Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival - Aug. 20

Shirley Muldowney is returning to the race track.

Well, sort of.  On September 6, Bristol Dragway will prepare for the invasion of "Big Daddy," "Cha Cha," "Trouble Maker," "Hit Man" and the "Auburn Weed Killer Special." No, they don't have mafia connections, but they did reign supreme during the age of The Godfather.

The Blast from the Past presented by RAM Motor Company will provide fans a rare opportunity to get up close to drag racing the way it was more than 30 years ago. Classic drag racing machines will be on hand to make exhibition runs and thrill the crowd with their daring passes down the equally-historic Bristol Dragway.

Race fans even may cross paths with Mr. Drag Racing himself, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, who will bring one of his famous "Swamp Rats" for everyone to see.

Not to be outdone by Bid Daddy, Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney also will return to Thunder Valley to relive the glory days of drag racing.

Tiffany Daniels leaves the asphalt this weekend. She has entered the Best In The Desert Series “Vegas to Reno” Off-Road event August 21st – 23rd with Glacier Bear Racing.

The event, billed as the “longest off-road race in the United States,” enters its 12th year in existence and features Cars, Trucks, UTVs, Quads and Motorcycles racing a 457.5 mile course, featuring some of the toughest and most varied terrain in the world.  Over 300 entries are expected, including Tiffany, who will drive Jerry Moskel’s Ford F-250 in her first off-road race.

“The team owner is located in Mooresville (North Carolina).  He contacted me in December about the race,” said Tiffany.  “I didn’t know anything about off-road racing, but he asked me if I would like to drive and, of course, I said yes.  I couldn’t believe this opportunity had just popped up out of the blue. We just went from there to talk about everything from the race event to the truck and what is involved in running in this type of race.”

Rush Racing's Angelle Sampey made it to the final round of an NHRA Pro Motorcycle race for the second consecutive week and is peaking just in time for the upcoming U.S Nationals.

"The team did fantastic," said Angelle. "Everybody worked together so well, everybody did their jobs, everything just worked. I really think that us learning each other and me learning the bike and what it takes to be a championship contending team has come together for us."






Dalton Halden, from Columbia Falls, is one of six female drivers who race at Raceway Park’s high bank super oval track. Driving in the Bandolero division, the 11-year-old speedster is third in the point standings after falling out of the top spot a couple of weeks ago. Her immediate goal is to climb back into first place. Her eventual goal is a bit larger.

“I’m going to be in NASCAR,” Halden said.

Katie Pilsch is a bubbly teenager, but she’s all business when she’s in her racecar. Driving 60 mph only inches away from other cars going the same speed requires such focus. Halden displays a similar level of concentration seemingly beyond her age when she hits a sharp turn at 50 mph, fishtails slightly and maintains control of her car.

“Beating guys is fun,” Pilsch, who goes to Glacier High School, said. “My first year I was shaking until I got on the track. Then I was just thinking about the car in front of me and the car behind me.”

Need a midget?

Please see this note from Brea Lopez: I have my whole Midget racing operation for sale. I would like to move up to late models next season. We are most likely going to finish out the season with a race in Ephrata, Shasta, and South Sound in the next couple of months. I will keep you updated!

I've had a fantastic career in midgets and I've gained an extreme amount of expirence, but my team and I feel it is time to move forward. The late model will give us a chance to do so. With the cost increase and the deflating economy, this will be a better decision for us financially. Also, this will put me on track toward the direction of racing I want to go. It has also always been a dream of mine as far back as I can remember to follow in my grandfathers footsteps, so this is a very exciting time for me.

Contact Brea at: brea_lopez@yahoo.com

Ask Patty's Female Friendly Blog Carnival: August 20, 2008

Welcome to the AskPatty Blog Carnival, where we provide a refreshing assortment of female friendly news and interesting automotive tidbits from around the blogosphere. Whether it's informative stories about eco-friendly people and cars, adventures and roadtrips, exciting reports about women in the automotive industry, or female friendly car reviews, we've got something here for everyone. Have you got something to share? Email Ask Patty at info@askpatty.com or use the form at the end to include your own blog bits in next week's carnival!


While the wage gap between men and women in the United States has narrowed, that doesn't mean the ladies get fair pay in today's workplace. According to an article at Yahoo!news,  a new study suggests the narrowing is the result of more capable women entering the workforce. Researcher Yona Rubinstein, an economist at Brown University in Rhode Island, is quoted in the article, saying "While there may be more women holding high-power positions today, they are still being paid as their counterparts were three decades ago."

The ZenBagLady says she “hasn’t seen a decent sunset since the last time I was in Minnesota. Here on the prairie, you watch it slowly sink into the western sky like a pancake absorbs thick syrup. As I watched the long lazy sunset while driving north on Hwy. 10 between Big Lake and St. Cloud in my rented Dodge Caliber, I knew I’d made the right decision to leave my work unwritten and head up to the lake.”

Ralph Bernstein at Productivity Press described a recent high-level automotive conference in which Toyota's Steve St. Angelo rattled off the family-oriented benefits that the company's manufacturing arm offers its employees, saying he certainly captured the attention of most of the attendees. By offering such benefits as child care, Toyota does more than build cars, they nurture its human assets.

If you enjoy a good roadtrip, you’ll enjoy the blog entries of this father and son duo describing their exciting adventures to magnificent locations. Throughout the expeditions, the team explores the cultural diversity that makes each adventure unique. This story describes a solo nighttime driving adventure through the high country of the Olympic National Forest, accompanied only by Hula Betty -- she is after all stuck to the dash!

Mac Demere at autoMedia.com says you needn’t be a member of Mensa to know that the best deals in used cars right now are vehicles that get poor fuel mileage.  He optimistically predicts that gas prices “will drop below $3 a gallon in the near future. If that’s true, the value of these cars will rocket back up to their previous prices.” Saying you can buy a lot of gas with a good deal, this article lists 10 used cars that are big in size, but big in value.

Using owner cost estimates, Consumer Reports recently evaluated the actual cost of owning a hybrid over time.   Of the seven hybrids they recently tested, they found that three -- the Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry Hybrid, and Honda Civic Hybrid -- save owners money compared with their all-gas alternatives, while others depend on tax breaks to break even.

The 2009 Honda FCX Clarity doesn’t have an engine. It doesn’t use gasoline, diesel, or biofuel. Its emissions are only water vapor and oxygen. It gets the equivalent of about 80 miles per gallon gasoline and is almost completely silent. The FCX Clarity uses a hydrogen-fed fuel cell to create electricity. Lithium-ion batteries store the energy. Three electric motors use that energy to move it down the road. Fuel range is 280 miles. Read more about Honda’s hydrogen fuel cell vehicle at autoMedia.com.

Since 1994 ZAP (Zero Air Pollution) has been a world leader for electric and advanced technology vehicles, delivering more than 100,000 electric vehicles in more than 75 countries. The company believes the EV market will continue to grow, especially with its introduction of affordable electric vehicles such as the XEBRA, which retails around $11,700, and deliver speeds in excess of 40 mph. Check out their collection of other electric scooters, cars, and trucks!

Speaking of electric vehicles,   in an effort to demonstrate the demand for the upcoming all-electric Chevrolet Volt, Lyle Dennis, a New York neurologist, has released details of an unofficial waiting list for the vehicle with over 33,000 prospective buyers. According to this article at Reuters, Dennis has been assembling a list of prospective Volt buyers for over a year through his Web site GM-Volt.com; the average price buyers were willing to pay for the car was $31,261.

Cross-Country Hydrogen Road Tour Ends in Los Angeles on Saturday, August 23

A collection of vehicles powered by hydrogen are traveling in an unprecedented trip across the country, scheduled to end in Los Angeles on August 23rd. As part of The Hydrogen Road Tour,  presented by the California Fuel Cell Partnership (CaFP), U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Energy, and National Hydrogen Association, these vehicles will cross the United States, from Maine to Los Angeles, visiting 31 cities in 18 states over 13 days, giving people across America a chance to interact with the vehicles and see how they are fueled. At the time of this posting, they are halfway across the United States!

Vehicles participating in the Hydrogen Road Tour include those from BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagen, as well as buses from transit agencies and universities. Fuel cell vehicles used electric motors powered by electricity from hydrogen stored on board the vehicle. The current generation of FCVs promise to be two to three times more efficient than a gasoline vehicle, and more efficient than a hybrid vehicle. The only tailpipe emission is water vapor.

"The fuel cell vehicles in the caravan will drive roughly 20,000 combined miles and use domestically produced hydrogen to reach Los Angeles," stated CaFCP's executive director, Catherine Dunwoody. "During this trip, the vehicles will emit zero pollutants." For an itinerary of remaining stops, please visit www.hydrogenroadtour.com.

E85 Primer: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Ethanol-Based Fuels, But Were Afraid to Ask.

Here is some fabulous news! I read recently on gasmilage.wordpress.com, that Los Angeles County has approved a ground-breaking facility that will revolutionize the Biofuel industry. They are going to be making their E85 out of grass clippings, wood chips, paper products, and cardboard... and not corn.

I have been pained watching the "powers that be" push corn down our throats as the best source of making ethanol. Anyone who has ever grown corn can attest to the fact that corn requires lots of pesticides, herbicides, and a ton of fertilizers to grow. AND you need to rotate the field every year because it leeches out all the minerals from the soil. I was picturing the next "1930's Dust Bowl" if corn became the replacement for gasoline.

What the heck is E85 anyways?
E85 is a special alternative fuel that is a blend of 15% gasoline and 85% ethanol. This special blend is used to power Flex-Fuel Vehicles. Depending on where in the United States you live, you may have trouble finding an E85 fueling station at this time, because there are only about 1500 in the USA.

Emily Miller Ready to Hit the Desert

Emily Miller is climbing to new heights.

On Aug. 22, she will become the first female driver to race across the Nevada desert in the legendary 550-mile race from Las Vegas to Reno. In the process, Miller will make history for not only her race outfit – Team Hummer 00 but also for the Best in Desert Racing Association.

Last year it took Team HUMMER over 13 grueling hours to finish first in their class in the longest off-road race in the United States, billed as “the rough drive across the unforgiving desert.” Miller is nothing close to a typical off-road race truck -- she weighs 100 pounds, stands 5 feet tall -- but she has already won several off-roading events and is ready for the new challenge.

Save Fuel. Save Money. Save The World!

Want to save fuel, money, AND the environment while you’re at it? The thought of buying a new or different car while paying your gas credit card payments may seem insane, but Autoblog and Consumer Reports has an idea for you.

You don’t have to buy new, just buy smart. Buy pre-owned. Once that hybrid owner drives that car off the lot, it’s lost a good percentage of it’s value already. Just snap that baby up once they turn it in for the newer model and blam! Saving money and the world.

Consumer Reports created a list of the top pre-owned cars to snap up that will help you save at the pump. The vehicles that top the list for Consumer Reports, well,  report, isn’t any surprise: Toyota and Honda rake in the most rankings.  Here is a basic rundown for you:

AskPatty.com on Real Biz on SLCN.TV Monday 2pm August 18, 2008

Every Monday at 2pm SLT/PST, Second Life personality Cybergrrl Oh interviews a company or organization representative and takes a tour of their build or sim. The guest this week will be AskPatty.com, Patty Streeter Tune in to SLCN.tv to watch the show live on the Web or visit Athena Isle to watch it inworld on the big screen by going to http://slurl.com/secondlife/Athena%20Isle/44/43/23.

Cybergrrl Oh will be taking a guided tour of Motorability Island  with Patty Streeter at the AskPatty.com coffee house, Wonderland Cardin a certified Female Friendly car dealership in Second Life, Fairground and Dirt Field Speedway racing demo and the UnitedSpinal.org Welcome Center.

You can also download the show from iTunes. Visit the show blog at http://realbizinsl.blogspot.com.

Join us for the show Monday 2pm SLT here in Second Life:

http //slurl com/secondlife/Athena%20Isle/51/48/23

Should you use a custom car seat cover?

Sometimes the covers that come on car seats are just not attractive. Or maybe after too many juice spills or diaper blowouts, the cover just isn't clean anymore. Have you thought about buying an after-market car seat cover?

You may want to think again.

Did you know that if your car seat owner's manual forbids the use of after-market accessories, and your state has a clause in the car seat law that requires proper use of car seats according to manufacturer instructions you could be in violation of state law if you use an after-market cover? It's not something to take lightly.