Celebrating, promoting and supporting female racers and women in motorsports

Much ado about Danica

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Danica Patrick, 2005 Indy 500
Danica Patrick, Indy 500

Much ado about Danica….

Congrats to Danica Patrick for her accomplishments in Indy this past weekend. She has proven what I have tried to explain to so many potential marketing partnerships… Give us the opportunity, and we will outshine all else. Danica lived a dream this past weekend that so many others out there like her have yearned for… she proved that her talent paired with the support of a high caliber team can achieve what none others were capable of. She was not the first, Fischer and others had competed before her, but they did not have the benefit of ARGENT and late night talkshow host Letterman behind them. They needed someone who believed in them so that they were given the team it takes to win…

When was the last time a 4th place finisher was noted in the media, beyond the top ten results? Yet Danica graced newspaper covers and television highlights all weekend long. In fact, I do not even know the name of the man who won the race. His win was dwarfed by Danica’s accomplishments, as the entire world sat rivvetted to their televisions watching her battle for the finish. Countless people (myself included) who never watch the IRL tuned in to see the girl with the talent take a stab at the top. And now Danica (and importantly… Argent… hint, hint) are household names that brought a whole new crowd back to the Indy Racing Leagues.

Women in motorsports are such a unique marketing avenue… they appeal to the masses, and are one of the best yields on investments imaginable. Argent could now not put a price on the benefits that their support of Danica has yielded them…

My hope is that companies will now take notice of this and offer their support to other women. Maybe one day a company will see the benefits in supporting my efforts, and realize that my dedication to marketing their company will reward their investments three fold.

Anyone out there care to support THIS fast female???

::ERICA::

Monkey Bars

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So yesterday, I grabbed my monkey bar handbook (re: the SFI 25.2 spec book) and went to work figuring out what needed to be added to the chassis. Now, surprisingly, I had no problems figuring out the diagram for the transmission crossover, but I realized that I knew NOTHING about bending bars, notching them, and fitting them to the car. Dan just stood there laughing: me, tape measure in hand, trying to figure out how to measure the bar and mark where the notches go. Little did he know, I pay attention more that he realizes, and remember seeing him marking and using the notching machine. But of course, seeing and doing are two completely different things. So, I measured, and measured again, and then marched over to the tubing to pick up a section of tube to cut. I measure it out (Dan watching with a smirk…) and grab the handle of the chop saw, until it struck me….

CAN MY HAIR CATCH ON FIRE FROM ALL THESE SPARKS??!??

By this time, Dan and Biscuit are rolling on the floor laughing at me. Well, in my defense, neither of them have long hair. Laugh all you want, but the chop saw is mounted on the wall with a steel backer plate behind it to protect the wall from catching on fire. So, what exactly is stopping these hot embers from landing on my head and catching on fire? Despite mamed visions of a singed ponytail, I took my chances with the sparks and took my tube back to the car.

So, I mark at what angle the tube will attach to the current tranmission cross section, and head over to the notching machine. After a few trips to the notcher for fine adjustments, I made the cuts and my first bar without further incident. I will, however, be altering my shop work clothing to include a ball cap. Now I know why the guys are always wearing them!

On another note, I spoke to Mr. Moody, who has everything ready to assemble my motor. Right now, they are dyno’ing Gullett’s stuff for Atlanta, then I promised to head up there to help him assemble the motor. After its done, we’re going to put it on the engine dyno as well to tune it and get it ready. I’ve never had anything on an engine dyno before, but I’ve watched Gullett’s motor being dyno’d last year, and it is absolutely incredible. Until then, though, its back to work….

Be Safe, Go Fast!
::Erica::

Hard at work

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Well, the weekend didn’t go quite as planned. I didn’t get out to see Mr. Moody, but I did spend all Sunday working on the car. All of the old bracket racing aides and wiring has been torn out of the car, and I removed one of the wheel tubs so that Dan has room to weld in the bars to complete the funny car cage. Dan welded up the pro-jack mounts and got the car up on the Pro-Jacks. He also took the plasma cutter to the inner transmission mounts and bars, making room for the required floor x brace to comply with 25.2 standards. Part of the steel floor pan will need to be replaced, and I’ve decided I want to take all the tin work and get it powder coated for a cleaner, more durable look.

My midplate will be here on Tuesday, so that will allow the drivetrain to be aligned and the transmission mounts fabricated. Then the rest of the cage and the double framerails will be added to stiffen the chassis, and the seats mounted and adjusted for yours truly.

Be Safe, Go Fast!

::Erica::

Getting busy

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It has been raining here in Columbus for almost a week. Not just your quick shower, but the dreary grey skied, constant drizzly kind. Rainy days are good for 1 thing… napping. (I take that back… its also good Mall shopping weather, provided you can get a good parking spot!) In any case, its not the best weather for working on the car.

Alas, rain or not, I am determined to make some serious progress on the BIRD this weekend. Saturday, I’m driving up to Mr. Moody’s to get the intake manifold for the mock-up. Then Sunday, after the mock up motor is sitting between the frame rails, I plan to spend the day setting up the seat mounts (Yes, folks. Laugh all you want…I’m short. I can’t reach the steering wheel where its at right now, and the pedals I can only press with my tippy-toes. I need a booster seat!) and getting the Lenco levers set up to reach me as well.

This stage of the project is the most difficult for me. Most all of the work that needs to be done right now, I can’t do, and so I feel pretty helpless… a feeling I’m not used to. I’m learning how to weld, but obviously my safety is too important to risk trying the chassis updates myself. So, for now I keep myself busy on the little things… my time will soon come, and learning the characteristics of the new motor will be a fun challenge.

I’m still struggling on getting the site complete, but its slowly making progress. Almost 100,000 hits in less than 15 days “officially” online (The soft launch was 3/1, but the public’s first view wasn’t until 3/18). I’m amazed at all the responses I’ve received. In fact, the only ill comment was made by someone out of Orlando…. imagine that.

Oh well…. its back to the grindstone.

Be safe & go fast!!!

.:ERICA:.

Read it. Online. Anytime.

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That’s one of our marketing slogans at the paper I work for (The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)

Read It. Online. Anytime.

Its kind of amazing how much the internet has mainstreamed into our daily lives. Anyone who knows me, knows I’m about at the point where I can’t live WITHOUT it. Its how I stay in touch, in the know, up to date. You really can find ANYTHING on the web, you just have to know how to find it. But as much as I am constantly online, reading, writing, browsing, surfing, or however you refer to it, I never stood still long enough to carve out my own place…. Kind of silly seeing how I have built sites for countless others.

So, what does a girl do when she’s stuck at home, miserable from having her wisdom teeth pulled? Why, stay up all night and create her own site!

Welcome to Horsepower & Heels!    I have big dreams for this site, both for my own racing and to have a place where all women racing can find info and resources.

So, here it is… its not done yet, but I’ll promise to keep updating it as often as I can. Thanks for coming and looking around. Hopefully, it’ll interest a few watching eyes, and some much needed help will come my way. Or maybe that’s just the hydrocodone talking.

A girl can dream, right?

Daddy’s not taking THIS T-bird away

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Finally! The PRO BIRD is here! Its in the shop and better than expected!

To catch everyone up to speed….

Last year, I made the decision to step up. While only making it out to 3 events in my radial car, and attending many Pro Mod events, I decided that I wanted to go faster and build another car. It started out as wanting an Outlaw car, but after looking at the expenses involved, it ended up that it would be more convenient and made more economic sense to instead look for an older Pro car that needed updating. In September, I put my radial car up for sale. Dennis had a Pro Street Maverick that needed finishing, so he spoke with the owner who agreed to let me campaign the car for 1 year in exchange for the upgrades that would be needed for it to compete. I picked up the car and went to work on it in late November. Put my motor, and my newly acquired Bruno/Lenco in, and got it ready to start fabrication. But after a month and a half of working on the car, the owner’s wife decided she wanted to pick up the car, without caring that I had made arrangements, and had spent my own money & time on the car.

So, once again, I was left in a bad situation. My radial car had been sold, and I now had a complete drivetrain and no car to put it in. I looked around for another chassis that I could purchase for the small amount I had saved from the sale of my old car, with not much luck in finding anything in my price range. In February, when I had about given up hope of finding a chassis, Mike Herring saw my wanted post in the classifieds, and emailed me about his buddies T-Bird. Well maintained, and close enough to my price range, I contacted the owner, Charley Huff in Springfield, MO. Charley worked with me until I could gather the rest of his asking price, and a month later… HERE IT IS!

Fast Women! | Drag Racing Online

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ESX Subaru SearchDrag Racing Online featured Horsepower & Heels driver Erica Ortiz and several other ladies among the 8 finalists selected from almost 400 applicants to participate in the ESX Maximum Velocity Female Driver Search in their Agent 1320 article called ‘Fast Women’.    Erica and the other finalists flew to Pomona Raceway October 22-24, 2004 to participate in the contest, with the prize being the driver’s seat in the ESX SPT Subaru for the 2005 season in the NHRA Subcompact Sportsman RWD class.

Fast Women

Agent 1320 Drag Racing OnlineDrag Racing Online
Written by:  Agent 1320
Published: October 31, 2004

View article:  Fast Women | Agent 1320