Tuesday, October 24, 2006

O-town Shakedown

For us street-style doorslammers, the Orlando World Street Nationals have been the long-running "Super Bowl" of Pro Street shootouts. This all-out, year ending battle for the honors of fastest on the planet comes with little in the way of rules. Basically, bring it all and the kitchen sink with you... Run Whatcha Brung. Not that my poor little T-bird is much in the way of "Brung", but I'm going to try and qualify in the 32 car field for Pro Street. Years past, the bump has been in the 6.90 range, which is ever dropping, so as long as I can navigate the tricky Orlando SpeedWorld track to a low 6.70ish, I might be in the field and have a shot.

Though I've lived in GA/AL for the past 3 years, Orlando is still "HOME" to me. My family, friends, and old racing collegues all are still there, and I'm always a little homesick around this time of year. Even more so this year, as my Papi is really fighting with his Lymphoma right now, and more than ever I want to be with him and do well for him at this race. Please keep him in your prayers....



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Posted by Erica Ortiz at 8:34 PM | | Comments

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

My new little baby...


Most everyone has had the pleasure of meeting my little baby, Chica (my 1 year old Chihuahua). And before Chica, some of you remember my precious angel Trixie (RIP- 1/21/06). So you all know how I am about my little babies, who are every bit as important as if they were really my kids. Well, I am proud to announce that I became a mommy again today!


Please meet Chula (Spanish Translation- Cutie):

Chula was born just 6 weeks ago on September 8th. She bears strong resemblence to Trixie, my beloved who passed away from a brain disorder in January. As soon as I saw this little girl, I knew she had to come home with me. Chula came from a litter of 4-all females (my little feminist???) and is a spunky little thing. Her big sister Chica is taking to her fine, playing and sniffing and doing the doggie introductions. I'm super excited to have Chula join my little family. Look for her guarding my pit at the races!!!

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Posted by Erica Ortiz at 6:15 PM | | Comments

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A change in scenery....

Well, not much has been happening since the season final Fun Ford Weekend race in terms of racing. We've begun servicing the car to get it ready for Orlando's World Street Nationals at the end of this month and are waiting on some parts to come back from refreshning.

So what's a race-hungry girl to do on her off time? Why, attend another NHRA national event, of course!! This time, I went ahead and booked a plane ticket with my good buddy and TARE Racing Marketing manager, TJ Pruitt to fly out of Atlanta to the Richmond race this past weekend (That vacation time has dwindled down to nothing this time of year). We flew in style.... first class all the way, and my first time ever doing so. But landing in a soggy Richmond at 9pm Friday night, we learned that the Friday racing activities had been cancelled due to rain, and Saturday wasn't looking promising either.

So we haul our bags out to the rental car agency, and TJ realizes he needed to check in at the terminal first (and he's the travel professional?!?). Thinking he'd only be a minute, I offered to wait outside in the cold so he could run in and get it. He's back in a few minutes, he's looking for his missing rental reservation sheet. No luck, this isn't looking good. A few minutes later, he's back again. He forgot his ID. Already chilled and tired of standing, I think to myself "Hmmm, Ok. Surely this has to be it, right?" 2 hours later, I finally manage to juggle 2 suitcases, 2 laptop bags, a camera bag, and my purse and trek all the way back to the terminal to find TJ. "AHEM, TJ. Does the term you are KILLING ME ring a bell?!?" Sure enough, just as I find him, the counter attendant hands him the keys and we are on our way back to the hotel.

Now, there's not a lot to do when its raining all day, so Chuck Ford and the rest of the TARE Racing team are well into a few drinks to pass the time when we arrive at the hotel. I'm greeted by a cold Bud Light and a new nickname courtesey of Chuck Ford: WASTEGATE. Now, for the non-racing saavy, a wastegate is what controls the amount of turbo boost that actually goes into the motor. This makes a pretty cool sound when it happens, and I'm particularly good at imitating that ach-cho-chooo-chooo noise. That coupled with the fact that I was the odd "hairdryer" gal out, they decided WASTEGATE was fitting. This was only the first of several hours I spent trying my best to argue why turbos are valid power adders in Pro Mod. I don't know that I'll ever win this "apples to apples" debate with Chuck, but it at least earned him HIS new nickname courtesey of yours truly: SOUR APPLE. And don't think I won't be doing my darndest to make sure that sticks. ;)

Saturday, I woke to more rain. We all gathered and decided to try grabbing breakfast. After a pretty lengthy wait, we finally were seated and ate. Nothing spectacular, but food nonetheless. The rain started to clear a bit, so we headed to the racetrack. Just as Mike Ashley's F/C crew unloaded everything, it began to rain again. Another 30-45 minutes, and the annoucement I was dreading was made: The event had been postponed. Though most of the NHRA classes would stay until the make up the following weekend, the AMS Pro Mod class was cancelled altogether. The team decided to wait until Sunday morning to break down the pit, so we all packed up and headed back to the hotel. The rain continued all night, so after some much needed napping, we all went out to dinner and for a few beverages in Richmond.

TJ & I decided to make the most of our wasted airfare, and we stayed to help the TARE team tear down the pit. Let me start by telling you that the TARE Mustang has been my all-time favorite Pro Mod since Mike Ashley debuted her as Eleanor several years back. So the team did a little 'teasing' and let me sit in the driver's seat as they loaded her up for the trek back home. Its just as beautiful inside as it is on the outside, and don't think I didn't mention that it fit just like a glove! A girl can wish, right?

Though I didn't get my fill of blown doorslammers and nitro, getting to take a closer look and talk candidly with some of the best in the business is always worth the trip. Not to mention that the TARE team is a great bunch!

Here are a few pics from the weekend.

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Posted by Erica Ortiz at 5:26 PM | | Comments

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