TZ: First things first, can you tell me a bit about yourself: Age, Where you were born, where you live now if different than previous answer, interests other than racing just the general run of the mill stuff and what got you into drag racing (family history) or anything like that?
SE: I’m 25, born in Elgin Il and living there once again. I haven’t done much other than racing for the past three years, but I used to skydive, love to scuba dive, wakeboarding, music: concerts/clubs… As for getting into racing, I had no family ties to it, knew nothing about cars, never street raced, no boyfriends into it. I was a hair colorist in Chicago and skydiving was the adrenaline rush at the time, then I had a skydiving accident in 2001, chute came out with line twists and collapsed, so I moved back to the parents house in the suburbs and once I was better went back to work, needed to buy a car and got my first ’00 Si. It was actually the first time I started driving a 5 speed and three months later I had a turbo kit on the car and went to my first event, Battle of the Imports at Route 66. I was hooked from that point on.
TZ: What was your first drag racing memory?
SE: I went to a few local events in ’02, all the while trying to learn more about what I could do with the car . With a newly built motor, turbo setup, etc, I competed in the entire ’03 season in both the Turbo 4 and Nopi Chic class.
TZ: How about what car you started out in?
SE: The plan for ’04 was to build my car into a Pro4 Cylinder class car. I had gone to SEMA and the PRI show and a fellow Pro racer was going to do the chassis work and help build the car. We were told to strip the car down to the frame and then we were going to take it to his shop until it was completed, where my crew chief at the time would help build the car at his shop. After we had totally stripped the car, he called and cancelled. At this point it was mid December, too late to try and line up other sponsorship deals. We were looking into other places to have the car built and at that time came across the Venom car online.
TZ: How did you come to the idea of buying the old venom car rather than constructing a whole new car to start with?
SE: The plan for ’04 was to build my car into a Pro4 Cylinder class car. I had gone to SEMA and the PRI show and a fellow Pro racer was going to do the chassis work and help build the car. We were told to strip the car down to the frame and then we were going to take it to his shop until it was completed, where my crew chief at the time would help build the car at his shop. After we had totally stripped the car, he called and cancelled. At this point it was mid December, too late to try and line up other sponsorship deals. We were looking into other places to have the car built and at that time came across the Venom car online.
TZ: Tell me a bit about the car as it stands now, and possibly some of the adversity along the way to get to where you are now?
SE: Dan and I flew to California to check out the car and I’m the first to admit that at the time we were a bit too naive to realize how much work the car needed. I wasn’t around to see the parts, $$$ and crew it took for the former owners to run the #’s they did with the car. And it wouldn’t be an 8.8xx car right off the trailer like they told us it would. So that’s how I ended up with the civic we have now. We were in a bind after the original plan fell apart and wanted to make it out for the full season.
TZ: If possible, can you briefly explain what exactly happened with the Dragshotz deal earlier this year?
SE: 2004 was pretty much a fiasco, trying to work out the mess of problems that came with buying the car; we were just playing catch up all year. At SEMA last year was when I got asked to be the driver of the Scion for T&T. At the time, The guy that owned Dragshotz was going to be the owner of the “Dragshotz” Scion and Topletz the owner of the celica. Norwood was the head guy and then each car would have two crew members. In mid December Chris sort of disappeared, nobody had heard from him, so I called Bob and Steve to find out what was going on. Chris had failed to close any sponsorship deals, so he just bailed. So at that point to keep the ball rolling with the Scion. The car was purchased and taken to Bob’s shop in January and I moved to Dallas in Febuary. By March, the Scion was nowhere near done, so I offered to use my civic just for points sake. That first race we broke a transmission and didn’t have a spare
So after that, we decided to find a way to salvage the year, Jeromie moved to Chicago and we took off 3 months to rebuild the Civic. We only agreed to do it, if it was going to be done right, so the car was stripped and alkaline dipped, back-halved and then powder-coated. New motors were built, using our local guy here in IL, Automotive Engine Specialties, using CP pistons, GRP aluminum rods. The heads were done by M2 w/ Ferrea roller rocker/valve train, crane cams. Harry from Precision Turbo worked with us this year, tuning the car, we used his boost control, his 70mm turbo’s & intercooler core. Jeromie was working w/ Howard Anderson at his shop AR Fabrication, where they built a new header, motor mounts, motor braces, engine pan, installed the Long shifter, new dash, remounted the parachute, fitted a Jerry Bickle wing, put a lip on the front end. Jeromie redid the fuel system, moved the battery up front. We used our local tranny guy to throw together some stock tranny’s w/ Circuit worx final drives & cuffs and we only broke two 2nd gears and one 1st gear the rest of the season, that’s over 90 passes!
TZ: How difficult was it going back to the civic after what happened earlier this year?
SE: I had no fear getting back in the car after the fire in April. I was actually more confident in the car the first time, than all of the times driving it before. I trusted the people working on it, trusted the car and that was a huge reason I was able to excel as a driver this year.
TZ: What are you future plans/hopes/dreams?
SE: My future plans at this point are simply to find a way to afford to race next year. I never intended for my parents to support my racing, they’re not loaded by any means, so it adds a different kind of stress and pressure. I would love nothing more than to continue driving my car/any car next year, but won’t allow my parents to pay for it. If I’m able to continue driving, I’d eventually like to get into a Modified car, I got my license at the Frank Hawley driving school in a RWD door slammer and would like to step up to a RWD car. After that, the NHRA Powerade series would be the long term goal… Outside of racing, another goal of mine is to get my pilot’s license.
TZ: Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
SE: Where do I see myself in 5 years… Wow, it’s hard to see myself in five months! But hopefully with a secure job, still behind the wheel of a race car.
TZ: Do you have any aspirations to follow in the footsteps of your predecessors?
SE: I’d actually prefer not to be compared to anyone. I’ve had more problems dealing w/ “predecessors” reputations and people expecting the same from me, than following in their racing footsteps.
TZ: How have you been accepted by the racers in the Sport Compact community? Lord knows that those guys are some of the toughest to break. It seems that everyone is cynical as hell in our scene, how do you handle that?
SE: I think I’m much more accepted now than I was prior to rebuilding the civic. I kind of came from nowhere, wasn’t the girlfriend of someone in the racing industry, so I think I was somewhat of a mystery to people. I did well in ’03 in the street classes, but when I moved up to the Pro class in ’04, especially doing so in an existing car, we were taken as a joke considering all the problems and how rough the season was. And a lot of people thought my Dad was super rich and I was just racing for the hell of it. I hope by now, after all the drama, my team this year has proven our dedication, drive and passion for racing and wanting to succeed at it.
TZ: I hate to ask this question, but I almost have to. Is it more difficult as a female to succeed in a male dominated sport?
SE: The whole “female in a male dominated sport” is tricky. I’m the first to admit it has it’s Pro’s, but there’s a lot of con’s as well. I learned the hard way that I couldn’t just go hang out with people in the industry at places like SEMA and PRI. I was welcomed to tons of rumours at my first Pro race due to another established married pro racer, who told everyone a bunch of BS. I’ve had to deal w/ that and other rumors over the last two years, which only made others wary of me and my intentions. So because of that, I kept to myself and didn’t socialize, well that backfires because then you’re labeled “the bitch”. But now, people know me and what I’m at the races for, my only intentions are to race and I’m treated more as an equal. Took a couple years, but me and Jeromie finishing the year like we did also helped.
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