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Speed Addicts: Grand Prix Racing
Speed Addicts is the complete and definitive illustrated book of grand prix motor racing, told in the form of a human story.
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Victory By Design: Ferrari DVD
Alain de Cadenet, a long-time Ferrari enthusiast and aficionado, drives some of the great sports racers and sports cars.
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Written by:
David Harris
07/26/2008 - 07:55 AM
Charlotte, NC
Melissa does a burnout at Englishtown with her LS1 GTO which will break into the 11 bracket. ยป More Photos
Danica Patrick. Ashley Force. Janet Guthrie. Shirley Muldowney. Their names are synonymous with winning, and maybe more importantly, persevering. They’ve proven that auto racing isn’t just a ‘guys only’ sport, it’s open to anyone with a dream, a car, a little know-how and a dose of courage.
But the biggest strides may be taking place at the grassroots level, where female racers are numerous; uber-competitive and breaking the mold throughout the country. No one may demonstrate this reality more than Brewster, N.Y., Marketing & Customer Service Manager, Melissa Fiorello, one of more than 450 racers who grabbed an open entry for SPEED’s upcoming PINKS All Out national television shoot at historic Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., on Saturday, July 26. The show is presented by NAPA.
She’s been around the sport for more than seven years. It began when her now husband Al, after she returned home from graduating college, first took her to Raceway Park to watch him flog his 1984 Chevrolet Camaro IROC Z. It was
“That’s all it took. The rest is history, you might say,” added the newly turned thirty-year-old racer. “I told him that he created this monster by taking me to Englishtown that first time.”
Not more than two years following that first exposure, Fiorello was once again tempted by that Raceway Park allure. But this time, she toyed with being more than just a spectator – as her brand-new, factory supercharged Pontiac Grand Prix GTP had a little jump in it.
“He (my husband) asked if I wanted to take it down the track,” recalled Fiorello, who lives nearly two and a half hours away from Raceway Park. “I was scared out of my mind and the whole way down there I was trying to talk myself out of it. I was shaking and everything.
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