Saturday, June 21, 2008

Godspeed Scott Kalitta


The most heartbreaking news you can possibly hear.... DHL Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta has passed away after a top end crash during the NHRA Lucas Oil SuperNationals in Englishtown, NJ during 4th round of qualifying today.

Kalitta, the son of NHRA legend Connie Kalitta, was just 46 years old. He has been a staple in the nitro ranks for many years now, piloting a top fuel dragster as well as moving to funny car. He started his career in the 80's, ironically with his first event being at Englishtown, NJ.

He is survived by wife Kathy, and sons Cory [14] and Colin [9], Palmetto, FL.

This year at the AC Delco NHRA Nationals in Gainesville, my good friends Frankie, Mikey, my sister Melanie and I were all VIP guest in the DHL pits. Watching Scott's passion in that car was infectious. As he warmed up the car, you could see the adrenaline flowing in his eyes, and as he blipped the throttle, he would do this whole pumped up jump onto the throttle. (Think head-banger metal style energy). I wish I would've had that moment captured on video, it was such a cool and inspiring sight.

The second driver fatally injured in nitro funny car in the past 2 years, he is another great talent that will be sorely missed.
Godspeed, Scott Kalitta
May you forever light the nitro candles in the skies above us.
Photos: Competition Plus, Melanie Ortiz

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Monday, June 16, 2008

Not again!

Not very often I post twice in one day, but hell, I don't have anything better to do right now. I'm now sitting in Salt Lake City, UT... my flight from Atlanta was delayed in Atlanta and I landed in Salt Lake at 4:10 with 20 minutes to get to my gate.

After sprinting my ass off to get to my departing Vegas flight that left at 4:40, I figured I was good when I got to my gate at 4:30.... 10 minutes to spare. They then tell me that even though my plane was still at the gate, they didn't think I'd make it from my other flight so they had already closed the door and cannot reopen the door after it is closed.

Un-friggen-believable.

They wanted to put me on an AM flight, which was NOT an option for me, so they called another airline and now I have a nice 6 hour wait in the airport until 10pm tonight and all I got was a measely $7 food voucher. That oughta buy a nice, stiff margarita for my 2 day long trip to Vegas. This has been a nightmare of a trip!

Delta has definitely done me wrong this time!!!!! Anyone have any good ideas on killing 6 hours in a stuffy airport???

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Posted by Erica Ortiz at 6:07 PM | | Comments | links to this post

Around the World in 24 hours

::Sigh::

I love airlines.

So I arrived in Cincinnati last night around 8pm, and missed my connecting flight. That was the last outbound flight to Vegas, so I had to spend the night in Cincinnati and go stand-by on the AM non-stop flight in the morning. As luck would have it, right as they scanned me in as a standby to board, the missing travelers came running down the terminal and I was bumped. Just my friggen luck!

So, my alternative was to fly back to Atlanta (45 minutes from home again!) and then to Salt Lake City, UT and THEN to Las Vegas. That's 4 flights just to get to Vegas. Oh what fun!

I'm sitting in the Atlanta airport on the floor right now sharing one of the rare power outlets to power up my laptop. You'd think with all the technology now-a-days, they'd have more than 2 outlets in a big airport like Atlanta. Go figure.

Hopefully, there won't be any more problems and I'll land in Vegas tonight in time to catch dinner and get settled in. I think I need a vacation!

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Saturday, June 14, 2008

Viva Las Vegas (Part 2)

Time to hit the road again for work. This time, its the InfoComm tradeshow in Las Vegas. This will be my first show solo (no boss there to lead me along). I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Hopefully, everything goes smoothly!

My little baby Blanca needed a babysitter while I'm gone, and one of the only people I trust to watch her would be Dan. So this morning, I got up and met him in Childersburg, AL to give him Blanca for the week. She's getting to meet her sister (and my other baby Chica-- I lost custody, LOL) for the very first time and it will be good social training for her as well. Plus, I know Dan will take great care of her (Thanks, Dan!)

One thing I am bummed about, a local car nut in Grant named Mr. Alan Parker just finished his new racecar, and asked me if I could shake it down for him on Sunday and drive it in Montgomery next weekend. Unfortunately, since I am leaving for Vegas and won't be back until next Saturday, I am missing out. There is a chance I may get to drive on Sunday in Montgomery, we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed, I'm aching to get my mind off everything and get back behind a wheel again!

Trip Meter: 272 miles
2008 Odometer: 6,162 miles

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Thursday, June 12, 2008

Work, Work, Racecar, and Work

Today, my boss Jas, coworker Bob, and I had a trip planned over to our Duluth, GA office. We had some marketing/branding work to discuss with the project marketing manager there. Duluth is in North Atlanta, and also an hour ahead on Eastern Standard time, so that meant we had to leave really early to get there.

Jas and Bob had never been to my place, and since I'm about an hour in the direction of Atlanta from Huntsville, they came to pick me up at 6am. They had programmed my address into a Garmin GPS Navigator, but somehow ended up on a detour in Grant that left them on a dead end road called Fish Trap and asking them to make right turns off the cliff of Grant Mountain. Needless to say, they were about 30 minutes late.

Since I had been trying to get over to my engine builder's in Atlanta, they were both gracious enough to allow me to make a stop on the way home at his shop to drop off some parts for the racecar. So, I loaded up the parts in the back of the new company van (a Toyota Sienna) and jumped behind the wheel headed for Duluth. (They designated me the trip driver since I am such a car nut and 3 hours is a trip around the block to me).

We arrived in Duluth with no problems, wrapped up a day there, and then jumped out at 3pm trying to beat Atlanta traffic rush. Mr. Moody's is just down I-285, so it was only a quick detour (so we thought).

I dropped off the parts and spoke to Mr. Moody, who said that we'd be assembling my engine very soon. I still have a few parts to round up, but they'll be there in the next week or so. VERY GOOD NEWS FOR THE RACING PROGRAM!!!!

Headed back, we decided to take I-20 home, since we saw a big pile up at the bottleneck returning to I-75. Big Mistake! We ended up stuck in construction traffic for about an hour. Oh well, could've been worse.

Overall., good trip! And even better, the miles weren't on my Mustang for a change!

Trip Meter: 436 miles
2008 Odometer: 5,890 miles

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Secret is in the Hair....

Okay, this is about as RANDOM as random gets on my blog posts....

Last night, I had a dream that I was driving a nitro-burning flopper. No biggie, I have that dream pretty often. But this wasn't just ANY dream. In my dream, I had a sudden realization. In a blaze of nitro-glory (ie: I was on fire through the lights), I realized something might not work for me in the future:

My long hair.

As long as I can remember, I've always had long hair. (minus that brief cut in 1st grade that wasn't my idea, and left me emotionally scarred for life.... think mini-Fullet. LOL) Its always been at least shoulder length, but typically much longer.

Right now, its probably the longest its been in my life, almost 3/4 way down my back. I figure I might as well let it grow while I can still "get away" with pulling that look off.

But last night, my subconscious was telling me that I needed to look at something. Mainly, the fact that mile-long hair poking out of my helmet wasn't going to work so well in a nitro flopper and would be promptly incincerated in my first nitro-blaze. Melanie, Ashley, Hillary.... all have relatively moderate lengthed hair. How would I tuck in 3 feet of the stuff under a helmet safely?

Oh the trauma! Long hair has been my staple, my identity, my whole LIFE! I've been jokingly nicknamed as the Pantene Girl. (wouldn't they be a great sponsor?!? hint, hint!) Its one of my better features, I think.

The thought of cutting it off has Sampson effects on me! Will I lose my edge? My strength? Will I be rendered a disheveled wreck? WILL I BE PLAGUED WITH BAD HAIR DAYS?

Just another thing us women racers get to worry about over our male counterparts. LOL.
(Still waiting on an anatomically correct fire suit, and 300mph chip-proof nail polish.)

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Saturday, June 07, 2008

Small World


Wow, I am continually humbled at what a great and small Drag Racing world we live in. Got a flood of notes today from a mention on Del Worsham's CSK team Blog on NHRA.com. I have never met any of Del's team before, but having Bob Wilber mention someone like me whom he's never met is really special to me. Its not exactly how I invisioned seeing my name for the first time on NHRA.com, but it still means a lot to be considered worthy enough to be mentioned. Big THANKS for that!
Thanks again to all who have sent notes my way, they really help me feel not so alone going through this. Though the pathology reports came back positive, it is relatively mild and caught early, so the doctor is not going to go to drastic measures just yet. The cancer is not in danger of spreading, so I am thankful that the worst I have to face is the idea that maybe children will not be in my future.

I am not giving up on any of my dreams, and maybe this will motivate me further to really going after them. Everything kind of gets put into perspective sometimes, and this is one time where I really have a fire burning inside me to get back out there and do what I love. There is something to say for Tire-Burning, Gear Shifting therapy.....

I am blessed with friends and family as dear as all of you!

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Thursday, June 05, 2008

The year of Girl Power!

What a year its shaping up to be for women in Motorsports!

Danica Patrick started it off getting her first win for IRL in Japan. She became the first woman to do so for the league.

Then, Ashley Force grabs her first win in NHRA Funny Car at the Southern Nationals in Atlanta. Ashley became the first woman to ever win in NHRA Nitro Funny Car, making history in a win over her father.




She was followed close behind by Melanie Troxel also in Funny Car. Melanie became the first woman to win both in the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories, in only her 8th start in the floppers.

And now Hillary Will, the lone Top Fuel lady for 2008 grabs her first win in T/F Dragster!

Congratulations ladies and thanks for representing us women and what we are capable of in Motorsports!

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Posted by Erica Ortiz at 10:25 AM | | Comments | links to this post

Monday, June 02, 2008

My new baby girl....

The past year, I have been missing a big part of my heart.....

If you've known me any length of time, you know that I have a very special love of chihuahuas, so much so I consider them my babies. And, if you're close to me, you'll know that I've lost 2 babies in the past 3 years, something that was devastating to me.

So ever since last May, I've been waiting to find a new baby to bring home. And, I am happy to report that I finally found her!

She was born 3/23/08, and is 10 weeks old now. She's all white with beautiful blue-gray eyes, something I rarely see in Chihuahuas. She's got a sweet personality and is very snuggly, which I love. And she's doing great already with potty training!

I'm still not 100% decided on names yet.... in keeping with my Spanish name trend, I am thinking about Blanca Nieve Ortiz(white snow in spanish). I'd probably call her Blanquita.... because she is so small. But I'm not 100% decided. My American friends had a tough enough time remembering Chula's name!
Anyone have any suggestions on names???
I'm absolutely in love with her and she's exactly what I needed right now!

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Posted by Erica Ortiz at 2:14 PM | | Comments | links to this post

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