Missfast1

POV Driver Diary #2: Peaks, valleys and everything in between

2010-09-30T12:08:00.000-07:00

Hello! I have teamed up with PopOffValve.com, an IZOD IndyCar Series news and commentary page on the SBNation network. I will be reposting my blogs here each week so that I can keep them all in one place and make them easy to go back to. Driver Diary #1 was essentially a re-post of my most recent "blogger" blog titled, "Getting Back in Touch: Part 1" so I will start off with POV Driver Diary #2 today.

Signing on for driver diary #2 with Pop Off Valve. First things first: in an attempt to introduce myself, diary #1 and #2 are extremely long, so bear with me.

I'm thinking we'll get a bit more personal today. We like personal, right?

I don't often tell people my entire story, and I'm not going to today. But, many people probably wonder what someone like me does day to day. They may figure that I am just another driver, that I have wealthy parents, my expenses are paid, I travel when I want and where I want, I don't have any responsibilities and I'm just "living the dream." Yes I am living the dream, no to the other aforementioned possible assumptions.

In last week's blog, I gave a short and brief recap on the past 16 years of my racing career.

Today, I want to talk about sacrifices and a bit about returns. It is not often that I reflect on all of the struggles faced so far but it is something I am proud of. I tell people often how thankful I am for the letdowns and hardships this industry has provided me. I know, this all sounds ridiculous. And I like it that way. Read on.

Star-divide

I am one who may sometimes even believe too strongly in the thought that "everything happens for a reason."

Have you ever randomly met someone who randomly introduces you to another person who leads you to another person who offers you the perfect job or a life changing opportunity? Now, let me not get carried away - but that stuff happens and those crazy things have happened in my life; over and over and over again. Maybe the fact that I am so analytical and a bit of a philosopher in my own mind is the reason for me finding "life happenings" so intriguing.

The relevance of the way things have played out has not mattered until recent years. Until I was 14, my family-team and I were just racing to race. For the love of the sport, against the stiffest competition we could find. We weren't in it to build a resume, and none of us expected that I'd be pursuing it professionally. From the beginning, we knew we were out of our league financially, but that sure as hell didn't mean we weren't going to do what it took to be a threat each week at the track.

We were the team that made our race numbers out of tape because we couldn't afford to buy vinyl. Had our motors built for durability, not to be the FASTEST motor on track. It was us who turned our tiny box trailer into an open trailer to allow us to tow our Micro Sprint to the races when we moved up from Quarter Midgets. There were times we didn't know if we'd have enough money to make it home from the races.

I remember when the entire family (Mom, Dad, younger sister Staci and I) made our first trip to 35 Raceway (Chillicothe, Ohio) to see if I thought Micro Sprints would be fun. Our car broke down on the way home (after midnight). A random group of guys who happened to be in a tow truck stopped, hooked us up and drove us (WHILE we were all still seated in the car since there wasn't enough room in the truck) to the nearest exit for free.

I think about the weekend in 2004 when we were hauling the trailer to a track about 4 hours away when our 1990 Suburban caught on fire. And the following weekend making a second attempt to get to the track, (after repairing it) that it caught on fire again, leaving my parents with a nice tow bill and all of us with very heavy hearts.

In 2006, after making the last sacrifice we could to move to USAC Ford Focus Midgets, our sponsor for the year (after funding six races) was unable to continue helping. At second in points, we were left hanging and forced to search week by week to find the money to make it to the next race. We only missed one race.

After an extremely successful 2006, turning the heads of LOTS of people in the industry, traveling to The Women in the Winners Circle Driver Development program in Phoenix as well as the PRI show to do some networking (ALONE at the age of 17)... after being a recipient of the Kara Hendrick Memorial Scholarship, PitFit Training Scholarship and Dayton Auto Race Fans "Asphalt Driver of the Year"... I found myself in not a single race in 2007.

A phrase my dad has coined is, "It's just another part of the movie." Because there are too many scenes in the movie to tell in one diary entry, I will dedicate a handful of my diaries to this ongoing script.

Between then and now, a lot has happened but we don't have time for all the gory details. I want to get to the returns part of this everlasting... blogstopper.

As the recurring theme of my life continued, I took every opportunity I could to further my racing career. I realized that the funds were completely dry and I'd have to creatively figure out how I was going to continue.

So, in February, I moved to Indy - the racing capital of the world - after searching for a job for a few months, I received a great opportunity from Ken Ungar and US Sports Advisors. I was introduced to a wonderful person named Marie Hall who allowed me to rent a room from her while I was to start part time work at the sports marketing firm in Carmel.

For the first few months, I worked 3 days a week while doing networking and charity events, traveled to Florida a few times for racing-related opportunities and worked day in and day out to secure sponsorships and a program for the 2010 race season.

In May, after spending much time being "out there" in the social media world, I was presented with something that turned out to be the biggest opportunity of my career in a tweet. Yes, a TWEET that formed a partnership and put me back in a race car for four very solid races with legendary team owner/builder, Bob East.

This amazing opportunity and its crazy story will lead me into next week's diary where I will go more into "returns," recap this race season as well as talk about where we are today and going into 2011.

Until then, stay dry Miami. ;)

<3>

Getting back in touch: Part 1

2010-09-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Where in the world do I start? It’s been quite some time since my last blog post. I think I’m going to make this a two-part blog. Part one, is a recap of my career thus far, so that in part two, you will know why everything that is happening in my life here and now, is so awesome.

Last time I wrote, was before I moved to Indy, was busy with off season stuff and doing some traveling. Today, I can honestly say that I am "living my dream".

"Living the Dream" is such a dry, overused term, but I mean it in its entirety. Not many people can say they live everyday pursuing their dreams and making goals a reality. Facing challenges, making accomplishments, and exploring life.

I come from Miamisburg, Ohio - a city outside of Dayton with a population of about 20,000. It’s not a big city but not a one stoplight town either. My working middle class income parents raised my younger sister and I modestly, in a two story, three bedroom home. My Dad has been a machinist for 25 years and my mom is a beautician turned elementary school teacher's aide.

I've been raised with amazing guidance, tough love, eternal support and the freedom to make my own choices. Naturally, I'm a competitive spirited, goal oriented, make-things-happen kind of person. From a very young age, my parents noticed a focus beyond my years and saw a kid who loved a challenge.

At the age of 3, the training wheels were off of my bicycle. At 5, I was undefeated at my home track in my first year of racing Quarter Midgets. At 11, I began racing against adult men over twice my age. I was oblivious to the fact that I was probably only 90lbs, a 6th grade cheerleader and was competing competitively (and I don't mean putting around) on dirt tracks up to nearly a half mile in length, reaching speeds 100+mph.

In 2006, my family took the last leap financially possible and moved up to USAC Ford Focus Midgets. A premier "affordable" spec series under the historical banner of USAC was sure to give us the exposure and competition needed to get the break I wanted.

I finished fifth in points as a rookie, had the most heat race wins (five), fifteen top-tens, two top-fives, a podium and the highest ranked female in the Midwest. I was named Dayton Auto Race Fans Asphalt Driver of the Year, graduated Lyn St. James’ Driver Development program where I received the Kara Hendrick Memorial Scholarship Award for outstanding performance and was a recipient of the PitFit Training Scholarship.

2007 rolled around, and we didn't race a single race. The funds were bone dry and we didn't get any sponsors on board. Before I knew it, I had graduated from high school and was heading to Charlotte, North Carolina for my first year of college at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

While in school, I made connections and did the best I could to secure something for the 2008. Worked at Richard Petty Driving Experience and Best Impressions Catering. The plan was to race a Dirt Super Late Model for the entire season and it ended up falling through-maybe I’ll write a side blog on this one. We were supposed to run a few Sprint Car races too which ended up falling through as well.. So I got an opportunity from owner Jerry Wald of Chicago to race 4 Dirt Super Late Model races at Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell, Indiana. (Special thanks to Jerry, John and crew)

So, long story short - 2007 and 2008 ended up being bad years for us. I decided that I would take 2009 year off school and focus on getting myself back on the map and finding funding for racing.

In 2009, I raced 3 USAC Ford Focus Midget races. In my first race back in 2 years, I finished 3^rd after racing my way up from the back of the pack.

After the season, I decided I was going to move to Indianapolis to be “where it’s at”! As usual, when I put my mind to something, I make it happen. So where we end up, is here, right now in Speedway, Indiana.

I’ve secured a Partnership for this race season with www.GlassHammerRacing.com and have done 4 USAC Regional Midget races driving for Bob East. I raced three nights at Speedrome and finished 7^th, 4^th, and 3^rd as well as a heat race win. Then, I finished 2^nd Plymouth in my most recent race at the end of July!

So next blog up…is going to be more interesting, I hope. :)

Leaving you with this for now:

Never, never, never give up. Live by NinTai.

<3shann

Bringing in 2010 with a Bang!

2010-02-17T09:50:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I finished off the year in December at the 1st Annual International Motorsports Industry Show in Indianapolis. I was fortunate to attend the Ahead of the Game Seminar with Ken Ungar and U/S Sports Advisors! This was an extremely valuable and informative experience about sports marketing and branding.

More recently, I’ve been hard at work putting together a program for the 2010 season. I’ve got a deal on the table to drive for the best car owner, builder and team in USAC with an initial part-time schedule In the USAC National Midget series. If I am able to secure partnerships for this, I will be testing 3 times at Anderson Speedway and O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. I will race twice on March 24-25 at Hickory Motor Speedway near Charlotte, North Carolina and compete in the annual “Night Before the 500” at O’Reilly Raceway Park.

At the end of December, I did a photoshoot with CKB Photography. It was a blast and I must give a special thanks to Christina Brown of CKB Photography for making it possible! The photos turned out great!

I have just returned from an extremely busy, eventful trip to Florida. I spent a day in St. Petersburg where I was able to see where the IndyCar series races the annual Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. This was a very cool experience as the following day was my introduction to road racing. I was given the opportunity to attend the Skip Barber 2-day advanced racing school at Sebring International Raceway.

Having been primarily only exposed to oval racing, I wasn’t sure how steep my learning curve would be on a road course. After the first day at Sebring, I realized there were MANY more elements that were different and new than I expected. Some of the new crafts I needed to practice were shifting and “threshold” or as I would say, extreme braking. I spent the eve of the first night studying the 17 TURN racetrack, and watching in car camera videos from Sebring. I also spent time asking questions and getting pointers from 2009 Skip Barber regional series champion, Nick Andries.

After getting a general feel of the new type of racecar and a grasp of the basics on the first day, I was ready to get back on track for day two. My improvements were significant and I was able to practice the elements that needed improvement on my end. This experience couldn’t have been more lucrative. I even obtained my first experience of driving in the rain! A special thanks to former IndyCar owner Dale Pelfrey who gave me this awesome opportunity. Our next step is to decide where our first race in the Skip Barber Regional series will be.

From Sebring, I went straight to Daytona for the Women in the Winners Circle Event where the unveiling of the women in motorsports travelling exhibit was unveiled. I also spent some time at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday for the Duels and flew home on Thursday evening. A special thanks to Linda Conti, Ted from Mechanix Wear, Dale Pelfrey and Lyn St. James.

Some exciting news, is that I’ve been hired by Ken Ungar and Krissi Price with U/S Sports Advisors in Indianapolis and will be moving to Indy this weekend. I’ve been searching for a job that would allow me to reside in the Racing Capital of the World and am very excited to be working for a great team in a field that I know and love very much…Sports Marketing/Branding.

I’m looking forward to my venture to Indy and will continue to seek marketing partners for my 2010 season. Anything and everything helps and if you would like to be a part of my program, I’d love to hear from you!

Fueling the Fire

2009-08-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a bit frustrated right now I must admit, because I typed out my entire new blog on my BlackBerry a few days ago and went to retrieve it and it's no where to be found!

So here goes on the new blog!!.................

Taking the high side at Gas City Speeday!
August 14, 2009

I have been very busy since the last time I blogged. This past Friday, we raced at I-69 Gas City Speedway. It was our first time on dirt in the USAC Ford Focus Midget and my first time on dirt in an open wheel-style car since 2005!

We've spent the past two weeks getting the Midget converted to race on dirt and I made two trips to Indy for a new axle, tires, wheels etc. A special thanks Marc Rector, James (Jimmy) Robertson and John Wright for all of your help and for making this race a possibility.

It was just my dad and I this time at the track and I can't thank him enough for all of his hard work. He is the backbone of my career and I owe everything to him.

The night didn't turn out quite as I had hoped but we had an overall good night and had fun! During practice, the track was wet, sloppy and the car wasn't handling well so we made a few changes in preparation for the qualifying race. We drew numbers for the line-up instead of qualifying so, having the luck that I do, I started on the tail, 8th! :)

The car felt better and the track had smoothed out a bit. We ended up 4th in the heat race with the most passes which put me inside 3rd row for the Feature race. Unfortunately, USAC cut our laps back from 30 to 15 for the feature race so it was going to be a quick race.

We changed gears, made a few more adjustments and got the car feeling even better. The gear was perfect and I finally was able to find a good line on the track towards the end of the race. It felt great to be back on the dirt...we really missed it! As I was quickly coming up on 3rd, the race was already over and we ended up 4th. I simply ran out of time and was rather disappointed in the outcome but looking back now I'm thankful and happy we brought the car home in one piece!

Between the last blog and the race, I've kept super busy with working on partnerships, training, networking and staying active by going to races.

Lyn and I at Kentucky Speedway
August 1, 2009

On August 1, I was invited by Lyn St. James and Linda Conti to go to Kentucky Speedway for the Indy Lights/IndyCar races. Unfortunately, Linda had something come up and was unable to join us. So, I met up with Lyn at the track who introduced me to some new faces. This was a good experience and I was able to see the cars, teams, and pit lane up close and personal!

The weekend of August 8th, I first had an appearance at Aamco Transmissions in Miamisburg with the Midget. After hanging out at Aamco for a little bit, I headed to Mid-Ohio to watch some road racing! Road Racing is something I've always liked, but I haven't been around it a lot! That weekend there were several different series' racing; American Le Mans, Atlantics Series, Indy Lights and IndyCar! I met several great people and really enjoyed seeing a new type of racing. I'd definitely like to try my hand at some road racing! It looks like a blast!

I have an extensive list of plans for my future and pray that God keeps opening doors for me. I believe that 2010 is going to be a huge year and hope that everything comes together with opportunities!

Thank you to everyone who made the Gas City race a possibility..It means a lot!

We are extremely excited for the next race up which is the USAC Ford Focus Midgets National Race at Columbus Motor Speedway on Sept. 12, 2009.

Remember to stay up to date with my Twitter & Facebook!

Well, I'm off to Kickboxing so stay cool and enjoy the remaining days of summer!!

Talk to you soon!
<3shann

My awesome birthday weekend :)

2009-07-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

I turned 20 on Friday July 24. It really didn't seem like it was my birthday...I can't believe I'm 20 already though...and although everyone says it's so young...I feel like I'm running out of time!

Friday, I went down to The Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati to help at the 2nd Annual Shayne Graham Foundation event where Shayne Graham and his friends as well as sponsors of the event had a fun day racing go-karts to raise money for the foundation. It was a great day and I am happy I was able to be a part of it.

The Paddock at MCC

Check out www.mccofcincinnati.com & www.shaynegraham.com

I met a lot of people and it was a gorgeous day....But probably the best part of my day was that I got to drive a Porsche Carrera GT. I also spent time with team members of Wright Motorsports and Doran Racing who were at the event.

The Porsche Carrera GT that I got to drive!

Left-Wright Motorsports Grand-Am Series car Right-Doran Racing Grand-Am Rolex Series car

Saturday I was given an opportunity to go to the NASCAR Nationwide Race at O'Reiley Raceway Park. I met one of my fav's Kenny Wallace as well as several other people!

Right behind the wall up close and personal when Brad Keselowski made a pit stop

It was awesome to have all access passes and be on pit road....My Dad and a few other people texted me and told me they saw me on ESPN during the prayer when I was on pit road!

Only thing NOT cool about this is that I wasn't in a drivers suit getting ready to race! lol :)

It was an overall great birthday weekend. Couldn't have asked for much more except to have been actually racing.......

Hope to be on track again soon and will keep you update!!!

<3your> shann

Getting back on the map...

2009-07-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks Aamco Transmissions Miamisburg and Bullwinkles Top Hat Bistro

Today is a great day for me. I am so grateful, and feel so lucky to be surrounded by such great people.

Sweaty but cheesing after the races! lol

After the races with Indy Car Driver, Sarah Fisher

Yesterday, July 17, 2009 was my first race back competing with USAC in the Ford Focus Midget Series since 2006!!!! To explain why this is such a huge thing for me....lets go back to 2006...

In 2006 I was 17 years old and it was my first year competing with USAC in the Focus Series. Ever since I started racing at age 5 in Quarter Midgets, it's always been a family thing...no prior racing experience...we just got a car, a motor home, trailer and went racing! So when we continued moving up, we just learned as we went, learned from mistakes, and always did exceptionally well. Although in the Focus Series, we'd competing against big $ teams and teams with all the knowledge, resources, and best equipment out there...we took that next step and moved into the series.

2006 was a year to remember for me, that's for sure. Here is a list of the accomplishments from that year..

Highest ranking female in the (USAC Indiana & Midwest
Ford Focus) pavement series
USAC Ford Focus Series - 5th in points after missing one race
Lyn St. James Driver Development Program Graduate
Kara Hendrick Memorial Scholarship Award recipient
15 “Top Ten” finishes in 17 races (two Top 5 finishes)
Most Heat race wins in Indiana Series (5 wins)
Dayton Auto Race Fans “Asphalt Driver of the Year”
PitFit Scholarship Award recipient
4th in Earls Fast Qualifier points
1 third place podium finish

So the following year, 2007, we planned to run another full season of Ford Focus Midgets. Well, we were low on funding, and sponsors never came through. So before I knew it, it was August and I was headed to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend my first year of college at UNC Charlotte...and I didn't race a single race.

So while in school, I made connections and did the best I could to secure something for the 2008. Worked at the Richard Petty Driving Experience as well at Best Impressions Catering. The plan was to race a Dirt Super Late Model for the entire season and it ended up falling through. We were also supposed to run a few Sprint Car races which ended up falling through as well.. So I got an opportunity from owner Jerry Wald of Chicago to race 4 Dirt Super Late Model races at Kamp Motor Speedway in Boswell, Indiana. (Special thanks to Jerry, John and crew)

Since 2007 and 2008 ended up being such bad years for us, I decided that I would take this year off school and focus on getting funding for racing and with this economy, it's dang near a miracle to get help.

I finally got some people on board after a million and one phone calls and meetings. THANK YOU AAMCO MIAMISBURG and BULLWINKLES!!!!!!!!!!!

So we had to do a TON of work to get the car back on track. We ran into major issues with the fuel system and I had to make two trips in one week to Indy for our fuel pump. So after putting quite a bit of money into fixing the car we tested for a 3rd time and still had problems.

We scheduled to have the track to ourselves from 1pm-5pm on Thursday July 16....the day before the race. Well, that morning after having done some more work to the car, we struggled all day trying to get it to run. We didn't get the car running until 4:30pm. Luckily, open testing started at 5pm so we were able to go to the track to so if the car would finally run clean.

This was the fourth trip to Kil-Kare Raceway in about a month and a half and it FINALLY ran great! We were FAST!

I was so excited for the race Friday, feeling confident, and anxious to actually RACE! We qualified third but were 13lbs too light. Bad weather was coming so we skipped the heat races and went to the feature. I was sent to the tail since I was underweight but ended up 3rd place and passed the most cars!

I couldn't be happier with a podium finish on my return debut back to the Focus Series. Getting laps is so important.

Special thanks to:
God for giving me the strength to continue pursue my dreams, my eternally supportive family, and all of my fans and friends who support me in what I do."
My eternally supportive family;
Mom-for your emotional support, encouragement, and even though I hate it...your sometimes tough love, for believing in me, and lifting me up when I have tough days.
Dad-All of your hard work, long hours, encouragement, support, belief in me, for keeping me positive even when it's tough for you too.
Staci-For always being supportive, for understanding how much goes into racing and for being a great sister. The older we both get, the more I realize how lucky I am to not only have a sibling, but to have such a great one like you!
Also Special thanks to all of my friends and family who continually support my passion!

Everyone who helped make this Friday at Kil-Kare possible...
Aamco Transmissions-Miamisburg
Bullwinkles Top Hat Bistro
Batteries For Everything
Randd Associates
U!Creative/Overdrive Development
Ron Campbell
Jim Clemmer (Papaw Bob)
Bruce Harmon
Andy Nock
Daryl at DSR

Also...THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO CAME TO SUPPORT AND WATCH!!! It means a lot!

Hope to post more exciting news soon!!!

<3>

Indy 2009

2009-06-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

My weekend at Indy was definitely awesome!

Friday, I was given the opportunity to attend Carb Day with some friends! We spent the day in the Pagoda and also cruised the pits. It was awesome to see the IRL teams preparing for practice and for what is one of the biggest weekends of the year! We got a photo with John Andretti and talked with Ed Carpenter (A former Quarter Midget driver). The Indy Lights were fun to watch, although I ALWAYS would rather be in the drivers seat...They look like a blast.

Friday evening I went to the Hoosier Hundred to watch USAC Silver Crown cars at the Indy Fairgrounds. Congratulations to Shane Hollingsworth (Another former Quarter Midget Driver, like me!) for a big win!

Saturday was one of my favorite races to watch. O'reilly Raceway Park is an AWESOME track/facility. I would LOVE to be able to race there in a Midget. Chuck Gurney Jr. won followed by Bryan Clauson and Bobby East.

Sunday was "THE" Indianapolis 500. This was the second time I've attended the race. Of course it was blazing hot and super sticky...Thats what makes it The Indy 500! I had a great time.....Being there, hearing the sound, smelling the fuel, & feeeling the atmosphere give me so much inspiration to make my goals a success.

Be sure to keep up with me on all my networking sites
Via Twitter, MySpace, Facebook.......

Until Next time........God Bless :)
<3Shan