Women in Racing News - Horsepower & Heels

News about female racers, women in the pits and other news stories from the motorsports and automotive world.

Subaru Australia returns to Rally with Molly Taylor

February 24, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

After a break of more than 10 years, Subaru Australia returns to Rally with Molly Taylor as the driver, aiming to build on the brand’s record-breaking success in the Australian championship.

Molly Taylor, the daughter of four-time Australian Rally Champion Co-Driver Coral Taylor and rally instructor Mark Taylor, has put her Rally-infused DNA to good use, amassing a solid resume of her own in the sport. Last season, Molly competed in the Australian Rally Championship, finishing second overall. She also was selected as the winner of the prestigious Peter Brock Medal, named in honor of late touring car legend Peter Brock. One of the most coveted awards in Australian motorsports, the medal is given to the driver demonstrating outstanding ability, sportsmanship and willingness to promote the sport to the masses.

Molly will campaign a turbocharged All-Wheel Drive WRX STI NR4 for Subaru Australia in the 2016 Australian Rally Championship. The return for Subaru Australia will be the first since November 2005, when they departed after Subaru Rally Team Australia (SRTA) secured its tenth consecutive Australian Rally Driver’s championship. During their reign from 1996-2005, SRTA was undefeated in their quest for the Australian Rally Championship, earning numerous class victories in both the World and Asia-Pacific Rally Championships as well.

It’s fantastic to be able to secure Molly as our driver and Subaru Ambassador,” said Subaru Australia Managing Director, Nick Senior. “She’s got a wonderful attitude, has worked really hard for the opportunity and she’s a glass half-full person, never the victim. Then, of course, her performances both here and internationally have been very strong, reinforced by the fact she is the world’s top-ranked female rally driver.”

The car is being prepared by world-renowned Tasmania-based Les Walkden Rallying, with testing imminent.

The rekindling of our partnership with Les Walkden is very pleasing,” said Mr. Senior. “They are highly successful and have a great record with Group N production vehicles. We are going to be very realistic with our expectations. The current regulations are very loose and free – you could virtually build anything, but we have chosen a showroom stock Group N production Subaru. We really want our motorsport philosophy to be ‘Run on Sunday, buy on Monday’.“

For Molly, who has been driving competitively in rally racing since 2006, the change will mean getting used to a bigger, heavier car that her previous platforms that she is accustomed to driving. A learning curve is expected, but Molly is ready to take on the challenge.

This is a fantastic opportunity and I’m both humbled and excited to be part of Subaru’s new plans to build on their amazing rally heritage in Australia, “ says Molly. “We’ve got a lot of work to do in testing before the first round in April, but the NR4 is a great car and we look forward to seeing the return of the Subaru rally fans, both new and old.”

Molly’s co-driver and official team name have not been yet announced. Her debut is planned for April 22-24, 2016 at the Quit Forest Rally in Western Australia.

Source: http://www.subaru.com.au/news/domestic-rally-return [Subaru Australia]

Larsen Motorsports 2016 Schedule

February 23, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Jet Dragster super team, Larsen Motorsports has a busy year planned for 2016. The Horsepower & Heels Female Motorsports Team of the Year has some new venues and drivers on deck for the season. Check out some of the personnel changes on the team and the Larsen Motorsports 2016 schedule below.

Elaine Larsen | Florida Institute of Technology

Elaine Larsen will return off her 2015 Championship season to drive the Florida Institute of Technology jet dragster. She replaces Shea Holbrook, who has returned to touring car racing in 2016.

Kat Moller | Matrix Systems

Kat Moller returns as well in 2016 to resume driving duties in her Matrix Systems jet dragster. Kat is beginning her third professional year with the Larsen Motorsports team.

Allison West | Applied Racing Components

Allison West will take over driving duties on the ARC jet dragster for 2016, after Marisha Falk retired at the end of last season.

Dawn Perdue | LMS

Dawn Perdue joins Larsen Motorsports again in 2016 to drive the fourth Larsen Motorsports jet dragster for the 2016 season.

Jake Elliott | Floating Driver

Jake Elliott served as crew chief on the FIT dragster in 2015, is a fabricator in the Larsen shop, and completed his licensing requirements behind the wheel at the end of 2014. The first male driver for the team, he will be gunning for a full-time seat in the Larsen camp, jumping in for driving opportunities during the year.

Larsen Motorsports 2016 Schedule

Date	Event	Location
February 26	Florida Tech Exploration Day	Florida Tech Campus Melbourne, FL
March 4-6	IHRA Spring Nitro Nationals	Orlando Speed World Orlando, FL
March 17-20	47th Annual NHRA Gator Nationals	Gainesville Raceway Gainesville, FL
March 25	Florida Tech Exploration Day	Florida Tech Campus Melbourne, FL
March 26	Race for Autism Cure	Orlando Speed World Orlando, FL
April 1-3	Melbourne Airshow	Melbourne International Airport Melbourne, FL
April 9	Florida Tech Discovery Day	Florida Tech Campus Melbourne, FL
April 21-24	7th Annual NHRA 4-Wide Nationals	Z-Max Dragway Charlotte, NC
April 28- May 1	NMRA Ford Nationals	Maple Grove Raceway Reading, PA
June 3-5	Chevy Performance Nationals	Atlanta Dragway Atlanta, GA
June 9-12	NMRA Ford Super Nationals	National Trails Raceway Columbus, OH
June 25	Atlanta Night of Fire	Atlanta Dragway Atlanta, GA
July 22	Florida Tech Exploration Day	Florida Tech Campus Melbourne, FL
August 26	Florida Tech Exploration Day	Florida Tech Campus Melbourne, FL
October 29	Orlando Night of Fire	Orlando Speed World Orlando, FL
November 19	Florida Tech Exploration Day	Florida Tech Campus Melbourne, FL
November 25-27	Citrus Nationals	Palm Beach International Raceway West Palm Beach, FL
December 2-3	Snowbird Nationals	Bradenton Motorsports Park Bradenton, FL

Sara Slaughter new NHRA Media Relations Manager

February 23, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

The National Hot Rod Association announced Sara Slaughter as the new NHRA Media Relations Manager for the drag racing organization. Slaughter will bring her experience gained in the sports department of Riverside, California’s The Press-Enterprise newspaper and her previous internship at Health & Fitness Magazine in London, England to support outreach for the NHRA.

In her new role, Slaughter will provide media outreach for the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, as well as support other NHRA communications programs and NHRA racing series. In addition, she will maintain and develop relationships with national media members, assist with research and statistical projects and contribute to all NHRA communications department publications.

We’re pleased to have someone with Sara’s abilities join our communications team,” Anthony Vestal, NHRA Director of Media Relations said. “She has the work ethic, personality, attitude and desire to have an immediate impact with the media relations programs we have developed to promote and publicize the sport of NHRA Drag Racing.”

Slaughter graduated with her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside in June 2014 with a major in Political Science. She is a native of Southern California.

It is a fantastic feeling to be chosen to join the NHRA team,” Slaughter said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to be able to be a part of this growing sport and continue my career in the sports world.”

Willow Springs challenging for Michele Abbate

February 23, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Rounds 3 & 4 of the SCCA US National Tour made Willow Springs challenging for Michele Abbate. After a successful opening weekend a few weeks ago, Michele and her GRR Racing team were ready to take on Willow Springs Raceway in Rosamond, CA. This would mark the first time the team would be racing their Scion FRS at the venue, with no practices on the schedule to prepare for qualifying and racing.

Saturday’s Qualifying and Race

Saturday morning would begin well for Michele, as she was able to qualify with a 1:32.9 lap time, earning her the P3 position out of 9 cars. Confident after a strong qualifying effort, the team felt prepared for the race, with crew chief Anthony Philleo stating, “We just need to stay consistent and hit our marks and we will be running up front”.

As the green flag dropped for the race, Abbate pushed forward in an excellent start, passing two cars in other classes on the lead lap. As she approached to battle for 2^nd place, the handling of GRR Racing FRS started to fall off exponentially.

The car became progressively worse, but I continued to push with hopes of making to the checkered flag”, Abbate confessed.

She eased up and dropped back to 4^th place to stay conservative. But with just two laps to go, the front left tire expired as she entered turn 8, and forced Abbate to retire early.

Afterwards, the GRR Racing team assessed the damage, replacing the flat tire and looking over the car to find the source of the flat and ill-handling during the race. The culprit? A broken rear endlink – causing the car to lose its desired setup and making it very difficult for Michele to control around the track. The team worked through the night to repair the damage, and reset the car for Sunday’s activities.

Sunday’s Qualifying and Race

On Sunday, Michele returned to the track with her freshly setup GRR Racing FRS for qualifying. Her lap times earned her the P3 spot again for the Sunday afternoon race. Much like her Saturday start, when field took off to the wave of the green, Abbate rocketed forward passing 3 other classed cars on the inside before entering turn one. Another promising start, and the team was optimistic that this would be the turnaround for the weekend. Unfortunately, about a third of the way into the race, the handling start to fall off once again on the GRR Racing FRS. Understeering terribly through the right handers, Abbate struggled to maintain consistent, fast lap times. Taking precautions she nursed the car to a 4^th place finish once the checkered was thrown.

Willow Springs challenging for Michele Abbate

Though the weekend was challenging for Michele Abbate and the GRR Racing team, they are taking the lessons learned and are applying them to prepare the car for Rounds 5 and 6 at Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA on April 8^th-10th. The team has 6 weeks to analyze and make changes before, and will be ready for the next round in the SCCA Nationals Tour.

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Danica Patrick’s Daytona 500 Cut Short

February 22, 2016 // by Taylor Hyatt

As Speedweeks came to a close with the 58^th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, Danica Patrick left with much to be desired from her newly sponsored Nature’s Bakery No. 10 Chevy SS with Stewart-Haas Racing. This was Patrick’s first event with the snack and food brand sponsor as well as crew chief Billy Scott. The two had never worked together until the February 13^th Sprint Unlimited, but the communication seemed fluent between them all weekend. Unfortunately, everything else didn’t go as planned.

Patrick takes damage in the Sprint Unlimited race

Patrick, whose 2013 Daytona 500 pole position earned her a spot in the Sprint Unlimited, started the race in 12^th and despite multiple incidents finished in 11^thposition. She had made her way towards the front of the pack at one point, but a sudden decrease in speed by the No. 31 caused her to make contact ending in major grille damage. After fixing the majority of the problem during yellow flag pit stops, the No. 10 was caught up in a multi-car incident leading to right-front damage once again. Fortunately, for the team the car was able to continue and finished the race. In a post-race interview Patrick didn’t show much excitement about the on track activity.

That’s just speedway racing. I feel really good about how tonight went.”

Danica Patrick | Thursday’s Can-Am Duel

More trouble was ahead for the Stewart-Hass Racing team in Thursday’s qualifying race, the Can-Am Duel, for the Daytona 500. Starting in the 14^th position Patrick was in a great place to fine tune the team’s plan. That is until she was once again caught up in a multi-car accident, however, only sustaining minor damage from a spin in oil after moving to avoid the carnage happening in front of her car. Being that this happened on the final lap she was able to take the checkered flag and because of the NASCAR caution rules she was given a 7^th place finish. Patrick was optimistic that her team would be able to repair her car before the big day.

Hopefully, nothing is wrong with the car and we can just hammer on it a little bit, get it where it needs to be, change out the engine and get ready for the 500.”

Danica Patrick’s Daytona 500 efforts

Finally, it was time for the main event. The event race fans from all around the nation come to the sunshine state to watch, The Daytona 500. Patrick began the race in 16^th position, but after a green-flag pit stop causing a pass-through penalty due to crew members being over the wall before permitted by the guidelines, she was back on track without any help from the draft. Quickly, she found herself a lap down and during the next caution was just out of reach for the “Lucky Dog” which would have put her back on the lead lap.

It (the penalty) put us in a position of being aggressive at the wrong time in the race against cars you don’t always want to be aggressive with” said Patrick.

Unfortunately, left-rear contact was made with the No. 16 car, of Greg Biffle, causing Patrick to go airborne and spinning into the infield ultimately ending her day with a 35^th position finish and only earning six points towards the chase.

As if Danica needed anything else to go wrong during the first race of the season, The King himself, Mr. Richard Petty, thought he would add insult to injury. He’s always been a tough critic of hers and very vocal in regards to her NASCAR career. In an interview with Yahoo Sports he once again expressed his opinion.

“She ain’t gotten no better or no worse.”

Although, a rough start to the season, Danica Patrick has the tools, the car, and the team to have a great year. Next week she’ll show what she’s got in Atlanta!

What do you think of her Speedweek efforts and the King’s comments?

Comment below!

New partner for Pippa Mann: BREVAGenplus

February 22, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Verizon IndyCar Series driver Pippa Mann just announced a partnership with Genetic Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: GENE), a molecular diagnostics company specializing in women’s health, to promote their BREVAGenplus® first-in-class, clinically-validated risk assessment test for non-hereditary breast cancer.

This new partner for Pippa Mann is another advancement in her ongoing efforts and commitment to breast cancer prevention. This season will mark the third year Pippa has supported and partnered with Susan G. Komen®, the world’s largest breast cancer organization.

A new partner for Pippa Man in fight against Breast Cancer

Driving a pink and white race car adorned with the Susan G. Komen livery for the past two Indianapolis 500 races, Pippa has raised awareness and funding to support the cause through her IndyCar activities. Pippa is an ambassador for women’s health with several organizations and is active both nationally and locally in her support of Komen.

I am thrilled to be able to represent another group that is committed to helping end breast cancer by partnering with Genetic Technologies,” said Pippa. “It is fantastic to be able to represent such a game-changing product in the women’s health space. I am looking forward to helping raise the profile of BREVAGenplus® through the exposure that comes with IndyCar and the Indianapolis 500.”

By promoting BREVAGenplus® , Pippa hopes to promote and bring awareness to this fantastic risk assessment test and the benefits of early-detection, giving women over the age of 35 the power of informed decisions towards preventative care and treatment plans.

The associate sponsorship agreement between Pippa and Genetic Technologies will consist of apparel representation, participation at BREVAGenplus® oriented events and speaking engagements, social media, print and video campaigns, and related sales support activities. Pippa plans to use this new partnership in her efforts at the 100^th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29, 2016.

First Lady of F1 Maria Filippis

February 22, 2016 // by Taylor Hyatt

Formula 1 recently released the unfortunate news that Maria Teresa de Filippis had passed away on January 8^th, at 89 years of age. The Italian driver was the first woman to start a Formula 1 race which happened in the late 1950’s.

This got me thinking about how little we acknowledge the early generation of female, auto racing pioneers. We are always taking about the girls currently in the news making headlines about what a great season they’re having or what a great year it was for women in the sport which is great, but what about the ladies that made it possible for those articles to be written? Let’s talk about them!

Maria Filippis | The First Lady of F1

Maria Filippis is only one of two women to ever have the opportunity to race in Formula 1 and it’s been over 40 years since Lella Lombardi, the second female to start an F1 race, last start in 1976. When asked about being the minority in the sport by Red Bulletin Filippis had a typical answer for the time.

Of course there was prejudice, along the lines of what’s that woman doing here?”

Maria Filippis wasn’t a stranger to auto racing or competition, especially in Italy. Having driven sports cars previously, with many class wins, and participating in prestigious races such as the Mille Miglia, an endurance road race, dating back to 1927.

Maria took the green flag in three Grand Prix races, driving a Maserati 250F, a very popular car at the time. She managed to place 10^th in her first race in Belgium, but in Portugal and Monza she had to pull the car in early due to engine failure.

Unfortunately, after having an awful accident herself, colliding with a light pole, and seeing her Porsche team boss, and friend, Jean Behra, lose his life in a fatal on-course crash Maria decided the risks of racing were too high. She retired in 1959 and never looked back. She was very emotional about the experience in her interview with the Observer in 2006.

That, for me, was the most tragic because it was in a race that I should have been taking part in.”

After many years of marriage and raising children, Maria Fillipis became secretary general of the Club International des Anciens Pilotes de Grand Prix in 1984. In 1997 she became Vice President for retired drivers and most recently, honorary president in 2011.

In the U.S. we had Janet Guthrie and Lynn St. James. In Italy, they had Maria Teresa de Fillipis. Think of the possibilities and how the sport could have changed for women if she would have continued her racing career. Still, we wouldn’t be where we are without her.

The Balance Radio Show – Impact of Women in Racing

February 20, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Horsepower & Heels founder, Erica Ortiz is a guest on sports radio show, “The Balance” to talk with host Tom Marquis about women in racing and their impact on the sport and what Horsepower & Heels is doing to help support that cause.

Listen to Erica explain her take on what are some difficulties women have in racing, the place for traditional gender expectations of women and family and how it plays for racing women, and what roles women are now assuming in the business side of the sport. [Segment begins at the 1:00.00 mark]

Aired: February 20, 2016

Slow start for Erica Enders in Pomona

February 15, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

Slow start for Erica Enders in Pomona

After a slow start for Erica Enders in Pomona, the two-time Pro Stock World Champion didn’t love her 2016 Valentine’s Day so much. Enders lost in the first round of the 56th Annual Circle K NHRA Winternationals, the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season opener. The champ shook the tires at the hit and almost immediately had to abort the run in her Elite Motorsports/Mopar Dodge Dart.

Enders could only watch as Elite teammate Jeg Coughlin Jr. sailed on to the victory, but she is far from distraught. Class-revolutionizing changes in the off-season by the NHRA including a manufacturer switch to Dodge and an NHRA-mandated change to fuel-injected engines limited to 10,500 rpm — completely changed the Pro Stock program for 2016. The Elite team is starting from scratch on their program, and Enders knows this is just the beginning for the World Championship team.

We’ve got to keep a positive attitude and keep the mindset that this is only a beginning for us,” Enders said. “We just finished putting our motors together on Wednesday in Phoenix. We can only go up from here, and I know that with all my heart. It is a very tough pill to swallow. I hate losing, I hate losing first round. If there’s any consolation to it, at least it was to my teammate.”

Enders qualified No. 9 in Pomona, the first time since the Sonoma, Calif., event last August that she qualified outside of the top half of the field.

We’ve got to do some work with these race cars,” Enders said. “That run marks run No. 15 under our belts, and that’s nothing, considering I had over 300 runs on my other car. We’ll learn it, we’ll get it, and we’ll be back to the top — you bet your butt.”

Enders had tempered her expectations for Pomona, knowing the new Dart and Mopar engine is early in its development by Elite Performance, but she didn’t expect such tire shake against Coughlin.

The track was way different today than it was the whole weekend,” Enders said. “We run behind the fuel cars, and they did zero track prep, which is pretty detrimental to our class. Of course, being first out doesn’t help, but that was our own fault. All things considered, coming here we figured we’d be a middle-of-the-pack car, and that’s exactly what we were. We’re going to go home and go to work on this stuff. We’ve got a couple weeks until Phoenix, and in between Phoenix and Gainesville there’s another couple of weeks. I fully expect by the Gatornationals to be a lot more competitive. We’ll keep moving in the right direction.”

Courtney Force is ready to start fresh in 2016

February 10, 2016 // by Horsepower & Heels

The off season was incredibly long and Courtney Force is ready to start fresh, putting a tough 2015 season behind her. After wrapping up her toughest season since her 2012 Funny Car debut, her Traxxas team weathered a win-less season, with 15 first-round losses that left her outside the top 10 for the Countdown to the Championship. Though they struggled, Force did qualify on the pole at two events (Pomona and Charlotte) and had a runner-up finish in Norwalk, Ohio. She posted a new career-best ET of 3.933 seconds in qualifying at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway at the end of the year. She was able to maintain a firm hold on the record for most Funny Car wins in a season by a female (four) and most Funny Car wins overall for a female Funny Car driver with seven career tour victories.

I think I’ve become mentally stronger as a driver going into my 5th year of racing and have learned through all the ups and downs. I think any mistake you make as a driver is only for the better and you can take some much away from that if you choose to look at it with a positive attitude, and that’s what I’m doing this season,” said Force.

Force is ready to start fresh with her Traxxas team for the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing series tour, and already is showing optimistic improvements. During the Nitro Spring Training pre-season test sessions at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, the team worked through some issues on the car in the first few days, leading Courtney to impressive full pulls which led to a career-best 3.890 seconds at 323.89 mph.

This season we are pushing hard to get our car back in that top 10 since we missed that opportunity last year. We are going to fight hard at every race with that as our primary focus. Obviously we have high hopes of having a race car to chase that championship, but we are going to take this one race at a time. We have a couple new guys on my team and have Dan Hood and Ronnie Thompson as co-crew Chiefs this year so I am eager to get started!”

The season opener will be the first event for new Traxxas Chevy Camaro SS Funny Car co-crew chiefs Dan Hood and Ronnie Thompson at the Force Family’s home track in Pomona. Both Hood and Thompson were assistant Crew Chiefs until this year.

I think our team made some huge progress this past week during testing in Phoenix. I think we have a better handle on this car than we did last year going into Pomona so that is giving us some confidence. When we ran my career best during testing and the car showed some consistency on the runs, it made me really excited for the upcoming season,” said Force.

Courtney Force and the Traxxas team hope to defend their 2015 pole with a strong start at the 56th Annual Circle K Winternationals in front of their home crowd and fans at Auto Club Raceway. This year also marks the 50th Anniversary for the Funny Car class. Qualifying will begin Thursday, February 11th, with sessions on Friday and Saturday. Eliminations will begin Sunday, February 14th.

Event Information:
Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
2780 Fairplex Drive
Pomona, CA 91768
NHRA.com
Elevation: 1,100 feet

Tickets: nhra.com/tickets; 800-884-NHRA (6472)
Radio Frequency: 105.3 FM