Features

Jessica Kennedy aims high with Shotgun Shock

June 24, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

On the main firing line for industry-leading motorcycle air suspension manufacturer, Shotgun Shock, Jessica Kennedy blows away customers with her hands-on technical skill and knowledgeable customer service.

Ready.

Growing up, Jessica Kennedy wasn’t afraid to dig into the family business and get dirty. The Riverside, California native spent her childhood around the family’s machine shop, where they crafted bullets and ammunition.

Aim.

Motorcycles have always been a part of her life, and Jessica has always enjoyed the Harley scene. Her first experience in the industry was working with JD over 15 years ago in a custom build shop they worked. She handled mostly the office side of the business, but loved the industry and riding culture. Though the two would move on to other ventures, they remained friends.

It wasn’t until their paths would cross again in 2010, that Jessica and JD would team up and solidify their bond. JD had been working on the development of Shotgun Shocks for a number of years, but with Jessica’s support, the duo have turned the family business into the premiere air suspension manufacturer for Harley Davidson Softtail and Bagger motorcycles.

Jessica didn’t start with the firm understanding of the products. She took it upon herself to familiarize herself with the technology and really learning the ropes behind all aspects of the business.

When I first started going to shows (with Shotgun Shock), I would just talk to people and show them the buttons and demo unit. For technical stuff, I would hand them over to JD, because I didn’t know all the other things that made up the shock, much less installation. But, I got in there and learned every little detail about them, and before long I could answer any of the questions.”

Fire.

Jessica now handles all aspects of the South El Monte, California business. She regularly attends shows, handles material procurement, installations, customer support and warranty administration as the ‘Go-To’ gal for Shotgun. The family business is her passion, and something that she is happy to involve her children and other family in, adding that they intend to always keep Shotgun family-owned, despite opportunities to go corporate with their rapid success.

It has been great to share with the kids and all of our family. My nephew is the CnC programmer, the kids are always around in all that we do- we fully intend to keep Shotgun a family owned and operated business, we never want to sell out.”

Customers have grown accustomed to interacting with Jessica at shows and in Shotgun’s social outreach, being the leading voice that offers support to customers worldwide. Yet still, when installation time comes around, Jessica enjoys seeing the look of surprise on customer faces when she rolls up on the garage creeper.

I love seeing the shock on their faces when I pull a jack out and start lifting their motorcycles for the install. The look of disbelief that I am the one completing the install really catches them off-guard. By the end though, they are all expressing how impressed and happy they are with the results.”

On average, installs can take about 3 hours to complete, ranging in complexity by the model and year of the bike. Jessica has performed hundreds of installs to date, and takes great pride in her work, adding that her record install was completed in under 45 minutes.

I’ve done hundreds of these, and have the process down. Some take longer than others, but my record is 41 minutes on a softtail. That turns some heads.”

The self-taught entrepreneur is proud of the success she shares with JD and Shotgun Shock. The experience has been especially meaningful personally to Jessica, given the hardships she endured early in life. Overcoming great adversity and instances of personal abuse, her story is a more personal one of perseverance and victory over her struggles. Her dedication to the company and her customers has been instrumental in the booming success, and she has no intention of slowing down.

We can’t wait to see what the future holds for hard-working Jessica Kennedy and Shotgun Shocks!

Female Racer: Sondra Leslie

June 22, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

Dating back to when she was just a teenager, 28 year-old Sondra Leslie has followed in the family drag racing tradition. The sister of NMRA Factory Stock racer John Leslie Jr and Street Outlaw Crew Chief Melissa Urist, the Munster, IN native began her racing experiences over 15 years ago, learning the family racing habits. Since then, she’s graduated to her own NMRA Factory Stock race operation, adding another accomplished driver to the family tree.

Racing in the Blood

I was almost inevitable that Sondra would follow in the family footsteps. Much like her other siblings, Sondra would spend her teenage years at NMRA events across the country, helping and learning from her brother. Before she was even old enough to drive, Sondra knew that she wanted to race herself. She was dedicated to learning everything it took to be successful- from the upkeep and mechanical aspect, to the responsibilities of being a team owner and driver.

Breaking into the sport wasn’t always the easiest for Sondra, who despite years of experience at the races, still had to overcome some skeptics within the community.

It’s very hard to get your start in this sport as a women because you are not taken very seriously at first. It’s been a unique experience showing everyone I’m just as dedicated as the next person,” she said of the early critics.

Her big break would come in 2009, when best friend and current crew chief, Ken Bjonnes handed over the keys to his supercharged 2005 Mustang GT and offered her a dream-opportunity: a chance to compete in the NMRA Super Stang class for the entire 2010 season.

Ken Bjonnes has been my teacher since day one. He knew I was a fast learner and with his years of experience behind this sport he was eager to teach me the ins and outs of drag racing,” said Sondra of the valuable coaching he provided.

Sondra wouldn’t let him down, indeed proving to be a fast study that would end her rookie season in the No. 5 position overall in the class. She spent 2011 in the Super Stang class as well, finishing just outside the top ten.

Moving Up- Factory Stock

At the end of her sophomore season, Sondra had the urge to move away from the index racing format of Super Stang and into a heads-up category. With so much family experience in the Factory Stock class, she felt it would be a fitting match. Together with her team and family’s input, the car was completely rebuilt for the 2012 season meeting the Factory Stock rule requirements.

Not all competitors were as supportive of her move into heads-up racing. She was met with vocal critics that unfairly questioned her abilities, and as a result had to learn how best to manage these antagonists.

Several people would give me a hard time because I was a female entering ‘their’ class and would always try to discourage me and question my ability to race, say things like ‘I will never be competitive – I should not even try and come run with them.’ It was difficult at first to handle but you develop some tough skin being in this industry and you learn to just keep at it and always strive to do your best to prove the non-believers you are just as capable as them.”

She has been a staple of the class for the past four seasons, finishing in the top ten every year since her 2012 debut. Her rookie Factory stock season, Sondra would finish No. 7 for the year, improving every year with a 6th place finish in 2013, and up to the No. 4 position at the end of 2014. Much of this she attributes to her family.

So many times my family has stepped up to help me when I needed it the most. My parents for trailering my car to the events, my dad for cooking for us and making sure we ate throughout the day and making sure the car was always clean, my mom for video recording every pass I have ever made, my sister for filling in as crew chief when Ken was not able to make the event and always cheering me on, my brother for all his assistance and advise.”

This season, Sondra and her team upgraded her Factory Stock Mustang with a MPR Racing Engines built Coyote powerplant and C4 transmission. Crew chief Ken and Lund Racing provide all the tuning, and Power by the Hour helped to assemble the car for its season opening debut in Bradenton, Florida for the NMRA Spring Break Shootout. Strange Engineering, her largest sponsor, has been on-board with the program for the past 5 years, and Pappa Shine provides all the cleaning and detailing supplies to ensure the car is always photo-ready. She is currently in the No. 2 position for points in the 2015 season, with 2 events remaining.

Future Goals for Sondra Leslie

Sondra plans to continue working on improving her Factory Stock program, fine-tuning the combination and improving her race day results. Her goal is to put the car into the winner’s circle this season, and is constantly working on ways to improve as a driver.

Most challenging thing about racing for me: Not being so hard on myself. I am always looking for ways to become a better driver and even after having an awesome season opener weekend, there is always that ‘if I didn’t do this…’ or ‘I could have done this better…’ that plays over and over in my mind. My ultimate goal in racing is to be as successful as my brother-in-law, John Urist, and my brother, John Leslie Jr. I have some pretty big shoes to fill, but with their guidance I know I can achieve that goal.”

One of the most important aspects she has learned being a female driver in the sport is to work with people you can trust and always staying humble. There are always people out there who don’t have the best intentions in mind, and this can put a racer in a compromising situation.

Work with people you trust. That’s good advice for anyone, but being a woman in this sport opens you up to certain issues that I’m sure you can imagine.”

For Sondra, continuing the family tradition of drag racing has been a rewarding adventure she cherishes with her family. Not only has she added another branch to the Leslie family racing tree, but she also gets the pleasure of teaching the next generation of racer the ropes, involving her two nieces as much as possible at the racetrack.

Many people dream of following a race circuit and competing in it, I actually live that dream and I’m very grateful for this opportunity.”

We can’t wait to see where Sondra Leslie will go in the future!

Firestone Racing’s Cara Adams

June 15, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

Meet Cara Adams, Senior Project Engineer of Race Tire Development for Firestone Racing, the exclusive tire manufacturer for the Verizon IndyCar Series. On the track, she is responsible for the design and development of Firestone’s tires for the oval circuits, including the Indianapolis 500, superspeedway and mile oval tracks.

Breaking Gearhead

I have always been fascinated by how things work. I liked to take things apart and put them back together… most of the time.”

Cara grew up with a passion for dissecting and reassembling things around her. The daughter of a high school science teacher, she was regularly surrounded by neighborhood science camps growing up. Her grandfather, an engineer for NASA, was the inspiration that led her to pursue her Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering with a focus on vehicle dynamics from the University of Akron in Ohio.

While attending college, she would take an interest in Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), a program in which students design, build and race an open-wheeled race car. Through this program, she attend ed a few Champ Car races in nearby Cleveland, Ohio.

I was so impressed by the engineering of these machines, I started going every year. I remember being fascinated by the cars flying through the chicane in turns 9 and 10, watching the motion of the cars as the chassis reacted to braking, turning, and acceleration as the drivers navigated that tricky section of track. I could have watched that for hours.”

Her start in the program wasn’t a glamorous one. She began at the bottom, cleaning up the shop area. From there, Cara began learning how to use a mill and lathe, machining small parts and becoming more engaged and useful around the shop. She progressed to cutting and bending the tubes for the frame, using FEA to help design uprights and designing the safety systems that go in the car, like the impact crush zones and various electronics.

Away from school, Cara would again encounter the racing bug as a passenger in a friend’s supercharged Mustang. She was instantly hooked, and decided she wanted to own a car that fast.

I saved up, bought a car that needed some work, and decided to learn how to make it fast. Since then, I’ve worked to improve upon just about every area of that car.”

Her first engine rebuild would come on a Honda CBR F3. Learning the inner workings of the engine was fascinating to Adams. She would wrench away on her own cars, and then take them to local drag strips, auto-cross events, or road courses to test her work and results.

From that moment on, I knew I wanted to work in the automotive field, and that I would love an opportunity to work in racing. I wanted this to become a full time job. Seeing the results of my own hobbies gave me confidence to work in racing for a living. I am very blessed to do this for a living.”

Turning Passion into Paychecks

Her first entry into the profession would come in 2003, working with Bridgestone Americas’ Tire/Vehicle Dynamics team. Working with the Formula SAE team, there wasn’t much time for “typical” college activities like eating, sleeping, doing homework or having a social life. Every spare moment was spent down in the shop machining new parts or working on new designs. She gained experience working during this time, but had her heart set on working with the Firestone Racing team. Breaking into a full-time career in racing is difficult regardless of the role, but Cara was determined to make her dreams a reality.

I met with the head of race tire development, and asked him what skills and traits he wanted to see in a race tire engineer. I told him my goal was to work for the Firestone Racing team, asked him for advice and took everything he said to heart. I picked up a couple of Vehicle Dynamics textbooks, and also and started teaching myself how to code in the MATLAB programming language, as that was not one of my strengths at the time. I was determined to go into the interview and give them no choice but to hire me as the next race tire engineer.”

Taking heed of that advice, Cara would remain adamant about her ambitions and soak up as much knowledge and experience as she could. She would learn from mentors that would help further her goal of breaking into the racing world.

I learned most of what I know from my first manager, Page Mader, and our lead engineer, Dale Harrigle (Dale is now the Chief Engineer of Bridgestone Americas Motorsports). It is unbelievable the work and knowledge that goes into designing these racing tires that withstand high loads and speeds of IndyCars. At some tracks, the tires withstand speeds of more than 240 mph and the right rear tire can bear loads equivalent to the weight of a Honda Civic or a Chevrolet Cruze!”

Pestering her way into Racing

Her dream job didn’t happen by accident, as Cara often credits herself as “pestering her way into racing”. In 2007, Cara strategically planned a trip to visit her younger sister, also an engineer who had just begun working for Boeing in Seattle. The Champ Car Portland Grand Prix was also scheduled that week, so Cara reached out to the Firestone Racing team to volunteer for the group.

Since Portland was only three hours from her apartment, I told the group I’d come out and volunteer that weekend ‘since I was there anyway.’ In reality, I chose that weekend to fly out in hopes I could work with the Firestone Racing team.”

Her pestering paid off, when later that year she interviewed for and was hired on by the Race Tire Development team with the Firestone Racing brand, carrying primary responsibility in road and street course tires.

The Bumpy Road to Open Wheel

Having made her way into racing, her first official business trip would be to a tire test session at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Assigned to work with drivers Marco Andretti and Danica Patrick, Cara had a busy week to get her feet wet in the sport. Bad luck would strike, as Cara became ill before her trip, and would rupture her eardrum on the flight down, spending the night before the test in the emergency room. Despite these setbacks, she would soldier on through the entire test, spending all day on pit lane learning about IndyCar and Firestone racing and getting feedback from the drivers about tire performance.

I found that the IndyCar community is a fantastic group of people- one of the reasons is that almost everyone that works in IndyCar does it because they want to be there. This leads to a very focused, dedicated group of people in all ranks of the organization, be it a team, or supplier like Firestone.”

The Firestone team travels to about 17 races per year, not including on-track testing, and Cara often feels that she spends more time with her IndyCar family than with her own family. The height of this busy road life occurs during the month leading up to the Indianapolis 500, when the culmination of the Indianapolis Rookie Orientation Programs, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course open test, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and the Indy 500 practice sessions/qualifying /race require Cara to live in the same hotel room for over a month. Luckily, her husband loves racing too, and is more than willing to come out for a visit.

In addition to the on-track products, Cara oversees rain tire development and all of Firestone’s racing force and moment testing (testing the tire and creating a model that teams can use in their vehicle simulations).

I have the privilege of working for a fantastic company that respects its employees and I’m fortunate to work with a great team of people. It is important to choose a company with values you respect. Bridgestone creates a great collaborative environment that gives us the flexibility to be innovative while designing high-performance tires, whether they’re on the race track, on the highway or in a farmer’s field.”

Experience and Inspiring Others

Though being among a smaller minority of women working in the male-dominated racing community makes you stick out just like any big difference in a large group, Cara insists that this diversity works to her advantage.

Instead of just being “the tire guy” (although I am still called that), people quickly learned to know me as Cara, the Tire Engineer and Force and Moment expert. Having diversity among a group, whether gender, area of expertise or anything else, can lead to different ways of thinking about the same issue and can yield unique solutions to any challenges you may face. A small minority of the ‘old school’ racers might initially be more skeptical of a female engineer in the paddock, but like everyone, you prove yourself by your performance. Once they see your work ethic, talent, passion and ability to solve challenges, it doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female. Brown, black, white or purple – everyone respects results.”

Cara has been able to use her career experience as a Race Tire Engineer to help introduce engineering to the younger generations, speaking to children of all ages about the importance of math and sciences and showing them the possibilities within the field of engineering. She has fostered some fantastic mentoring relationships with young people.

As an engineer who is female working in a mostly male dominated sport, I hope to be a role model who inspires young girls to believe that being an engineer is a very attainable goal.”

Future Goals

Going forward, the same goal that has propelled Adams thus far in her career continues to motivate and drive her: to be not just the best female engineer, but the best in her field.

I always have the same goal, regardless of my role: Be the best at what I do, provide engineering solutions to challenges no one has yet thought of, contribute to and/or lead a successful team. More specifically for my job, my goals are: To make safe, consistent, innovative tires that go fast, and to provide excellent customer service to the IndyCar teams – listen to their feedback and use it to continuously improve the performance of our tires. I don’t want to be the best ‘female engineer’; I want to be the best engineer, period!”

And for those who are wanting to pursue their dreams in the racing world, she offers:

Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t do, what you are or aren’t good at, or who you are. If you have a goal, do everything in your power to accomplish it, and don’t be timid if you run into obstacles. It’s important to have a good support system. I have been blessed with a great network of people who know me and believe in me. Having people who care about and support you, and provide you with genuine feedback is priceless. If you don’t have a mentor, reach out to someone you respect and ask for advice. Having someone in your field with whom you can discuss your career, challenges, or simply use as a sounding board for ideas, will help you along the way. You may even give back as much as you get out of a good mentoring relationship. And, if you have others that can learn from you, be a mentor for them.”

Featured Crew: Melissa Urist

June 5, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

With 13 years experience in the pits, 7 of those for one of the most successful Super Street Outlaw programs on the planet, and a ‘Crew Member of the Year’ title to her name, 30 year-old New Mexico resident, Melissa Urist continues to crush assumptions with her class-winning knowledge and wrench-turning skills.

The Early Years

Growing up, Melissa was always surrounded by a love for cars. Her father an avid Mustang enthusiast, he always had more ponies than Melissa could even remember. His passion and auto enthusiasm was passed down through the family; first to her brother, and eventually taking hold of Melissa herself, who wanted to follow in her brother’s footsteps.

It began with local car cruise-ins to a popular hangout called Blue Top, an establishment frequented by the muscle car crowd in her suburban Chicago hometown. From there, she would venture to the race track with the family. Drag Racing wasn’t love at first sight for Urist, who said that the dragstrip took time to grow on her, “mainly because at that time, I wasn’t even old enough to have a learners permit,” she says. She began learning the basics from brother Johnny Leslie- who competed in the National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA)- changing tires, fly wheels, clutches, rear ends, etc. for his Factory Stock class Mustang. Soon, drag racing became an obsession.

Partners in Life and Championships

8 years later, Melissa would meet NMRA racing standout, John Urist of Hellion Racing at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) tradeshow. Teamed with John, who would not only become her racing partner, but her husband and partner in life, she learned what it took to crew a championship winning Street Outlaw program, from valve train to engine maintenance and all the other round preparation tasks of a top-caliber team. She and one other member serve as the entire working crew on the car, a fact that put many in disbelief.

I would have to say most people who pass through our pits assume that I don’t know much about the car or that because the pit is filled with more men than women that I’m just there to film, no actual labor on the car,” she says of her role as main crew member. “I don’t come right out and tell people that I have a major hand in the car because I let my work speak for itself. I’m lucky that my husband will tell people himself how during a typical race weekend, he does no work on the car himself besides tuning, and that myself and Mike King do 100% of the work.”

From loading the Hellion hauler in preparation for its cross-country travel to races, to her flying into the track for set-up and tech, checking over the engine and fixing problems that arise, maintenance between fueling, water, ice, spark plugs, battery charging, towing the car to/from the race surface, and lining John up for each and every run, there isn’t much Melissa doesn’t have a hand in on the car’s upkeep.

…Most just assume that if you’re a woman at the track, you’re there for attention only. I honestly don’t walk the track that often at races, I stick to my pit, work on the car, chat with our crew members, talk about our plan for the next pass with my crew and worry about my daughter. I think it’s an awesome experience when you can talk cars with people who pass through your pits and they commend you on your knowledge of cars, throwing in that they didn’t expect that. I feel like maybe with that experience, they will treat the next female with a little more respect.”

Melissa propelled John to countless wins in the class, culminating with six Super Street Outlaw Championship titles, and earning the coveted NMRA 2014 Crew Member of the Year title for her work.

This [Crew Member of the Year award] was so special and unique to me because I believe I’m the 2nd woman in the NMRA to have ever won this award,” she said of the honor. I really hope that someday my daughter will race and feel confident in what she’s doing because her mom has shown her that it is possible.”

Melissa Urist: Super Mom

But her work doesn’t stop there. Since the arrival of their daughter Lauren in September 2012, Melissa also handles getting the entire house ready for the Grandparents to watch while her and John are away at the races. Between her crew duties, she is making sure everything is 100% ok at home and that there are no issues with their daughter.

I was blessed to grow up with Super Mom-I mean that! My mom can juggle 4 children with crazy busy schedules like she’s baking a cake. It always came so natural to her, (and I struggle with 1!) that I said when situations get tough, I need to channel my own Mom. Growing up with her has turned me into the best Mom/wife/daughter I could be.”

Melissa and John are sure they will continue the family legacy with the next generation of racers. Already car-savvy at the tender age of 2, Lauren is wasting no time following right behind her mommy and daddy’s footsteps.

Family is everything. With that said, you can have a family AND race. 9 days after our daughter was born, we loaded up in the motorhome and drove from Albuquerque, NM (where we live) to Bowling Green, KY for a race and won the championship. It was the most exciting and exhausting weekend of my life. I committed to responsibilities on the car and didn’t want to give them up so I’d feed our daughter, put her in her baby rocker and work on the car. Thankfully, at 9 days old, she found the sound of cars going down the track to be lulling and slept, literally, like a baby. Her entire first year and a half, she was at every race no matter what. Motherhood doesn’t mean your life stops, it means you get to pass this love of cars onto your own children. Getting them involved is, in my opinion, the best way to continue to do what you love AND you don’t have to give up those precious moments with them. My daughter pops the hood on her mini- Boss 302 and shows us how she works on cars. She’s also obsessed with looking under the hood of our 2015 and pointing out the turbos.”

Taking a turn at the wheel?

Despite over a decade at the track, Melissa has never taken her turn behind the wheel. She stated that this is something that is soon to change, and is looking forward to her first trip down the track herself. She will hit the track in a Hellion Twin Turbo 2015 Mustang, and has her eye on the NMRA’s Turbo Coyote Shootout held in Bowling Green and the NMRA All-Female shootout in Ohio.

As far as advice for women wanting to get involved in the sport? She offers:

Always be humble. Respect other women in the sport. Don’t come into the scene with an attitude against others, especially when you don’t know them nor have the years of experience behind you. Lift one another up. Never give up, no matter how many times you cross the stripe 2nd. It’s an exciting experience for me to watch my sister race in the same class as my brother and it brings me to tears each and every time my sister does well because I know how much hard work she’s put in to go just one more round. Enjoy and embrace every moment!”

Best of luck to Melissa! We can’t wait to see you add driver to your accomplished resume!

Featured Racer: Taylor Vetter

May 30, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

Women in Racing Feature: Taylor Vetter

Meet Taylor Vetter, a 20 year-old Super Comp drag racer from Henderson, Nevada. When she is not attending classes at UNLV to become an athletic trainer, Taylor is a regular racer at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in her 540 cubic inch Big Block Chevy powered Ron Fry super comp dragster.

She began drag racing at the age of 8 in the junior dragster ranks, following in the steps of her cousins, Justin and Ryen Lamb. Moving up the ranks, Taylor competed in the junior dragster series with her family until she turned 18, winning many local track races and a divisional race. She runnered-up in the 2010 Western Conference Finals, and was a Semi-Finalist in the same race in 2011.

This year, Taylor made the switch to the adult NHRA Super Comp ranks.

Her current goals are to become more comfortable with the new car, gaining the experience she needs to eventually win a national or divisional event. She would love to travel for racing, and get the opportunity to compete at as many racetracks as possible.

Best of luck to Taylor Vetter! We look forward to following her career.

FiA Women in Motorsports Newsletter

May 11, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

The 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

Featured Site: CarChix.com

February 17, 2015 // by Horsepower & Heels

www.CarChix.com

In my search for all things Women and Racing, I tend to wear out Google trying to stay updated on all the ladies out there. Believe me, the search isn’t as easy as it seems. After weeding through the hottest driver articles that tend to populate the first few pages of search results, its slim-pickings past that to find the good stuff. So I’ve made it my new mission to seek out and share the relevant sites that cover Women and Motorsports as I find them.

CarChix.com

This week’s feature is one of the most vibrant sites I’ve found in my recent searches. CarChix.com is a motorsports organization for women created by Jeanette DesJardins. Founded in 2010, the site was born out of an idea DesJardins had as a teenage gearhead, working at her first job as an automotive lube technician outside of Chicago. She envisioned someday owning her own shop, where she felt she could improve many of the things plaguing the industry at the time with a female touch. Sitting outside that shop talking to a friend, she named her future garage Car Chix.

Founder/President, Jeanette DesJardins

Jeanette’s first introduction to motorsports came while she was still in diapers, when her parents and uncle would take her along to Road America in Wisconsin. Young Jeanette did more crying from the loud racecars at that age however, and it wasn’t until her teen years that she rediscovered the automotive world. Shortly after purchasing her first car, she was met by resistance from her father, who held the nagging question over her head — How would she afford to repair it if it broke down? Jeanette’s solution: she’d learn to fix it herself, and began taking automotive mechanic courses at the local community college. That training led to her working as a technician at several small garages and dealerships as she moved on to pursue her Associates Degree in Marketing.

“I could go on for days about things that I have learned over the years”, adds DesJardins. “Some of the keys things, that have really stuck with me over the years are: don’t over think things too much – It’s okay not to know the answer to something; no one knows everything – Have thick skin – Watch where you stick your fingers – Don’t wear plastic gloves, it hurts peeling it off your skin when you get burnt.”

Jeanette DesJardins at Great Lakes Dragaway — Jeanette working on the starting line at Great Lakes Dragaway

From there, she landed one of her favorite jobs of all– starting line coordinator and starter at Great Lakes Dragaway in Union Grove, WI. She continued on there, gaining valuable experience in the automotive industry while she simultaneously earned her Bachelor’s in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Wisconsin. It was during her time there that she launched the website for CarChix.com, initially intended to share photos and chat with other female drag racers at the track. But after just two weeks, the site crashed from the high amount of traffic visiting, causing a change to a forum based system and a relaunch. From there, the site grew, with ladies and men sharing stories from all over the world. She now works as Marketing Coordinator for a manufacturing company in Chicago, as well as, the owner of Crank It Media, an Internet Marketing Company and Car Chix.com.

Often a one-woman show, she’s put in years of exhaustive effort and has big plans moving forward she hopes will be announced a little later this year, that would impact women in motorsports and female racers in general. She remains dedicated to empowering women all over the world, offering this advice:

“Stay focused. Stay driven. It sounds cheesy, but you can seriously do anything you want as long as you work for it. Hard work really does pay off in the end. You will come across moments when you just feel like giving up, but don’t. Each hard day is a hard lesson earned. Apply what you’ve learned through your experiences; tomorrow is always another day.”

CarChix.com News & Features

Jeanette DesJardins at Route 66 — Jeanette racing herself at Route 66 Raceway

One of the strengths of the CarChix website are the regular news updates posted on female racers careers, including news reports submitted by racers as well as a Featured CarChix of the Month section. Both of these sections make it one of the most feature-rich sites for quality women in racing stories, helping to promote the careers and successes of ladies racing all across the globe. There is even a CarChix store for cool merchandise sporting the CarChix logo and a listing for CarChix sponsored events.

CarChix Events

Jeanette DesJardins Carchix.com — CarChix founder and president Jeanette DesJardins at the 2011 Racing for a Cure event.

DesJardins moved onto hosting her first event less than a year after the CarChix.com launch. The event was a breast cancer research fundraiser she named Racing For A Cure a Quarter Mile at a Time, and was held at her home track Great Lakes, to a record-setting attendance. Jeanette arranged an action-packed event, with exhibition cars, wheel standers, drag radial caompetitors, bracket racing, dragsters, raffles, giveaways, face painting, and musical entertainment from a popular band. They raised several thousand dollars for the Wisconsin Well Women Program, an organization that helps women with little or no insurance to receive preventative mammograms and pre/post breast cancer treatments and care.

CarChix Ladies Only Drag Race competitors

That event, now named Drag Racing for Life, became the first of several annual events organized by Jeanette and the Car Chix program at several locations across the country. She also organized the CarChix Ladies Only Drag Race, an all-female drag racing competition that saw ladies in a variety of race cars compete for prizes and awards, and presented the Hottest Ride Award at the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals, capping off the year with a Light Up the Holidays parade appearance.

DesJardins is currently finishing up the 2015 CarChix Event Schedule, with announcements forthcoming in March on the 2015 dates and locations.

CarChix Calendar

Another unique offering to help promote women in racing and female motorsports participants, is the Annual Women of Motorsports Calendar contest. During the contest, women are invited to submit photos of themselves with their rides and seek likes on Facebook. The top 12 are voted into the calendar finalists. These calendars celebrate and inspire women in the automotive industry, featuring cars, bikes and any level of enthusiast. Featured CarChix are often on hand at events to autograph calendars for collectors.

Be sure to check out CarChix.com and add it to your bookmarks! Tell them Horsepower & Heels sent you!

Have a good site suggestion related to Women in Racing? Send it our way!

Featured Site: Chicas Racing

November 20, 2014 // by Horsepower & Heels

Chicas Racing.com

Not too long ago, I stumbled on a site that I really enjoyed reading. Chicas Racing, a women’s racing site in spanish language based out of Mexico. What Horsepower & Heels hopes to accomplish in the english-speaking community, Chicas Racing is doing for the spanish-speaking demographic.

The site features a wide variety of different racers from every different genre of motorsport. They regularly feature news for rising young talent, as well as report on all the professional women tearing up the racetracks.

I was especially honored to see this from Andrea Escalona, one of the Chicas Racing staff:

Y quiero contarles que una drag racing girl, me inspiró a crear un blog, ella es @HorsepowerHeels! ❤ Let’s do this! #WomenRacing

which in english translates that she was inspired to create a blog because of mine. That is one of the biggest compliments that anyone could ever offer me. It means that my passion and dedication to supporting women in motorsports has made a difference for someone, and that the passion will continue to be spread around the world.

Sharing with the world the stories of the many thousand women and young girls out there showing that they are strong, capable, and talented drivers is so important to ALL women in motorsports. Over the years, there have been only a handful of news sources that share and champion this message to the masses. But the more we grow in telling our stories, the more the world has to celebrate the successes and fight through the hardships with us.

So for my latinos, please stop by and check out Chicas Racing! Dígales que Horsepower & Heels le envió.

Features Site: Female Racing News

October 8, 2008 // by Horsepower & Heels

First off,

WELCOME ALL NEW READERS AND SUBSCRIBERS!

Thanks for stopping by and supporting Horsepower & Heels! We really appreciate you, and hope that you stick around and enjoy life behind the scenes with Horsepower & Heels Racing as we are getting ready to annouce some big new things…. AND…. GASP! Get the CAR back out to the racetrack! (I know, FINALLY!)

I wanted to take a moment to tell you all about a new site that is launching, Female Racing News. As most of you know, I’m a huge supporter of anything related to women in motorsports, and FRN’s creator, Amanda Martin, is working to give all women racing a place devoted to sharing their news and promoting women in the sport.

FYI: H&H TV Episode 1 is the Featured Video on the site. 🙂

For those ladies involved in motorsports reading this, FRN is definitely one to add to your list. And if you’re the outspoken type (or like me, who never shut up), they’re even recruiting writers to contribute to site. (yes, look for my ramblings to appear in a future FRN article to be announced)

Non-Subscribers: If you want to stay up-to-the-minute on Horsepower & Heels, I invite you to check out the little subscribe box at the top right of this blog (and on the Horsepower & Heels TV page as well!). By plugging in your email, you will automatically be notified of new posts, so you never miss any of the action. Best part… its FREE! (and you’ll be helping me out with potential sponsors, so THANKS!)