You will never believe who I talked to the other day. I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to Cristen Powell on the phone. I’ve never talked to her before, except for a second one time when I got her autograph at Infineon. I was about 17, spectating, and she was racing Top Alcohol Dragster. That race ended up being the motivation that got me racing, but more about that later.

Anyway, I’ve been in need of some advice and I thought Cristen would be a great person to talk to since she has had similar experiences in the sport that I have. I called around and got her number fairly easily. I wish I had called her earlier. I could have used her advice numerous times. It can be challenging being in a male-dominated field. She was very inspirational. She mentioned how her greatest motivation comes when people tell her she can’t do something. She was like, "Just TELL me I can’t do something,” in a provoking and challenging manner. I won’t get into everything we talked about but I’m so glad that there are people like her who have done this all before, who are willing to share their knowledge and give me helpful advice from what they have learned. That conversation helped me a lot.

Hopefully I can and have been doing the same for other racers. I’m trying to be as supportive as I can, but not overly supportive and annoying, for my younger brothers and sisters who are just getting into racing. I have no idea what their future plans are in the sport. I don’t think they know yet. I do know they are having tons of fun right now. My two 15-year-old brothers, Kevin and Austin, are racing Jr. Dragsters right now. Both boys are winning rounds and Kevin is leading the points at our home track, Samoa Dragstrip in Eureka, Calif.

I mentioned my sister, Kim, a little while back, who just started racing Super Gas in our dad’s '71’Dodge Challenger back in April. She goes to about two races a month on the West Coast with my Dad, Grandpa, and brother Austin. She won her first race already! This was also at Samoa Dragstrip. It was so awesome when she called me on the Sunday night after she won. I could feel the excitement in her voice. No one can understand the feeling of that first win until you do it.

Then I got to see Kim race for the first time ever when I was at the Sonoma race a couple of weeks ago. It was so cool. She, my Dad, Grandpa, brother Austin, and cousin Trysten were there for the Fram Autolite Nationals. It was her first national event. It was definitely a different role for me to just back and be the observer/ supporter. I had a great time.

My other sister, Jessica, came the following weekend for the Division 7 race at Infineon. Jessica, is 17 and she got her super comp license last year. She’s been really busy with high school things so she hasn’t had a whole lot of time for racing, but she was able to come for this race. I couldn’t stay, but I did a lot of texting with Jessica before and after her runs. She did awesome.

With Kim and Jessica it was the first time that any of us girls have raced at the same event. With my Dad tuning, they both won first round. It was really cool. They all called me and were so excited. We were so happy, including my Grandpa and brother, Austin. I had the biggest smile on my face. The desire and love for racing must truly be an inherited gene.

I’m very grateful to be a racer. Like I always say, my Dad could have made me stay home and play with my dolls when I was growing up. Fortunately, when he went to the races, he took me too. Cristen said the same kind of thing. Like my parents, her parents supported whatever it was she wanted to do. My Dad took me to that race in Sonoma back in 1997. I was 17 and already hooked on racing, but had never actually been down the track. I definitely had some fear about it to be honest. Then I saw Cristen racing and succeeding that weekend at Sonoma; she was the “Worlds Quickest & Fastest Teenager.” It was right after that race, I remember, I asked my Dad if I could take my street car down the track to see what kind of numbers it would turn. I never imagined that 12 years later I would be where I am today. It’s so amazing the way life works out.

I’m excited to see where the next 12 will take me. I better get back to work, because I want it to be full of more racing and more great times. With all this racing in the family, somebody better be good at securing sponsorship. Back to work ?