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Erica Ortiz is a professional drag racer from the all-female pro modified team Horsepower & Heels and strong advocate of women in motorsports. A veteran both behind the wheel and behind a torque wrench, Erica brings over 10 years of experience navigating the male-dominated motor sports arena from the female perspective.

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Top Fuel or BUST!

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AKA… Don’t pinch me, I don’t want to wake up.

I am truly amazed how quickly your entire world can change overnight…Tuesday, I get a web message from the website… it’s from a gentleman who asked what my interests were in driving a top fuel dragster. Hmmm, lemmee think about that. UM, YEAAA! So, I immediately pick up the phone and call him back. After some brief conversation, we set up to meet in Chattanooga for lunch the next day with his PR/Marketing person.

Now, this is the 4th time I’ve had someone approach me about a possible fuel ride, so I’m a little bit skeptical and really just don’t get excited over these type things anymore. I usually just get a big dose of false hopes and some major disappointments. But, I am a little optimistic about this meeting simply for the fact that he set up a meeting so quickly. Surely that must be a good sign!

So, I get up early the next morning and head out to a regular job interview I had set up for a Marketing Coordinator position with a Huntsville technology company. The interview was at 7am, and after meeting the Marketing Executive and hearing all about this position and the advancement opportunities, I am extremely excited. Its EXACTLY the position I was looking for, and I loved the executive’s willingness to train a successor, because it matches my desire to learn!

With one good meeting under my belt, I head to Chattanooga for the Top Fuel interview. We are meeting at a restaurant in downtown Chattanooga called the Big River Grill. I arrive a few minutes early, and gather my thoughts before I entered.

Earlier this year, I interviewed with Don Schumacher to drive the Oakley Nitro Funny Car, and was so nervous, I blew the interview royally. Determined not to make that mistake again, I took a deep breath and walked up to the restaurant, where I met the team owner, Dave Stevens and his marketing partner waiting for me outside.

Lunch went great, they were very easy to talk to and down-to-earth people. We discussed everything and went over backgrounds… both mine and theirs. Needless to say, I am absolutely elated by this opportunity, and walked away with a great feeling about the new connection.

The team is an independent team who last competed in 2003 at the US Nationals with Tim Gibson (former driver of the BME Top Fuel Dragster) as their driver. They are putting together a program to run either NHRA or IHRA Top Fuel in 2008, depending on the funding secured. We are awaiting one big deal right now that I really hope will come through and set this plan in motion, but regardless of its outcome, the hunt for a sponsor will continue.

Becoming a professional driver in the fastest class on the planet is an absolute dream come true for me. It is this type of opportunity that I’ve spent the last 10 years working for night and day. A few of my friends have called and spoken to be about the news, and are surprised to hear that I’m not jumping from the rafters. I guess it’s shock…. it hasn’t become real to me that I may be piloting a car from 0-330 mph in 4.5 seconds yet. I read the rumor announcement on Competition Plus, and for a second I just couldn’t believe it was my name on there mixed in with all the Force and Scelzi announcements. Please don’t pinch me if this is all a dream!

Now, its just a matter of time. Keep your fingers crossed for me! (And your toes, too!)

Green Racing

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Today around the web is Blog Action Day, a day when people devote their daily blog to environmental awareness.

Racing and environment issues are generally not two things discussed in the same context, but I believe it’s important of all of us to do our environmental obligation ofoffsetting our carbon footprint on the environment. Its not practical or possible for all of us to drive fuel efficient hybrids, walk to work, or to do many of the things that true environmental activists practice in saving our environment. But, if we each do our part, we can all make a difference.

GREENER RACING

  • Ensure that oil/fuel disposal is done properly. Racetracks for the most part have oil collection points set up on their grounds. But I’ve still seen countless racers who carelessly spill those contaminants into the grass, allowing those toxins to affect our environment. If your track doesn’t have a collection point, request one. DON’T DUMP!
  • ETHANOL The Indy Racing League is switching to corn-based ethanol in 2008. Why not change your tuneup to ethanol as well?
  • Maintain your tow rig. Whether its an open trailer or a full blown semi hauler, these are the vehicles that travel miles and miles every year. Yet as meticulously as we are with the upkeep of our racecars, often the tow rigs are ignored. Make sure that they are kept in tune and up to its best mechanical shape.
  • Non-motorized pit vehicles. Golf carts, pit bikes, scooters. The facility can be cumbersome, but none are so vast that a good old bicycle couldn’t get us around instead. Use peddle-power when possible.
  • Plant trees or help sponsor a rain forest. Planting trees will help offset our carbon footprint and add oxygen back into the environment.

Can you think of more ways to make racing a little bit more eco-friendly?

Flashback: 2Fast, 2Funny

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Its campfire story time, so I thought I’d share one of my more comical stories from my past.

**Names/Locations may have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.**

This Flashback story takes us back to 2003…

The-Fast-and_FuriousI built my first project car, a 1992 LX Coupe that was once a FL highway trooper car from the ground up. Took it down to the metal, rebuilt a short block, and rounded up old odds and ends parts from across the shop to assemble it. Stuck a single turbo on the thing, and made it the ultimate street sleeper. The car had dark tint, no rollbar, and stock wheels with Nitto radials on back. An automatic and quiet as can be, it was completely unassuming. I built it with the intention of smoking Z06 Corvettes of that day… they loved to play from a roll.

One weekend, I got bored as I traveled out of Orlando for the weekend, and decided to check out the local race scene in another town. I pulled up for their midnight drag at the track (street racing style grudge night) and got out of my car in my heeled sandals and mini-skirt, to the curious stare of the local crowd. After a few minutes on the fence, I walked up and introduced myself. Well, that’s only half-true. I walked up and in a sugar-sweet voice, proceeded to put on an Emmy Winning performance.

You see, I was “new” in town. The car? It was my “boyfriend’s”. He just happened to be out of town this particular weekend, and I had decided to take the car out for a “spin”.

[Me]: “Hi, guys!”
[Local Track Guy]: “Uhh, hi.”
[Me]: “I’m a little new here, but ever since I saw that movie on TV, you know… the Fast and the Furious, I wanted to try this. My boyfriend’s out of town, and I’m out playing with his car tonight. What do I have to do to race like that here?”
(crowd snickers)
[Local Track Guy]: “Well, uhh, do you even know how to drag race? I mean, have you done it before?”
[Me]: long pause. “Well, no…. but I saw it on TV and want to learn. What do I need to do?”
[Local Track Guy]: “Forget whatever you saw on TV. That’s not drag racing.”
[Me]: “Oh, really? So you don’t race for money and stuff here? What do you do then?”
[Local Track Guy]: Grins. “Weeelll, we DO still race for money, so you probably don’t want to try that right now seeing how you’ve never done it.”
[Me]: “Oh, that’s okay. How much does it cost and how does it work?”

Round One

The local track guy proceeds to tell me all about arranged “grudge” matches and how they pair two cars together for money, and race for the winnings. Sometimes, they negotiate for head starts they call “spotting a car length”, or they get to leave first, which they refer to as getting the “hit”. After carefully nodding during his explanations, I set in for the kill:

[Me]: “So who wants to race me, then?”
[Local Track Guy]: “What does that thing have done to it? Is it stock?”
[Me]: “I don’t know. Its my boyfriend’s car. Its pretty old, so I guess so.”
(Local track guys talk among themselves for a minute before one steps out)
[Camaro Boy]: “I’ll take your money… err…I mean, I’ll race you.”
[Me]: “Well, since its my first time, how much of a head start are you going to give me? I am just a girl trying to learn, you know.”
[Camaro Boy]: laughing cockily. “Pffft, I’ll give you a car and the hit.”.

So I lined up with a blue Ls1 Camaro, who proceeded to give me my 2 car spot and the head start. I was supposed to nod when I was ready, and then as soon as he nodded he was set, I could leave whenever I wanted. After a very good show of “barely being able to do a burnout”, I gave the signal and looked back for the nod. No sooner than I get it, and with my door still partially open (I can’t see out with windows tinted black), did I roll into the throttle. I left pretty good on him, so I didn’t ever really need to go to the floor with it. I kept the win to a few car lengths at the stripe, and proceeded to round the return to claim my cash.

My Camaro buddy was complaining he wasn’t ready (then why did you nod, fool?) and wanted to re-run, but using the starter and not getting any head start. By now, they were wondering what this muffled, quiet little car was capable of doing. It left quicker than expected, and didn’t sound stock. Surely this sleeper with an automatic wasn’t THAT fast??

Round Two

We lined up again, this time straight heads up. I cleaned off the tires, and staged up. I had been leaving at idle so they didn’t hear the turbo too much before, though I think they had figured it out by now. So I tried to bring it up a little and took off. Admittedly, I was a bit late on this run, so I had to run her out a bit to chase him down, but ultimately, I had passed him at the stripe with a little change to spare.

Again, I return to claim my cash, met with lots of commotion and some real hard attempts to peek inside the car. It was getting late, and these guys were all stirred up. But before they’d let me leave, they wanted a Rd. 3 with a different car, double or nothing. This time its with a whistling fox body mustang that I know at least has a blower on it with exhaust and the rest of the goodies. I agree to line up, knowing I’d have to run it this time. I mean, I’m there to have fun, right???

Round Three

We leave, and spin pretty good off the launch, which actually worries me for a few seconds. But I start to reel the mustang back in, and was able to pass him pretty good before the finish. Knowing I was done for the night, I stayed in it hard and actually ended up with a sizeable lead at the stripe.

I come around to collect my cash.

[Me]: “This is FUN!!!!!” Snatches money. “I didn’t know it’d be this easy! Thanks guys, but I gotta get going!”
(dumbfounded crowd starts asking to see the engine)
[Mustang Guy]: “You passed me like I was sitting still. I was doing 110 mph! Pop the hood on that thing.”

Smiling, I walk over and pop the hood. The guy lifts the hood up and gasps at the turbo, intake and all the other toys. The crowd starts complaining and asking if my boyfriend knew I was driving the car. I just started smiling and laughing, when I hear a guy walking up yelling from the back.

[Guy in Crowd]: “Man, don’t ya’ll know who that chick is? She drives a damn 8 second drag radial car. “

The crowd starts yelling, some laughing and others visibly pissed off. They start telling me to get the heck out of there, that I was one sneeky little bugger. (putting it nicely)
By this point, I am quickly closing my hood. My work there was done, and $200 to the good, it was time for me to go!!!

The morale of this story…. objects may appear slower than they really are.


RIP, Wally Parks

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Wally Parks 1913-2007

The founder of the NHRA and the person who made drag racing what it is today, has passed away. Wally Parks, founded the NHRA in 1951 and served as the governing president for over 2 decades. His passion for side-by-side racing and his ambition to bring it to a safer, more controlled environment is what led to the formation of the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world.Parks still served on the NHRA Board of Directors, and maintained the The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum presented by Automobile Club of Southern California at Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.

“Today is a sad day in the world of NHRA and the sport of drag racing. Words simply can’t describe the immeasurable impact Wally has had on the sport he created and the millions of people’s lives he touched along the way. The name Wally Parks is synonymous with drag racing, and his vision and direction will guide NHRA for years to come. Everyone in drag racing, and the industries formed to service the sport, will forever be indebted to Wally, his vision, his focus and his desire to create, build and grow NHRA.” –Tom Compton, president of NHRA.

 

Rest in peace, Wally.

Case Study in Sleep Deprivation

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I used to balk at all those Hollywood B-list stars who complained about how exhausting their promotional schedules were, and laughed at reported “collapses” and “breakdowns”. I mean really…. how hard is it to sit and have your hair/nails/makeup done for you, be dressed in exclusive garments by Hollywood fashion designers and answer some questions for a camera while smiling? It sounded like quite the life…. until I got a small scale dose of what goes into those magazine cover shoots and the 5 minute TV interviews.

This week, I had the pleasure of being interviewed for the Hispanic Today television show. The show is produced by the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC). Since my car is still a work-in-progress, and since my partner in crime is in FL, we decided that it would be best to shoot the episode at Dennis’ shop,Excessive Engineering in Orlando, FL.

Being the multi-tasker that I am, I decided to capitalize on the fact that Debbie and I would both be there, and scheduled a photo shoot to get some shots for an upcoming feature in Auto A Fondo magazine and a few other magazine spreads that we are working on. So, I arranged for local Orlando photographer, Herbie Martin to come out and do some shots with us. And for all of this, we’d haveExcessive’s Eddie filming the whole thing for a behind the scenes for our PNN show. Talk about knocking out some birds with one stone!

[View the Photo Gallery]

But, being that I still have no vacation time at my new job, I had to cram all of this excitment in to less than 24 hour window. So I booked a flight from Atlanta ->Orlando: leaving at 6:30am and returning at 9:45pm. Simple enough? Wrong.

I live about 2 hours and 45 minutes from the Atlanta airport, which incidentally, also is an hour ahead in time difference on EST. In order to check-in on time for my 6am flight, I had to leave my house at midnight. I tried to grab a few hours of shut-eye after work, but it didn’t work out so well. So, I make it to the airport, depart at 6am as scheduled, and land in Orlando at 8am, where Dennis came to pick me up. Meanwhile, Debbie was driving down from Jacksonville, and also had not slept (her from anticipation). Looked like we were in for a long day.

At the shop, Debbie proceeds with my makeup. I HATE makeup. Moreso that cakey, gooey, scary looking photo makeup than normal makeup, but still. And given that its Orlando Hot… like 100 degree, hot and sticky humid Hot, its doing more MELTING than staying on my face. The shop isn’t A/C’d, and once the TV crew got there, the fans were shut off for the video/sound aspect. I think I lost about 5 lbs of water weight.

All said, everything went very well. I never imagined that a 5 minute segment would take the better part of 5 hours to record. We wrapped around 6pm, and I had about an hour left over before Robert and Shake dropped me off at the airport. My plane departed at 9:45pm back to Atlanta, and arrived at 11pm.

Tired, I was aching to get back on the road and climb into bed. It had now been almost 48 hours that I had been awake. I finally find my car in the daily parking area at ATL, and hop in to head home. But much to my absolute HORROR, there is a welcoming army awaiting me…. yep, ANTS. TONS of them.

Now, you’re probably thinking… “dummy probably left food in her car.” But that’s just it… there was NOTHING in there for them to be attracted to. Apparently, the trees lining the parking lot are infested, and since I parked under one, they decided to jump ship. I made it about 20 itchy, scratchy, painful miles before I finally had to find somewhere, someway to get my unwelcomed friends out of my ride. They were actually all over the exterior, and crawling in through the door jams. So, I found a high pressure wash, and at midnight proceeded to blast those suckers off my car, out of the wheel wells, and out of every nook and cranny. Then, I sprayed the interior with bug spray, and finally continued home.

Problem is, when you’re that sleep deprived, even the simpliest of trips can become far to complex. There are 3 turns I have to make on my trip home, and somehow I passed and got lost on each one. I was so frazzled by the last turn, I was in tears…. trying to stay awake. I didn’t pull into my driveway until 3:30am. And rolled into bed after showering off the funk from the past 24 hours at 4am. So of course, the alarm at 6am came entirely too soon.

Off to work I went, utterly exhausted. I don’t remember getting there actually, and struggled to stay alert all day. I ran straight through a red light and was almost hit not once, but twice… and learned my very important lesson… sleep isn’t optional.

 

 

Fingers Crossed

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This weekend, my travels will be taking me 7 hours north to Highlands, Illinois. Why? To test fit in a Nitrous Pro Mod that I may have a chance to drive some next season.

Late last year, I received an email from a gentleman asking if I’d be interested in driving an Outlaw Pro Mod. Hmmmm, lemmee think about it..umm..YES! Pro Mods are my passion, and of course I’d love any opportunity to drive one, especially a faster one than mine.

The email came from Dennis Price of TEAM Motorsports, Inc. in St. Louis. He has owned/partnered with several very competitive nitrous Pro Mods in the midwest (Donnie Little’s 68 Camaro, Aaron Hodges ’63 Corvette, John Deflorian’s Corvette, Eric Steffey’s Camaro, etc.) over the years. Of course, I promptly returned his call.

Upon speaking to Dennis, I learned that he was in the process of building a new car, and was looking for a shoe to compete in ADRL Pro Nitrous and various Quick 8 Pro Mod shootouts in 2007. With all of his previous successes, and the talent and experience of his former drivers, I would definitely have some tall shoes to fill. Having spent so much time around Dan Parker/Bill George’s Pro Mod, I learned a lot about Nitrous Pro Mods, so luckily I was not completely lost on the idea. I explained my current experience, my eagerness and willingness to learn and work hard, and my belief that with proper instruction, I could quickly adapt to the differences between a 4.36 second (1/8th mile) turbo pro mod, and the 4.00’s that a nitrous pro mod would be running. Initially, he expected the car to near completion in March, so after some discussion, we agreed to touch bases again after the new year.

Of course, the new year came and went, and with everything happening around that time for me personally, I did not have the chance to follow back up with Dennis until recently. Remembering that I had not seen or heard of any new cars in competition, I sent out an email to Dennis to see how the project was coming and if he’d found his shoe.

Much like my own delays, Dennis responded this week that it had taken a little longer to complete than he expected and that they were now nearing completion. He had still not decided on a driver, and asked me to come up and sit in the car and talk further in person if I was still interested.

So, with that, I am off tomorrow to Illinois to meet Dennis and sit in his new car. He described the car to me as having a House of Kolor tangerine paint job with a white gold flake/white pearl strip. It sounds stunning, I am excited to see it.

Cross your fingers for me! More to follow soon!

Show preview is out!

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Well, its kinda been hush, hush… but, some of you have wondered why I’ve been carrying around a camera or have been followed by someone with a camera as of late. The reason, is because of THIS…. Horsepower & Heels is going PRIMETIME!

PNN came on board in June to begin producing a web based, first-of-its-kind TV Series about all the interesting struggles and adventures that the Horsepower & Heels team encounters on our journeys. I’m VERY excited! The preview looks great (besides getting used to seeing my goofy behind up close and personal like that… geeesh!), and I can’t wait to see the first episode debut in September!

So take a look…. and tell your friends to tell their friends to take a look too!

Almost Done

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Well, I just got surprising news that the car is almost done at Chassis Engineering! I’m very excited. From there, Dennis Lugo of Excessive Engineering is picking it up and taking it over to his shop in Orlando, FL to finish up some of the other details and get the car wired. While he’s handling that, the body work will be getting finished, and then its back to Grant for paint and final assembly.

I’m so excited!

 

 

 

Fast Friends at 90+mph

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I finally arrived at the Bristol Track around 1:30pm after my detour. But of course, its not a solo road trip, unless I arrive with some sort of whacky or great story to tell. This trip is no exception.

Shortly after I stopped for gas outside of Nashville, I ran into another black Mustang… A 99, with some good sounding exhaust and cobra wheels. Well, I noticed he had a radar detector, and I was having fun playing chase with him down I-40. Cat and mouse… he’d take off, get through traffic, and I hang with him. Or I’d take the lead for awhile and play too. At one point, I pulled along side him with a note written on a piece of paper:

“GOING TO FFW?”

I figured that a car with Virginia plates, with cool exhaust, headed the same direction had a good chance of going to the same place. But he yelled back that he didn’t know what this was and I told him it was a race in Bristol (all while doing 80 mph down the interstate). I wasn’t sure how long he’d be going my way…. but he hung with me all through Knoxville and onto I-81 before he got off on exit 10 or so. I waved and he threw his hands up as I passed as if to asks why I didn’t stop. I was running late, and I had to get to the track. Oh well, now I had to slow down to 80 mph since my radar detector and new found road buddy had abandoned me.

That is until he came flying back up on me around 40 miles later. (figure out that equation on how fast he had to be traveling to do THAT, math whizzes!) This time, he had a note, it said:

“HAD 2 PEE”.

Too funny! I about pee’d my own pants I was laughing so hard.

Sadly, he got too far ahead of me in traffic right before my exit, so my new friend didn’t get a good bye. Darn! And I was going to try and convince him to go to the race!

Lost

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So I got up as planned to leave out for Bristol at 6am this morning.

Normally, I have a pretty darn good sense of direction. But somehow today I’ve managed to go the wrong way on I-24 and ended up in Nashville instead of Knoville. Grrr! I can’t believe I just did that! I’m about 140 miles too far west on I-40! Its now 11am…. I’m supposed to BE in Bristol… and instead, I’m in Nashville.

Great, now I’m going to be hearing this for the next 10 years. Dennis’ friend Robert was even such the sweetheart as to give me a compass.

Smart ass.

I know, I know…

Where’s my sign?