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The Early Years
At first glance, none would suspect
Erica Ortiz to be a frontrunner in the ultra-competitive world of
drag racing. Born and raised in Orlando, FL by her
grandparents -- a retired Air Force officer and draftsman, and a
housewife, Erica was raised in a strict, traditional latin
household. Nowhere was it evident where Erica's love for
racing and speed developed. The last raised in her
grandparents home, none of her family had knowledge of motorsports,
and while Erica grew up loving competition,-- "anything athletic or
sports oriented, even down to academics, I loved the thrill of
competition and the adrenaline rush of winning." says Erica.
"I was never much of a girlie girl, no matter how hard I tried.
It was all just awkward to me, I wanted to be out there playing with
the boys, not on the sidelines looking pretty."
Throughout high school, Erica trained
and competed in 3 sports in her athletic tenure, serving as team
captain on both her school's Volleyball and Track & Field teams.
Her drive to succeed earned her top honors as an athlete, and an
athletic scholarship for Volleyball in college. Graduating
with honors from her high school, Erica's future looked bright.
However, a series of unfortunate events kept her from pursuing her
collegiate Volleyball dreams, and sidelined her athletic career.
 Shortly after graduating, Erica
purchased her first vehicle; a 1990 5.0L Mustang GT. She
instantly fell in love with the vehicles' speed and power
performances, and before long found herself at the local dragstrip
testing her newest adventure. "I always liked racing
around town in high school, oblivious to the fact that I was driving
a painfully slow pick up truck. Now, I finally had something
worthy of the sport and definitely up to the chore."
Erica's new found passion drove her to countless magazines,
websites, and any other haven in search of knowledge of her new
found hobby. "I spent countless nights thumbing the
pages of the mustang magazines, trying to absorb every bit of
information about the car I loved and making it faster" Erica said
of her early racing years, "I was determined to get beneath the hood
of the car myself, to uncover anything that would give me that
competitive edge." It was during this time that she
discovered a popular local mustang shop, Lugo Performance
Automotive, Inc. in nearby Apopka, FL. Home of some of
the fastest mustangs in the sport, Lugo Performance became her new
favorite hangout. It was there she learned
the ropes-- spending countless nights with Dennis Lugo in the engine
room, and becoming a hands-on player at the mechanics of the sport.
"I wanted to know how everything worked, the mechanics, the
fundamentals. I wasn't satisfied with just being behind
the wheel, I had to be involved in all aspects, to understand what
made it all come together.
Her first racing experience occurred at
the World Ford Challenge event in 2001, often termed the "Superbowl"
of Ford Drag Racing. Erica had accompanied the Lugo
Performance team to the race as she so often did in those days as a
spectator, following behind in her newly acquired 1993 GT.
After driving the 1000 miles from Orlando to St. Louis, where the
annual event was held, Erica decided to try her hand at bracket
racing, entering the Bracket 3 category. Over 150
competitors competed in class, and Erica made it all the way to the
semi-finals on day 1, running in the mid-13's with her manual
equipped GT. On Sunday, Erica again made in through
rounds all the way to the finals, where she was crowned the
runner-up at her first competitive event. With such
great first time success, Erica was hooked.
Later that year, Erica was given the
opportunity to drive another car which frequented the Lugo shop.
A loyal customer of Lugo for years, Bob Besner's sleek supercharged
coupe was the first "fast" car Erica had experienced.
Having gone no faster than low 13's, Erica strapped into the
supercharged car and jumped into the 12's on her first pass.
With a little coaching from Dennis, Erica's second attempt put her
into the low 11's at 120 mph. Adrenaline flowing, an
enthused Erica proclaimed "I HAVE to get me one of those!" And
so it began....
Erica continued driving Besner's coupe,
gaining some seat time,
 and hoping to enter in the spring's NMRA
season opener in the Drag Radial category. She later
would refer to the car as her "adopted" racer... "Having driven it
for almost a year, I gained a fond relationship [with the car] and
endearingly named it my 'adopted' racecar. So when Bob
offered to sell [the car], I knew it had to become official, it had
to come home to stay." Erica quickly sold her 93 GT, and
brought her pristine coupe home. The car
received a fresh power plant in late 2001, a 306 capable of standing
up to the power and running in the radial class. With no prior
testing, Erica would attempt to qualify in the World Street
Nationals Radial class, running just shy of the field with a best of
10.30. After some testing, the coupe would run in the
9's, still in street form with functional A/C & full stereo, as
Erica still drove the car frequently on the street.
Erica gained recognition as the Paxton Princess, as she was an
outspoken representative for the supercharger company.
(photo courtesy of
Mustang Weekly)
A Change in
Direction
After a season of belt-tossing
difficulties, and traction difficulties in the class from the
torque-happy blower, Erica underwent a change in direction.
Obtaining her NHRA Competition License in Joe DeJesus' Twin Turbo
coupe, Erica was swayed by the turbos' smooth powerband.
Turbochargers were already the specialty of the Lugo shop, so an
executive decision was made to swap the blower in lieu of a single
turbo combination on her own ride. In between races, the kit
was fabricated at Lugo Performance, and Erica was back out with a
new combination, and well into the 9's on the radial tire.
Determined to compete in the drag radial class, Erica slowly made
the commitment to the transformation from fast capable street car to
all out race. After climaxing the 2002 season with a win
in the Gainesville True Street event, Dennis and Erica began the
transformation to fit the new FFW version of the drag radial class.
Upgrading to a 347 cubic inch
 powerplant, and a water/air intercooled combo, Erica was quick out
of the gate in the 2003 season with 2 runner-up finishes in FFW trim
and her first 8 second time slip on radial tires, becoming the first
female in a FFW Heads-up final and the first female in the 8's and
over 160 mph on a radial tire as well. Venturing into the
mid 8's, the now infamous 'Radial Princess' finished off the year
with several other runner-up finishes, and as runner-up for the 2003
Points Championship. Erica's proudest moment was when Dennis
was named FFW's Crew Chief of the Year, a feat he greatly deserved.
Without him, she would never had made it through the season.
"No matter how much he had going on, or what obstacles were in his
way, Dennis always made sure that I was taken care of inside that
car. We were a great team, he had faith in my ability to
drive, and I in his ability to get the car to the line. We
worked together to build that motor, to tune the car, and to make
sure it ran smoothly. And even when others discredited me, he
trusted my instincts and we made it happen together."
Shortly after the 2003 season, Erica made the
difficult decision to leave Orlando and venture out on her own.
After beginning a career in advertising in Georgia, exploring her career
interests and abilities, Erica was determined to continue racing
on her own. As she prepared for the 2004 season, Dennis
provided her guidance by phone from Florida.
"Throughout the past, I always had Dennis watching over my shoulder.
Although he had taught me well, I was still very nervous about
taking control without his supervision. There was no
safety net there anymore, it was up to me now." Erica
was able to put the coupe right back on path, with a
performance best of 175 mph pass.
Moving On & Up
Throughout 2004, Erica would venture to
the track as support for a local Pro Mod team, helping and learning
the ropes on these quite different Pro cars. Her need
for speed left her yearning to drive one of these powerful beasts,
and Erica had her sights set on
building a Pro car. She knew that she would be departing
into a much different world, and all the stakes were raised
significantly, but she was surrounded by the support of many very
knowledgeable people, and felt confident that with some seat time,
she could move into her own as a Pro 5.0 driver, uncharted
territory for a female driver, and a longtime dream of Erica's own
evolution.
At the end of the 2004 season, Erica
put her much loved radial car up for sale, anxious to begin her Pro
career. And although it was with great sadness that her
beloved radial coupe departed, with the closing of one chapter,
another began. Erica took 2005 off finishing her new
Twin Turbo Big Block Thunderbird. Her Pro 5.0
debut came in 2006, when she became the first female in FFW's Pro
5.0 class, the first female in the 6's, and the first over 200mph.
Running a best of 6.69 @ 207mph with a stock Ford 460 block, Erica
made tremendous strides with her budget-built Pro 5.0 car, finishing
#2 for the season in FFW Pro 5.0 in her rookie year.
2007 brought many new changes, as Erica
worked toward a more competitive car, and the transformation into a
2007 Mustang. With the new modifications, Erica hopes to
be a serious competitor in the 2008 season.
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Height: 5'7"