A Little Bit More About Me

Photo by Matthew Lowell Thompson

Travis Pastrana and me at the Rallycross at NJMP

Sitting here watching my husband Matt play Gran Turismo 5, I figure now would be a good time to tell you a little bit more about myself and what "drives" me (yeah, I meant that). So let's give this a whirl.

Who is my favorite driver?


I'm going to answer a question with a question. Can you have more than one favorite driver? I say yes. So here's a sampling of who I follow.

In NASCAR, my favorite driver is Carl Edwards. Before Carl was Tony Stewart. Before Tony was Mark Martin. My favorite IndyCar driver is Dario Franchitti. In ALMS, I love the Rahal Letterman BMWs (Dirk Werner, Joey Hand, Bill Auberlen, and Dirk Muller).

In Rolex, I am a Patrick Dempsey fan, but not for the reason you might think. Yes, he lives up to the name McDreamy, but I admire him for pursuing his dream of being a driver and owner. If I had a lot of money, I would start my own race team too!

NHRA is new to me, so I keep changing my mind who I like. I think I know better who I don't like, but that's for another day. But as far as the two-wheel entries go, I root for Eddie Krawiec in Pro Stock Motorcycle, but I'm a little biased because he used to work at my dad's shop.

And my two new favorite drivers -- Travis Pastrana and Tanner Foust. Loved the Rallycross at New Jersey Motorsports Park last year.

What is the best race you've ever been to?


I've been fortunate enough to go to some good races in my day -- the Daytona 500, the last IndyCar race at Nazareth, the inaugural IndyCar races at Watkins Glen and Baltimore, and the first Nationwide race in Montreal. But the best race I ever went to was the spring Bristol race in 2007. It was historic because it was the first race with the Car of Tomorrow and the last race on the old surface. And Carl Edwards won the Nationwide race, I got to see a back flip in person. Oh, and did I mention our seats were two rows from the top at the start/finish line?

But it wasn't just the on-track activities that made this weekend so great. The most awesome part was that Matt, me, and our good friends rented a house that was a short walk from the track. The fun didn't stop once we had left the track for the day. Broken coffee pots, competitive UNO games, and all.

What's on your racing bucket list?


The two big endurance races -- LeMans and the 24 Hours of Daytona. An F1 race. Any F1 race. It doesn't really matter where. The Indy 500.  The NASCAR short tracks I haven't been too -- Richmond and Martinsville. I've only been to one NHRA National event, so anywhere I can get to see more drag racing is fine with me.  And definitely more Rallycross.

Favorite car ever owned?


It's sitting in the garage. A track-ready1995 Porsche 911.

The big question -- why this blog?


By day, I'm a book editor, working on practice books for legal practitioners. (OK, you can stop being jealous now.) So in my spare time, I wanted to write about something I love.

I live in the New York metro area, which is not exactly a hotbed of activity for racing fans (although much of my family is the exception to that rule). A lot of people give me a strange look when I say I like auto racing. As a result, I really don't talk much about racing.

But now is the time to start talking, both in this blog and on Twitter. I'm still working on exactly what my voice is going to be, but hopefully I'll make you laugh a little, inform you a little, and think a little. Having a photographer in the house who also loves motorsports doesn't hurt either.  And from time to time, I may have something non-motorsports related to say.