew up in Orlando, the Gator Nationals have always felt like my “home” national event. The last couple of years, I use the event to meet up with and spend time with old high school friends, and my family. My sister, Melanie, has a birthday in March like mine, so I treat her to the event for her birthday. Frankie, Tommy, and Mikey are all my high school buds that love NHRA just as much as I do, so they were pumped to come up as well.

Around 9pm, the place got packed quickly, and with 5 dollar buckets of beer, our table had a blast. There were plenty of drivers and teams hanging around, and if you didn’t make it, you really missed out. Just a few that we saw during the evening: Dave Connolley, Morgan Lucas, Ashley Force, Del Worsham, JR Todd, and several others.

Not wanting to ruin my Friday, I decided to call it a night early around 12:30am. Its off to the track for a good wake up whiff of NITRO!

Fired up: subconscious triggers

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There is no doubt that drag racing is an adrenaline junkie’s dream: 3G’s of Breathtaking, neck-breaking power and speed catapulting you across a 1/4 mile in just mere seconds. Its the ultimate adrenaline high… doing the burnout, staging the car, letting it loose at the drop of the tree, rowing through the gears and pulling the parachutes at the end…. but what gets you fired up the most for the run?

For some its listening to an ipod in the staging lanes to get amped up~ songs like Kid Rock’s Bawitdaba or the Pro Mod anthem, Thunderstruck. I, personally, am a techno fan, and the break in DJ Tiesto’s Silence gives me chills as I’m looking down the groove getting ready to run. Its like the quiet before the storm….

 

For others, it may be the act of suiting up and strapping into the car… the rumble of the engine when you fire it up…. or the deep breath you take as you pull into the lights.
Last night, I laughed a little as I realized a strange trigger for me as I was driving home from the gym. It was cold out, and I had just exited my Body Pump weights class, still wearing my little weight gloves. As I started up the car and put it in gear, I had a small, familiar feeling wash over me.

 

Maybe its withdrawals from not racing in so long…. but having that more desensitized feeling of the steering wheel and shifter through gloves definitely sparked that gut feeling you get when racing. My grip of the wheel and shifter changes, my posture in the seat is more erect. Even my sight becomes more laser-focused. Its odd how small triggers can subconsciously change the way your body reacts and behaves, as if it is pre-programmed to do what it does best.

 

I smiled…. and for a brief second, I could close my eyes and be inside the seat of my racecar, ready to stage. I revved my little street GT up a little and laughed, about 300 cubic inches of displacement and 176mm of turbo-whistle short.

 

What gets YOU fired up?

Fiberglass

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I’m not a fiberglass specialist… but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express one time!

This weekend I drove down to Columbus, GA to help with my car. The car is back down at Parker Chassis getting finished up and painted. Among the tasks were filling the cut outs for the door handles and extending the door edges to match/meet the body line. We also made templates around the turbo holes to get them fiberglassed and fitting correctly, so I could take the bare cylinder heads home to get assembled and over to Mr. Moody for the engine assembly.

Upper Body Strength: Fact or Fiction?

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I’ve been seeing a lot of commentary on the subject of upper body strength and driving the nitro cars…. funny car especially. Seems that many question whether women, at a natural disadvantage in the upper body strength department with their male counterparts, are physically able to handle the demands of driving one of these “beasts”.

In fact, earlier last year, when I had my dream interview with Don Schumacher about the possibility of piloting the Oakley Funny Car, one of the questions he asked was did I think I’d be able to “man-handle” the “beast” down the track, and that it was something he found concerning about women driving in funny car. It threw me off, and it was a question that never driving one, I couldn’t guarantee the answer for, and coming from one of the most knowledgeable people in the industry, it rattled me. Sure, if desire could move mountains, I’d be able to steer one with my pinkie and my eyes closed, but would it be a real problem??

Being that I want to best prepare for any possible opportunities, I’ve beefed up my training regimine in the upper body section, just in case. But as an aspiring driver, its a question that I’d like to know the REAL answer to. There has been more than one woman to pilot a funny car, and none I would consider to be overly-built in that area of strength (re: none of them were amazons or anything like that). Yes, women do have less upper body strength than males by nature, but is it really a cause for concern as many imply, on their ability to control the cars at speed?

It was a question that was largely repeated last year for Ashley Force entering the Funny Car Gentleman’s club. She had risen from the Top Alcohol Dragster ranks, and stories circulated about her inability to get the car down the track. That talk increased after her incident in Seattle. But was this more a case of a learning rookie driver or a direct result of lacking upper body strength?

Though I have never spoken to Ashley, nor do I know anyone with inside answers to any of these questions as it pertains to her, I do think we saw some truth to the struggles she had on episode #5 of Driving Force as she was getting her license. But, as I mentioned in my comparison then, I took it more to be the differences between men and women in how we approach learning something different. Women are more cautious, and use our “feel” a little more. Men, just strap in, hold on, and go about it with a more wild abandon. Melanie further backed up my feelings on it in her recent interview. Get us used to it a little more gradually, let us learn what it is we are feeling, and we’re on even footing.

Perhaps Melanie Troxel will be the better indicator as the latest female to enter the funny car world. Melanie was already a respected driver in Top Fuel, and although she seems much smaller in person than her website lists her 5’9″ 129lbs. frame, she definitely would be comparable in size to your average woman. Its too early to judge her driving at once race into the season, but her initial comments seems to disprove the myth of upper body strength being a major hurdle.

“I’d say when you’re actually driving and going down the track it’s not something that enters my mind, I can’t actually sit there and think, ‘Wow I can’t. This is hard to do.” Troxel said.
It’s definitely harder but I don’t think it’s so much harder that somebody couldn’t overcome it if they wanted to do that you could pretty easily.”

Either way, I’m not taking any chances. I’ll continue to go through the extra motions of beefing-up-the-up-top and make it a non-issue.

Source: Competition Plus