Weekend Race Results

Danville, Va. (November 8) – In the 13-hour Kumho Tires Charge of the Headlight Brigade endurance race sanctioned by North Carolina Region of the Sports Car Club of America, at VIRginia International Raceway on Nov. 5, Danville-based DWD Racing made a little history, raised some money for a good cause and had a lot of fun.

Driving the No. 1 DWD Racing Mazda Miata sponsored by World Wide Racing Fuels (Sunoco), Quality Tire Recycling (QTR), KAB Enterprises, Powers Signs, Sleep Inn, Mary’s Diner, Comfort Inn & Suites and ADI Motorsports, team owner Julie Allen and co-driver Dr. Audrey Zavodsky finished 36^th out of 60 entries after starting 56^th. The two-driver team, making history as the only all-female driving squad in the three-year life of the event, completed 273 laps on the 3.27-mile VIR circuit for a total of 892.71 miles.

The team had pledged to donate $0.50 per mile towards breast cancer awareness and research, resulting in a $446.36 contribution to a very worthy cause. The DWD Racing entry displayed the Pink Ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness, as well as a “Racing for Tobacco-Free Kids” banner.

Practice and qualifying for Saturday’s race took place on Friday night, and it was both drivers’ first time in the car. Zavodsky had never raced a Miata before, and commented on how easy it was to drive. In order to maximize both drivers’ seat time in the two pre-race sessions by eliminating driver changes, Zavodsky drove the entire practice session and Allen assumed the controls for the qualifying session. Allen qualified the car in 56^th position and was behind the wheel to take the first stint when the green flag flew at 9:15 am on Saturday. Allen improved five positions in the first 20 laps of the race and the team settled in for the long haul.

The team’s race strategy was to switch drivers at every fuel stop, which resulted in stints of approximately 90 minutes. The race was relatively uneventful, other than a four-lap pit stop necessitated by the loss of the headlights. The race crew, Karl Burke, Pat Eagan and DWD Racing team manager Mike Allen, did a superb job of keeping everything running smoothly, even completing a quick brake pad change during one of the scheduled pit stops.

With 75 minutes remaining in the race, team owner Allen decided to forego her final driving stint and keep Zavodsky, the faster driver, in the car for a double stint. Her efforts paid off with a 36^th-place finish and smiles all around. When she exited the car for the final time, Zavodsky grinned and said, “Let’s go another 13!”

Allen, who has competed in all three Charge of the Headlight Brigade events at VIR, was very satisfied with the team’s effort and the result.

“We had a ball out there, and met our goals,” she said. “The car was reliable and handled great, the crew was outstanding and Audrey was fast and solid as a rock, just as I knew she would be. When you can pursue your passion like this, at an awesome event in a beautiful setting driving a fun car and competing with friends and family, plus raising money and awareness for an important cause at the same time, that’s as good as it gets.

“I want to express my sincere thanks to Audrey and her husband Rich, car owner Karl Burke and his wife Diane, car builder Pat Eagan, my husband Mike and to all our sponsors who made this memorable day possible. I love being able to use racing as an avenue to create awareness for breast cancer, and I want to continue to encourage everyone to donate to this worthwhile cause. Hopefully, one day our efforts will pay off with lots more women leading longer, healthier lives.”

Dr. Audrey Zavodsky is one of America ’s most accomplished female racers, having raced and won in the Women’s Global GT Series and Panoz Pro Series. A multi-time SCCA regional champion, she has most recently competed in the Grand-Am Cup series. She is also the first-ever female driving instructor employed by the famed Bondurant School of High-Performance Driving. When she is not racing, she is employed as the corporate nurse for Ford Motor Company, and is also a motivational speaker.

After the race, she said, “This was so much fun! I have raced a variety of cars on a variety of circuits, but driving the Miata around VIR for all those hours was just terrific. Julie and I have been trying to race together for about a year, and it really turned out well. To be able to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research at the same time is just icing on the cake.”

DWD (Damn Woman Driver) Racing, Inc. is a race team, which offers event management services to its sponsors. Julie Allen, owner and driver, has been involved in racing on both the participant and management sides since 1994. During her motorsports career, she has served as Membership/Marketing Director for the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) and Marketing Director for VIRginia International Raceway. She has experienced motorsports from the sanctioning body, race course and race team perspectives. As a driver, Allen first competed in a professional series in 2004 after a few years of vintage racing.

For more information, check the team’s website at www.dwdracing.com or contact Julie Allen at DWD Racing by telephone at (434) 203-1579 or by email at julie@dwdracing.com.

Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 1:46 PM

Dr. Audrey Qualified 15th out of 64 plus cars!

Dr. Audrey started the race in the rain & brought the Mustang up to as high as 6th place. The race was run in the rain with 54% of the laps run under caution.

Unfortunately the crew had her pit for a tire change from wet to dry(slick) tires under green instead of under yellow (caution) and her partner was not able to go his entire stint putting the car down 2 laps. Neverthless, Dr. Audrey was glad to get back in the car. There was about 20 minutes to go in the race and Dr. Audrey put on a show getting the fans to come out from their cars and umbrellas to watch her race. The first time around she passed 5 cars by the Oak tree, she split 2 cars and passed them the next time around, blew off a Chevy Cobalt and RX-8 the next time around when the caution flag came out. The pictures above show Dr. Audrey staying with the '05 Mustang and putting a BMW behind her.

Dr. Audrey is shown qualifying with a 1:31.987 lap in the Rehagen Mustang at Mosport which was good for 13th place out of 59 cars. Dr. Audrey kept her qualifying position throughout her driving stint. Her co-driver was doing well when he wrecked with 22 minutes to go. Dr. Audrey said that in spite of the wreck "it was a great weekend!".

Dr. Audrey raced at Watkins Glen last weekend in New York. She had never been on the track before and due to mechanical failures she had very little time to practice. This was her fellow driver's home track and he was able to tell her about the nuances of the track. He was also able to turn a lap of 2:13 in practice. It was decided to let Dr. Audrey qualify the car. She began to lower her time in the 15 minute qualifier and ended up with a 2:09. This put the car in 31st position out of 77 cars raised the eyebrows of her co-driver. He said that "you are true driver." The picture shows Dr. Audrey on a roll as she had a great start moving up 5 positions on the green flag lap. However, 7 laps into the race the right front hub went out and that brought her into the pits.

Dr. Audrey got back into her SRF race car this past weekend. It has been a year since being able to drive the SRF at full speed. She didn't let that slow her down as she qualified 10th out of 13 cars. Because this was a national race all of the drivers were within a couple of seconds of one another. Dr. Audrey started rather slowly as one of the cars in front of her missed a shift and Dr. Audrey tagged its rear end. She continued her quest and ended up in 8th place with a damaged nose piece and running laps within 1.2 seconds of the leader. She turned a 1.28 lap which is her fastest lap on this track. Many of Dr. Audrey's fans visited her this weekend and the attached picture show her with some of them. Jeff Beck won the race and he is known for his driving abilities in many different venues including the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Well, almost. Dr. Audrey raced in South Haven, MI at the Gingerman Raceway this past April 24th for a SCCA National race. As you can see, it was cold and looks very much like the Alaskan landscape. Only the sled dogs are missing. Dr. Audrey's helmet mask kept fogging over in spite of Rain Ex being applied. She qualified 9th in the group which was about mid-pack. The SCCA officials after assessing the track conditions decided that the conditions were to bad to race so they had 15 minute sessions under the yellow flag. One car was unable to compete so Dr. Audrey moved up to 8th position. This picture is a keeper. The only thing missing is a red scarf flowing backwards and then we could refer to Dr. Audrey as the Red Baroness.

Dr. Audrey joined the Rehagen Race team at Daytona for the Grand Am 200 miler. One of the rules in this series is that you have to change driver's at least once during the race. The driver that qualifies the car has to start the race. This driver qualified the car in 32nd place with a time of 2:10.0. There were 74 entries including the new 2005 Mustangs. The Rehagen Mustang is the previous body style SVT Cobra.

During the first driver stint a Porsche driver cut him off clipping the right fender with a resultant flat tire. He limped around to the pits and the decision was made to change drivers. During this pit stop Dr. Audrey got in the race and was in 55th place and a lap down. This was her first trip to the 3.56 mile combination road course/oval Daytona race track.

Dr. Audrey began clicking off 2:06.7 second consistent laps and had the car in 12th place when the motor quit. The team had miscalculated the fuel mileage by 2 laps. Dr. Audrey got the car started and headed back to the pits. It was decided to put a 3rd driver in the car. The team finished the race in 28th place.

One of the other driver's paid Dr. Audrey a compliment when he came up to her and said, "you are quite a shoe". Translated that means that she is a heck of a driver. Dr. Audrey smiled and in her normal style simply said, "Thank you."

The new Multimatic 2005 Mustangs came in first and second. Quite a showing for a new car right out of the box.

"I just competed in the Grand-Am cup race at VIR.....Boy did it feel TERRIFIC to be back in the car!!! Heck with the pains......you forget all of that as the adrenaline is flowing !!! ;)"

"We had a fairly good weekend...at least for me it was a GREAT weekend until my partner wrecked the car when he ran into our sister car that was spinning on the downhill roller coaster area before the front straight. This was after about lap 6 of the race. So we thought the race was over for us but thanks to Rich's evaluation & persistence, the mechanics did a heck of a job getting parts replaced (which took just under 2 hours to fix---damage included a bent A-frame/frame extension, bent spindle, bent frame extension, etc. )& got me back out for about 25 minutes at the end with about 8-10 minutes being under caution."

"The car was VERY INTERESTING & fun to drive. It had a TERRIBLE oversteer on right hand turns & a bad understeer on left hand turns. I turned a 2:11 even with that going on so I think we could have done very well....,Oh well, at least we didn't finish last. At the re-start my crew chief instructed me to let all of the lead cars go by because I was 4th in line......that was so hard to do but the team wanted to maintain a good reputation of being courteous especially when we really weren't as competitive as we would have liked to have been."

----------------------------

Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 9:23 AM
Dr. Audrey Wins GTS Pro Event

At Mid-Ohio

First Woman to Win A GTS Event! Sets Course Record!

Dr. Audrey captured her first GTS Pro event with a commanding pole to pole win over 18 other drivers at the world famous Mid-Ohio race course. Dr. Audrey took the checkered flag with an unprecedented lead of 53 seconds. Dr. Audrey is the first woman to win races in the GT, GT Pro, and GTS Pro series. Dr. Audrey is also the winner of the inaugural Women's Global GT series.

Dr. Audrey set a course record for the GTS car by turning a lap of 1.33.7 in practice. The previous record was 1.345. This impressive performance was backed up with a pole position in qualifying. Dr. Audrey a race best lap of 1.33.8. This was Dr. Audrey first time in this car in a GTS Pro Race. When asked about these accomplishments Dr. Audrey said, "My crew chief, Joel Grewett along with mechanics 'Ski' and 'John' gave me a great car to drive". "It was a pleasure driving the Quaker State car". "They were attentive to every detail".

GTS racers drive a 5.7 liter Ford Crate motor that is carbureted and delivers 385 horsepower. The Mid-Ohio race course is 2.2 miles in length. The race was 45 minutes.

Throughout the weekend many fans stopped by to meet Dr. Audrey including many from Ford Motor Company.

Grand American Racing Suits Dr. Audrey Just Fine!
>
> Dr. Audrey traveled to Phoenix this past week end to race in a 2.5 hour race at Phoenix International Raceway. This is a part oval, part road race course. There is a mandatory driver change for this race. The race begins at 6PM so there is a combination of day and night driving. Dr. Audrey was part of the Rehagen race team and partnered in a 400hp SVT Cobra with driver Dean Martin.
>
> Dr. Audrey was not able to get much seat time behind the wheel in this car because of several mechanical events. It was determined between the two drivers' that Audrey would take the first turn behind the wheel. The mechanical events also stopped the car from qualifying. Therefore, the car was relegated to the last spot of the 28 car field.
>
> When the green flag was dropped Dr. Audrey was off with good lap of 1.11 seconds. She completed about 60 laps before it was time to change drivers. The majority of Audrey's laps were in the 1.11 second lap range with a fast lap in the 1.10's. This is quite a feat considering that she had never driven a car like this before.
>
> At the end of Audrey's time in the car she had moved the car up to 12th place. However, because the latter portion of her drive was in the dark it became evident that the car did not have its rear tail lights. This repair in the pits cost the team at lease 5 laps and contributed to their final 19th position.
>
> Dr. Audrey said that the "car was quite a ride" and that the Rehagen team made her "feel as part of the team" and "she felt very comfortable with them".
>
> The race will be televised on the Speed channel at noon this Sunday, April 18th.
>
> There is a great shot of Dr. Audrey in the car at http://www.grand-am.com/photo_images/04PHgsrace800-07.jpg
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Audrey raced at Road Atlanta this past weekend. This was the last race of the year for the GT series. Audrey had a great weekend qualifying on the front row. When the green flag dropped she jumped out into the lead. There were 3 other champions in this race and 2 of them were in 2nd and 3rd place trying their best to set Audrey up for a pass. She was equal to the task and kept them behind her. Each lap she put more distance between her and the other cars when the race was put under the full course caution yellow flag. They lined up in single file waiting for the green flag to wave with the pace car keeping the field in check. The pace car pulled off and the green flag waved. The 2nd place driver made a great move to the inside to get around around Audrey. Audrey was equal to the task and put him back in 2nd place as they made the hard right hand turn and headed up the 17 degree hill. Audrey led the next few laps when all of sudden she didn't come around. The reason that she didn't come around was because she was sitting in turn 5 with a collapsed right rear suspension. This happened with 4 laps to go. In spite of this unfortunate happening Audrey left no doubt as to who was the best during this race.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003 1:33 PM
Sebring Results In A Great Comeback!

Audrey arrived in Sebring on Saturday (11-22) for the GT race. These 30 minute races have 2 driver's sharing the same car. On the Friday before the race the series puts on a lapping day for the driver's if they want to come in and practice. Audrey's schedule and budget constraints do not allow her to participate in these events. On Saturday morning they draw for the cars and these are the car's they use to practice, qualify, and race with. Audrey's partner drew car #3. When he pulled the car number, most of the drivers began laughing. We later found out that the reason for their laughter is that no one wanted to drive this car on Friday because it handled so poorly, had sporadic spongy brakes, and had poor acceleration. In fact, they refused to drive it!

During the practices, Audrey consistently turned fast times with this car eventually putting the car in the 2nd spot on the grid. There were 26 drivers and 13 in Audrey's group. However, it was obvious that this car did not have the acceleration. I asked the officials to replace this car and was refused.

When the race started it was obvious that everyone behind Audrey knew the car did not accelerate as they pulled out of formation waiting for the green flag to drop. Sure enough Audrey was in 7th place going in to turn #1 when her car was rammed by another car in the driver's side door. Fortunately, another car hit the wall so hard that the race was halted (black flag). Audrey nursed her car around the track and back into the pits. The mechanics began working on the car. (They pulled the exhaust away from the tire, replaced the tire, and taped the door shut to what was left of the panel.

The race resumed in a single file start with the same result of all the cars going by Audrey on the start. As she got the car going she began picking off cars.

She passed the 7th place car in the straight going into turn #7. This driver decided that he could stay with Audrey and as they went into the right hand 45 degree turn he was on the outside and going faster than his driving ability. He hit Audrey's car in the back end which put her car sideways however, she was still in control. With his car out of control he hit Audrey again driving her off course. The front of his car is damaged. (The rear of Audrey's car is damaged so bad that eventually the whole right rear side of the car tears off.) Audrey is now in last place. She has a car minus the aerodynamics, with spongy brakes, and poor acceleration.

Audrey mounts a charge that has her roaring through field. (Remember that this is a 30 minute race with just over 15 minutes left to go) At the end of the race Audrey is challenging for 3rd place. As a matter of fact it was a photo finish. Audrey ended up in 4th place........or so we thought. To our surprise, when the results came out, she was in 5th place. When we asked about this, the officials said that Audrey had "disadvantaged" the driver that she had passed in turn #7. Hmmm, this is not in the rule book and Audrey was hit in the back of her car and the other car had front end damage. Audrey had passed and by rule, turn #7 was her turn. There was no hearing. No driver input. (I'll let you be the judge on this one.)

After the race, the other driver's and fans came over to look at what was left of Audrey's car. More amazingly, an inch or more was missing from the rim where the tire bead sits. How did the tire not leak air? How did she drive a car to such a great finish with so much of the car missing.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003 4:43 PM

ROAD ATLANTA, (Braselton, GA, November 5, 2003) -- Gavin Riches of Ft. Myers, Florida, and David Barr of Duluth, Georgia today were officially declared season champions in their respective classes for the 2003 Panoz GT Pro Series, based on results certified by the International Motor Sports Association.

Runner up in the GT class was Eddie Mady of Boca Raton, Florida, and third was Audrey Zavodsky of New Boston, Michigan.

In the GTS class of privately owned cars, second place went to Wes Ramsdale of Long Grove, Illinois. Third place went to Shayne Stephens of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Though Riches, two-time champ, won by a 14-point margin over perennial rival Mady, going into the final race of the season at Petit Le Mans on October 18, Riches had been trailing Mady in the series by two points. With two laps to go in the final race, Mady’s car was involved in a mishap on the back turns, and he was unable to finish.

By successfully capturing the pole for the final race, Barr made it mathematically impossible for anyone to overtake him, regardless of the outcome of the GTS event. That turned out to be the case when Barr’s Viper crashed in another series the day prior to the Panoz GT Pro Series race, injuring Barr’s back sufficiently to put him out of competition.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003 4:42 PM

Audrey's first visit to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) resulted in a 3rd place and podium finish. However, it did not come easy. Audrey qualified in the first qualifier in 2nd place. However, in the second qualifier a car spun in front of her leaving her no room to avoid contact. The incident resulted in Audrey having to use a back up car. This car proved to be at least 6 mph slower than her first car in the straight parts of the course. There are 3 straights contained in the 3.2 mile 22 turn course. Audrey had to drive the daylights out of the car to keep the 1st and 2nd place finishers within several car lengths. Nevertheless, she did and was rewarded with a 3rd place finish. Nick Johnson, a driver who has campaigned in the Champ and American Le Mans series amongst others complimented her on one finest drives that he has seen.

Audrey was invited by the Visteon Milan plant to participate in the Relay for Life project. This is an event in Milan, Michigan that is used to raise funds to defeat cancer. Audrey appeared from 10AM to 2PM, signing autographs, intermingling with the participants, and enjoying the wonderful Milan employees who worked very hard to put this event together. The event was so engaging than Audrey stayed way past her 2PM time slot to accommodate the many employees who were working on this day, their friends, and visitors

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday, September 09, 2003 2:24 PM
Exclusive 4-Day Race Course is a Success!

As one course participant said, "I can't believe she prepared slides for us". This comment was echoed by the participants as they were impressed with the professional approach that was brought to them by the approachable, easy to talk to, Visteon sponsored driver. Success breeds success and more of these events are being planned for the future.

Visteon Race Driver Accepts the Heavy Equipment Challenge

While at the Bob Bondurant school, Audrey was challenged to drive the heavy equipment that was being used in construction nearby. The operators of the equipment were surprised when Audrey accepted the challenge and climbed up on a large earth mover and promptly drove away with it. When she came back with the vehicle she arrived with a smile and a wave. However, the operators of the equipment wanted her to try the back hoe. After a few minutes of instruction Audrey was scooping up dirt and moving it. The operators of the equipment said that this was the first time a race driver had accepted their challenge to drive this equipment. Who knows, this could be job security.

Practice Session Turns Into a Race Situation

Audrey was to have a practice session this past Saturday at the Bondurant school race track. There were to be only 2 cars on the track. Word travels fast and other drivers showed up. One young driver in particular who drives regularly at this track and considers himself fast, waited for Audrey to come around after he had warmed up the tires on his race car. After she passed him he tried to catch her and couldn't. He then tried to stay with her with the net result that he ended up in several off road excursions. He finally called it a day and parked his race car. As he was walking away he was heard to say, "I can't believe that I was beat by a girl!"

Audrey raced in Mosport, Canada this weekend. She survived her vehicle being broken in to, the power outage, and a race with no top end power.

In the practice sessions, Audrey's times were getting close to record times when the she brought the car in to say that it was hesitating when she upshifted from 3rd to 4th. Before the first qualifier, they took the plugs out of the engine and found that at least one of the plug tips had fused itself to the base of the plug. (zero gap). They changed all of the plugs and the CMS sensors and Audrey left to start her second qualifier. At this point she had qualified second with a 1.337. After this session, the car's performance got worse. The fastest lap that she could turn was a 1.338. These times hurt because she was on target to get into the 1.32 range. This session left her in 7th position on the grid.

After the session, they changed the fuel filter and fuel pump. However, we requested a different car because I was not satisfied that this was the root cause. The chief mechanic replied that he thought the car was fixed. I protested to no avail.

True to what I thought, the car was worse in the race. However, Audrey drove the car magnificently reminding me of the legendary Jimmy Clark's performance in an English Ford. She knew that she had to late brake in the turns ending up with the car pointing in the direction that she wanted to go and did power slides to accomplish this. This strategy worked as she lowered her times to 1.30 on at least one occasion. However, with no straightaway speed the distance that she would gather coming out of the turns was negated in the 3 long straights at Mosport by the competition. However, she was able to finish in 5th position and 5th overall.

As a reminder, Audrey will be hosting a race school in Phoenix at the Bondurant complex September 2nd through 5th. If you can make it please call 1-800-842-RACE to book yourself and ask for Lee Siltala.

Monday, June 30, 2003 10:52 AM

Audrey raced at Road Atlanta this past weekend. This was a Pro-GT event in conjunction with the American Le Mans event. The weekend started out great with Audrey being the fastest driver on the circuit. However, her times slowly went the wrong direction. Finally, after the last qualifier, we requested that the car be examined because of the lap time getting slower. This was her second request.

The request was finally followed through on at 10:00PM. However, there were not any back up cars left. This left Audrey to drive a car that was put together but lacked a rpm gauge. This is like sending a runner out to race with the laces missing in one of their shoes. The driver cannot find consistency because of not being able to find the power range and stay in the power range.

In spite of this, Audrey pulled off a great start and went from 5th and 9th overall to 2nd and 4th overall. However, without the rpm gauge, consistency was not there and she slowly slipped back to a 5th place and 7th overall finish.

Audrey was actually getting the 'feel' of the car towards the end and was challenging the driver's in front of her when the race ended. It was an excellent finish considering it was a different car to get used to and this had to happen during the race and with no rpm gauge.

Monday, March 31, 2003 1:31 PM

Audrey was busy as a bee at her job when she received an offer to drive a Panoz GTS in the Road Atlanta SCCA National race this past weekend. The offer was very good and that put a plan into effect to get there. It was important to get at least some time in the car for her to get used to it and to set up the chassis. The best flight that she could line up was one which would get her to the track at about 3PM. Time enough for one 20 minute session. It proved to be valuable as this vehicle needed its chassis tuned in.

Without going into further detail Audrey qualified the car in 13th position in a 48 car field. To give you an idea of how much her car was giving up in horsepower is this fact. Most of the cars in her class were running 650 horsepower plus to her 385 horsepower. AND, Paul Newman had a Camaro in the lineup so you know the competition wasn't shoddy.

The race was 18 laps which took about 27 minutes to complete. On the way to the finish Audrey lapped 24 cars to give you an idea of the traffic on the track. The track is 2.54 miles long with 12 turns and several elevation changes. Audrey brought the car home 8th in class and in 9th place overall. A super finish that might have been better. Let's get it from the driver herself. Audrey said that on the 4th lap a car in front of her dropped a large steel object off and on to the track that she couldn't avoid hitting, so (in her words) "I was very cautious the rest of the race because I didn't know what damage it had done to the car".

Now for those of you that are Paul Newman fans he finished second to a Ford Mustang driven by Tim Cowen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, March 18, 2003 11:46 AM
Success at Sebring!

Audrey arrived at the Sebring race course on Wednesday to practice for Saturday's race. The morning practice went well. The afternoon practice time showed Audrey's time .2 of a second slower than her morning times. This occurred while her competitor's times improved. This resulted in a consultation with race officials and mechanics to determine what should be done given this scenario. The race official decided to give Audrey a different car.

In the next day's first 20 minute qualifying session, Audrey came into the pits twice for a total of 13 minutes to fix a rear deck that would not stay attached to the car. When she went out the last time there was about enough time for one lap. However, it was good enough to move her into 3^rd place on the grid.

In the second and final 20 minute session Audrey's times continued to improve until she had moved to second place on the grid and less than a thousandths of a second behind the pole sitter.

There were about 130,000 fans in attendance on Sunday for the American Le Mans 12 hour race. They didn't expect to see the Pro GT event that took place as a support race. The Pro GT racers came from Italy, Mexico, Wyoming, Canada, Florida, and other states to be in this race. These racers didn't disappoint the fans that came to see a good race. As the green flag dropped, they went 4 wide into turn one. A driver from the second row commented that his "heart was in his throat" as he went in with a late braking maneuver that allowed him to take over first place with Audrey in hot pursuit.

This driver made a mistake on lap 2 and it was enough for Audrey to slip through. Audrey kept going at a consistent, fast pace to pull away to an 8 second plus lead when 2 racers back in the pack collided and brought out the yellow with about 2 /3 rds of the race complete. This allowed the cars to bunch up in single file behind Audrey. When the track was cleared there was enough time to complete 4 laps.

When the green flag dropped, Audrey fought off the challengers and had a 2 second lead when the checkered flag was given. The second place driver said, "Audrey was steady and didn't make a mistake but, she took full advantage of ours".

On the podium, Audrey thanked Visteon for making this possible with their sponsorship, God, her fellow racers who raced with her hard and clean, the mechanics, the administrators and officials, her Coaches (Espenlaub and Sallaway), the Visteon employee (Joe Van Hoey) who came to the race to be with Audrey this weekend and to write an article about the experience, and many others. This led the ALMS announcer to comment when she was done to "please vote for Audrey".

Interestingly, many people heard her name announced over the PA system as the race progressed and joined her after she came down from the podium. One was a SRF racer that competes with her in the SCCA and he said to her, "no wonder I can't catch you", another former Visteon employee working in Florida said, "an absolutely great race". Indeed it was a great race and Audrey later said, "I think that this race was the longest race that I've ever been in"; "thanks to Eddy and Gavin for racing hard and clean"; and "I appreciate Joey spending the time with me and taking the message back to the Visteon employees".

Check out: http://www.panozracingseries.com/News2003-7.shtml

(Several newspapers covered this win, Tampa Tribune, Free Press, etc.)

Audrey raced in the Panoz GT series at Sebring, Florida this past Friday. Sebring is a 4 mile, 17 turn track. Audrey took the pole by approximately 1.4 seconds ahead of 19 other drivers. There were several observer/coaches in attendance including a driver who had been with the Jackie Stewart F1 team. Each of them were very complimentary of Audrey's style of driving.

As the race started, Audrey had a very good start. However, a car in the second row had an even better start and passed Audrey on the inside of turn #1. Audrey stayed on the back of the new leader. As they approached turn #7 Audrey was glued to the back of the leader as they flew down the straight in to turn #8, then #9, with Audrey making her move in turn #10. Both drivers did an excellent job of a voiding contact while fighting for the lead. Audrey came out ahead with the former leader in hot pursuit. By the time they got to turn #16, Audrey had about a 5 car length lead. The second place driver tried a late braking maneuver to get back the lead. This attempt resulted in his vehicle going into a spin. Audrey was now in the lead by 10 car lengths. She began to pull away from the field and when the checkered flag dropped, she had pulled a 25 second win.

Audrey was greeted in the pits by her mechanic, Steve White, other mechanics, and others, as they realized that they had just witnessed an excellent drive by Audrey as well as the first time a woman driver had won a race at Sebring.

The second place driver when commenting on his attempt to regain the lead in turn #17 said that he knew that if he "didn't get her there, he wasn't going to catch her". A very nice compliment from a competitor.

Audrey was coming through turns #3, #4, and #5 with such speed that one of the observers wondered if her throttle was stuck. Audrey assured him that was not the case.

Monday, December 09, 2002 3:59 PM

Audrey had her final GT race at Road Atlanta this past weekend. She had a
17 point lead going into this weekend and wanted to hold onto 2nd place.
So, her first goal was to finish the race. The second goal was to shoot
for the podium. Audrey had a great qualifying time which placed her third
on the grid. The group that she was in included the European Alfa Romeo
champion from Holland, a driver from Mexico City, and many others from
other parts of the U.S.A.

As the green flag dropped to start the race, Audrey's car bogged down
momentarily which allowed the 4th place driver to pass her going up the
hill into turn 1.   Audrey had enough speed to where she held off the
other drivers until she could get the car back up to speed. The rest of
the race had Audrey making a run at the 3rd place driver several times.
However, to get a DNF would be unacceptable in terms of the race goals.
So, each time she had to back out of the run to keep the other cars behind
her and maintain her momentum. At the end of the race she was less than 5
car lengths behind the 3rd place driver. However, 2nd place was secured
in the series which had 50 drivers participating throughout the year.

At the banquet it was announced that Audrey had achieved the following:

* 3rd place in the Pro GT series for the year
* 2nd place in the GT series for the year
* 2nd place in the combined series points

There were also some very nice comments about Audrey by the emcees' of the
event about Audrey. They complimented her for her ability to win and
compete in the series in a very professional manner. They had some very
nice things to say about her interactions with other drivers by bringing
them pictures that she had taken and had developed, etc. as well as her
graciousness on the podium or when she was not.

During the race weekend several notable individuals sought Audrey out to
say 'hello' and wish her luck. They included Dick Barbour (race car
owner), Don Panoz, Danny Panoz, and a newspaper editor.   These visits
were unexpected and a pleasant surprise to Audrey.

On Saturday, Audrey had dinner at a restaurant called Raffaellos which is
near the race track. When she walked in there was her Visteon hero card
proudly displayed by the owner of the restaurant. Audrey asked to see the
owner and thanked the him and his employees for being such great
supporters. It is this showing of support for Audrey and her
accomplishments that as Audrey says, "put a very nice perspective on what
I am doing".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, November 11, 2002 9:50 AM

The setting was Sebring, Florida. The timing was this past Friday and
Saturday. The event was the Panoz GT series. The drivers' converged on
this small town in Florida from Puerto Rico, Australia, Quebec, Wyoming,
Wisconsin and more. Most of them, if not all were able to take advantage
of the 2 extra lapping days on Wednesday and Thursday. Audrey did
not have the luxury of these lapping days due to work and budget
constraints.

The lapping days gave the other drivers' quite an advantage. This was
evident during the Friday AM practice times. It also made very clear
that Audrey had her work cut out for her as she was the 7th fastest out of
25 plus drivers. The second session was about the same as was the 3rd 20
minute practice session. However, during the last practice session things
began to look a bit brighter as Audrey posted the 3rd fastest time. The
question now was were the other drivers slowing down to conserve their
cars?

It was announced at the driver's meeting the next morning that their would
only be 1 qualifying session. So, this was a one time chance to place
yourself on the grid in a good starting position. It was also announced
that because of the large amount of drivers that showed up, they would be
broken up into 3 groups.

The qualifying session ended up with the biggest surprise for everyone
including Audrey. She has won the pole position! When this was made
official the conversation along pit row made it obvious that many of these
drivers had come in to race against Audrey. Overheard were statements
similar to, "she is every bit as fast as they said she was" and "she must
have been sandbagging yesterday."

The race started with the Audrey and the #2 qualifier going at it from the
green flag. Audrey had the lead going into turn 7. However, the second
place driver had a great run off of 5 which sets up the speed to go into
turn 7. Audrey and he went into the 45 degree turn side by side and under
full power. They came out screaming toward turn 8 with the second place
driver having gotten his car in front of Audrey. They battled through the
next turns up until turn 17. It was at this point that Audrey was
"bumped" from the rear and she had to concentrate on not losing the
control of her car that allowed the first place driver to pull away.
Audrey was able to control her car and begin to put some distance between
her and the third place driver during the following laps. However, the
first place driver was through turn #1 when Audrey was at the start/finish
line. She had her work cut out for her.

t was during the 8th lap that Audrey began pulling away from the 3rd
place driver and slowly closing the distance on the first place driver.
This continued on until the last lap. At the checkered flag Audrey had
gotten within 20 car lengths of the first place driver. After the race,
the first place driver came to her and congratulated Audrey on a "clean"
race and said that just when he thought he had gotten away "there was
Audrey back in his mirror". The 3rd place driver said later that he broke
off the pace because he said "that if he kept up at that pace he would
have killed himself". Well, we certainly don't want that.

Audrey wore her Visteon drivers suit proudly to the podium for the picture
taking and celebration afterward. Many drivers came over to her afterward
and said that it was a pleasure racing with her this past weekend, wished
her well, and said "that she was every bit as good as they had heard".

As an aside, on the flight to Sebring, there was an employee from Roush
Racing that recognized Audrey and asked her for an autographed Visteon
hero card. This resulted in a mini autograph session that made the plane
trip very short. Even more interesting is that because of the late hour
that she was arriving in Florida she stopped at a Burger King along the
way. As she was leaving, the manager waved her down and said that one of
his employee's had several pictures of Audrey at home and would like a
signed something from Audrey. Audrey obliged with a Visteon hero card.
Afterwards, Audrey said that she was "absolutely humbled by this event."
The manager also asked for a signed Visteon hero card for his Burger King.

Audrey stayed at Inn on the Lakes. She had breakfast at the hotel. On
the day that she left, a waitress came to the table and shyly asked if she
was the woman race driver that she heard was staying there. Audrey said
that she was a race driver and that she was staying there. This resulted
in a small list from all of the hotel employees for autographs. Thank God
for the Visteon hero cards.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday, October 18, 2002 8:49 AM

Audrey had the points lead in the American Le Mans Panes Pro GT going into this past weekend. Unfortunately, the car that she was driving wasn't up for the task. As the in-car video would later show, she was a real trooper in being able to keep the car on the track to the end.

The car's rate of acceleration was not as fast as the other cars. In spite of that fact, Audrey brought the car up to 6^th place from 14^th place when the transmission decided that neutral was all it was going to allow on about the 3^rd lap. Audrey managed to get the car to the pits and the mechanic grabbed the lever and 'jammed' the transmission in to a gear.

Audrey restarted the car and took off. However, the transmission did not want to stay in gear or shift smoothly. The effect of this is that you are hurtling at a turn at over 100 mph and suddenly the car jumps out of gear or will not allow you to shift. So, many turns were executed with the clutch in. Audrey finished the race 2 laps down and with 5 other competitors behind her. Unfortunately, she didn't get any points for her finish while her 2 competitors did and she fell to 3^rd place in the series. She was somehow able to record one of the fastest mph laps which was 136 mph.

The crowd was in the 70 to 80 thousand range or more. The place was loaded with people. The atmosphere was exciting. It was a pleasant surprise that as Audrey walked around the course, fans would approach her and say 'hello' and that they had come from this place or that state to watch her race. They asked her for a photograph, a Visteon hero card, shook her hand, and wished her 'luck'. Indeed, Audrey said "it was most humbling and gratifying to see this response from the fans". These fans are indicative of the large crowds that the series has attracted. In Sebring, Florida the attendance was over 110,000.

We stayed at the Comfort Inn for the race. The manager of the hotel found out that Audrey was staying at this hotel and requested a Visteon Hero Card from Audrey to display in his lobby. Audrey accommodated him with a card that is now proudly displayed in their lobby.

Audrey had several firsts with this season's Pro GT series. She was the first woman to lead a series where the racing field was open to men and women and the first woman to be on stage and earn a trophy in the post-season celebration.

This post-season celebration was an event to behold. It is a 'black tie' event. It had all the ingredients of the parties that most of us dream about. It was most gratifying to be invited to this event. Audrey looked radiant and professional as she accepted her trophy and was congratulated by many of those present

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2002 9:45 AM

Audrey was invited to test drive a new spec Mustang powered by a 4.6L 4V
at the Waterford Hills race track in Michigan. When Audrey arrived she
was greeted by Mr. Scott Hoag and others who asked her to 'shake down' the
car and give them feedback. Audrey proceeded to do just that while
getting everyone's attention with some best laps in the 1.22" and 1.23"
range. The car performed flawlessly and Audrey told Mr. Hoag that "the
car was great!".

Audrey was similarly invited to drive a Mustang Cobra at the Bondurant
track in Phoenix, Arizona. The Bondurant school is preparing several
Mustangs that are lighter in weight to use in an advanced class for
driver's who are seriously involved in the sport. She proceeded to drive
this car with several others that were present and recorded lap times that
were a full second faster than the next driver's times.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 7:39 AM

Audrey was at Mid Ohio this w.e. for a National SCCA race. Drivers came from Texas, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Wisconsin and other states to compete. Audrey qualified 8th out of a field of 26.

At the start of the race Audrey was forced back to 11th position due to her line of cars having a poor start. She qualified with a 1.445 to the pole sitters 1.433. As the race progressed Audrey was able to regain her starting position and was on the back of the 7th place car when the race ended. Interestingly, she turned two laps at 1.437 during the race. I believe the fastest laps that the leaders were turning were 1.435.

Audrey also received a very nice letter from Jim Lewis (President of UAW Local 1111 in Indianapolis). This letter concerned the very successful Ford Fan Day held at Indy Raceway Park not to long ago and Audrey signing autographs with the plant personnel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 12:34 PM

Audrey was invited by Campbell and Company to sign her Visteon Hero cards at the Ford Fan Day held in front of Comerica park. In approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes Audrey signed just over 150 autographs. She was also asked to sign NASCAR jackets, t-shirts, Frisbees, and more. Audrey had to cut this session short because she had to be in Mosport, Canada for the GT Pro race with the American Le Mans.

Audrey had Panoz car #9 for this event. This was the first time that the cars were going to use Pirelli slicks on the race car. So, this meant that there had to be a learning curve for all of the drivers. Also, this race featured some new drivers from the GT, Outlaw, Mazda, and other series. These drivers wanted to race against Audrey because they had heard that she was a good "shoe".

There were 2 practice sessions (25 minutes per session) on Friday with one of the sessions in the rain. On Saturday there were 2 qualifying sessions of the same length. In the first session Audrey held down the 6th position. After the 2nd session, she moved up to fourth. These session were combined with the bigger engine GTS cars.

Audrey had a very good start and secured the 3rd position. There was a GTS car at the front followed by the GT cars. The next 10 laps saw the 4th place car try everything possible to unnerve Audrey. He was on the left side, right side, late braking and an attempted pass in which there was contact that resulted in a 'black flag' warning for his efforts. Audrey kept her position with her vision concentrated on the front 2 drivers. Finally, there was contact between them putting the 2nd place GT out of the race with a broken left front spindle. This left Audrey with the task of trying to overtake the faster GTS car. When the checkered flag came down, Audrey had finished 2nd overall and 1st in the GT Pro class.

When Audrey exited the car just past turn 10, the fans raised to their feet to cheer Audrey for a very hotly contested victory. The people and media that came up to her after the race was endearing. Audrey thanked Visteon for their sponsorship and for making this possible, her mechanic, all of the Canadian fans for their support, the media, administration, God, officials and more for their support and encouragement.

This was also the first time that woman had won the Pro GT class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, July 23 2002 9:49 AM

Audrey participated in the Ford Product and Review event at MPG. This was a 5 day event that demonstrated that Ford vehicles have better ride and handling characteristics that the competition. Audrey worked the Vehicle Dynamics wet and dry events as well as spending a day with Jackie Stewart, the retired Formula One race car driver.

We were amazed at how many news people recognized Audrey. Many of them requested that she take them for a drive on one of the courses. Unfortunately, she could only accommodate a few of them because of the time constraints. Some of the reporters amazed her with what they knew about her racing accomplishments.

This past weekend Audrey raced at Nelson Ledges in Ohio. This was her first visit to the track. When we arrived our mechanic said that he would be happy if she could get the car into the 1.16 second range.

The motor was new and is a sealed motor from the SCCA. It was installed just before the car was brought to Nelson Ledges. The mechanic (Phil) did not have time to get it to the dyno. So, out Audrey went in practice and got the car down into the 1:17 range. In qualifying she dropped the time to 1:16 seconds and the pole sitter had a 1:158.

On Sunday, there was a 20 minute hardship time period. Audrey went out and was staying in the 1:17 range when she came into the pit for some chassis adjustments. She went out and blasted a 1:158 time to match the pole sitter. Truly an amazing time for never having raced on this track before

At the start of the race Audrey made an inside move that was blocked by one of the drivers in front of her. This pushed her back to 9th place. Audrey continued to go after the leaders when her rear brakes began locking up at lap 6. This continued until about lap 17 of the 23 lap race. While this was going on she somehow moved up to 6th place. She was dogged during this time until the end of the race with a very competitive rookie. The racing between them was something to watch as both drivers did an amazing job of avoiding contact while racing to win. Audrey managed to hold on to 6th and began closing in on 5th after the brakes on her race car stopped locking up during the last few laps of the race.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday, June 18, 2002 9:36 AM

Audrey raced at Road Atlanta this weekend in the Panoz GT series. Audrey started out the weekend in a car that had some great lap times however, the clutch went. The replacement car was new and needed to be tuned in.

Audrey qualified 5th in class and 10 overall. She finished 4th in class and 7th overall.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 2:38 PM

Audrey made the trek to Mosport, Canada for the Panoz GT race. The weather was great with temperatures in the low 80's. Saturday was practice day and Audrey had some great times and was the first driver to get the Panoz car in the 1:36/lap range. Previously, 1:370 was the fastest lap also set by Audrey.

Qualifying was Sunday. During the first qualifying session the best time that Audrey could get was a 1:374 lap. One of her competitors turned a 1.369 lap making him the second driver to break the 1:37 second lap threshold. The conditions for this morning's session were excellent with the sun being out and temperatures in the low 70's.

The afternoon session was hot with temperatures in the 80's. Audrey went out and came in after 4 laps to cool her tires and check her lap times. She had a 1:373 best lap out of the four. While she was in the pits, another mechanic came over because he thought that he heard a strange noise coming from the engine compartment. They took off the bonnet and couldn't find the source of the noise. They told Audrey to pull the car behind the pit wall. Once the car was there, the mechanics changed this and that and finally the noise went away. There was about 4 minutes left in the session when they gave Audrey the "go" signal. She came out of the pits and in less than perfect conditions ripped off a 1:366 second lap time putting her on the pole. This was also the fastest time ever recorded for a Panoz GT car on this track.

Audrey had a smooth start at the start of the race and led going into turn one. Audrey continued to steadily pull away and at the checkered flag she had a lead of over 20 seconds on the second place car.

Audrey's weekend turned out extremely well with a pole, fastest lap, and a win.

Audrey gave out and autographed many Visteon hero cards to the many visitors who where there as well as track workers and fellow drivers. It was interesting hearing the many comments from the folks around the pit about the "driver who competes very well with her counterparts". Audrey's fellow drivers were also very complimentary of her driving skills. The driver's came from a wide variety of states that included New York, Minnesota, Florida, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 12:27 PM

June 1st and 2nd.

Audrey went to the Mid-Ohio race track with the intention of racing. Unfortunately, the car did not cooperate. It was down on power by about 25%. Nevertheless, Audrey qualified 9th and 17th overall out of 45 cars. However, once the green flag was dropped it became an exercise of going in and out of the pits as the mechanic changed components to try to correct this malady.

The positive side of this experience is that Audrey met Bob Ashbrook who is the local County Commissioner. He asked for her autograph. We were at Facioli's at the time and this triggered several more requests for her Visteon hero card.

During the week, the car was put on the dyno and the problem was finally found. The problem was a spark plug that had chip missing in the porcelain near the firing tip.

June7th.

Audrey decided to test the car for half a day at Grattan race course in Grand Rapids. Things appeared to be going well with her times getting into the mid 1.28 range. This is extremely fast for this course and she was clipping them off when a big puff a white smoke came out of the engine. This was later diagnosed as a blown head gasket. Because these motors are rebuilt and sealed by the SCCA repairs cannot be made to them. So, that was her weekend.

This was a newly rebuilt motor that we had just purchased from the SCCA. It had one race and one practice day plus dyno time on it. Needless to say, this motor should not have a head gasket leak. What makes this extremely aggravating was the fact that her lap times were faster than perennial champion Tom Van Camp's time of 1.29 and would have set the tone for a great race and qualifying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Monday, May 06, 2002 1:16 PM

Audrey was at Lessenger Middle School on May 3rd for their Career Day. She spoke to 3 sessions of children that were very interested in her being there. After each session, they would extemporaneously come up to her to autograph various items before heading to their next class. The hospitality of the staff was appreciated.

Audrey then flew Friday evening to Atlanta for a Panoz GT race. She arrived in Atlanta several hours late because the flight that she was on was held on the Tarmac for a severe weather pattern that was moving through Atlanta.

On Sunday, she qualified 3rd in class and 9th overall. The two classes of cars are Panoz GTS and Panoz GT race cars. There were 24 cars at the start of the race.

At the start of the race, Audrey's car lost power when she shifted gears. Fortunately, she was not drilled from behind. However, the car did refire as she was headed up to turn #2. Over 5 cars took advantage of this situation. Audrey passed at least 1 car on the way back to the start finish line and then there was a full course black flag. The cars came into the pits. The car(s) that Audrey had passed were put back in front her as per rule. She was now in 14th place.

On the restart, Audrey picked the cars off one by one until she and the leader were pulling away from the pack. At this point, with 4 minutes, left in the race it was again black flagged and everyone was ordered into the pits. This left 2 laps of racing.

On the restart, Audrey and the lead car were off and running. Audrey stayed behind the leader until the second lap and made her move in turn #6. She passed the leader, however, he came back roaring and in turn #7 tried a successful maneuver to get the lead back which forced Audrey to either make contact with him or go 4 wheels off of the track. Audrey took the second option. She kept the car moving, however, the 3rd place car passed her. She caught him in 10A and couldn't find the room to go around him without taking him out. the noses of their cars went across the start/finish line .209 ths of a second apart.

The weekend ended with a successful podium finish and left those at the track talking about the last lap attempt for first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 10:09 AM

Audrey raced her SRF at the Gingerman raceway this w.e.

Audrey practiced a half day on Friday. The car had a new transmission and motor in it. She got on track twice in the afternoon and turned a very fast 1:338 lap. It was 45 degrees and sunny.

On Saturday, when it came time to qualify, it was pouring rain. This would be Audrey's first time driving this car in a down pour. Out of 17 cars she qualified 8th.

On Sunday, it was a cool 42 degrees and raining right up to the time for Audrey's group to race. The race began with a melee in turn #1 when car #2 spun in front of everyone. Audrey was tapped in the rear causing her car to spin onto the wet soggy grass. She kept the motor running and kept the car moving to get back on track in 17th place. The race was cut short to 30 minutes because of conditions. Audrey was able to steadily move up to 6th position and was on the last lap going into the last turn when the #2 car rammed her car in the back end twice causing Audrey to spin onto the wet soggy grass again. She kept the motor running and it struggled to get traction and get back on the track. Audrey finally got the car across the finish line for an eighth place finish.

When all conditions are considered, this was a very good weekend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

dwdracing.com

For Immediate Release