Hello! My name is Tracy. I am an automotive junkie—and that is putting it lightly. In hind sight I could say that it started back in the 80′s when my best friend’s mom got a 1979 cream colored Corvette. I didn’t realize it back then, but her getting that car was the beginning of an obsession for Corvettes at the ripe old age of 10. I never knew it would turn into this.

I have been “involved” in some sort of motorsports since I was 17. It all started back in 1994 with my high school boyfriend in the lovely town of Summerfield Florida. He was a motorcross rider and had grand dreams of becoming a pro rider one day and I was in-tow for every race that he went to. It wasn’t the racing, per say, that captivated me—it was everything else that went along with it. It was watching the boys practice in my best friend Donna’s backyard track. It was the long ride to the track in the old Winnebago with the lime green shag carpet. It was the sound of 2 stroke engines waking me up at sunrise on race day. It was the smell of race gas puffing out of the tail pipe. It was the smack talking that I got to do when I deemed someone a sand-bagger. It was the awesome sunburn I got from being at the track all weekend. It was riding in the bed of the truck with Donna on the way home from a local race. It was the lifestyle and culture that went along with it all.

That same boyfriend also taught me how to drive a stick on the dirt roads of Summerfield and Ocklawaha in his old, beat up Ford Ranger. Thank goodness he did! Who ever knew that it would ever become such a part of my life?? I surely never thought that his tough love in making me learn how to hill climb in the Ocala National Forest would come in so handy one day. Awesomely, he went on to become an A/pro rider and I went on to moving away from the small town of Summerfield to the first skyline I had ever seen in my life—in Atlanta, GA.

It wasn’t too long after I moved to Atlanta that I met my next boyfriend (yes, I am sensing a theme here, too) and got involved with the street street racing scene. I know, bad bad girl! Shortly after that, and long story short, I somehow got involved in becoming a “pro” driver. It has been up for much debate as to whether or not I was actually pro, but I claim it for 2 reasons: (1) I got paid to drive and I did it for a living and (2) I had been granted a pro drifting license. I used my platform to promote diversity in motorsports for women and minorities and before I knew it I had opportunities jumping out at me from all over the place. I have been so lucky during my automotive career and I have gotten to be a part of an array of amazing things including (but not limited to):

Driving cars that ranged from 500-800 whp
Traveling the country racing on my sponsors dime
Being on Speed TV’s reality show, Bullrun.
Being on Discovery Channel’s reality show, Ultimate Car Build-Off.
Testing to drive for Monster Jam. Yes I got to drive a monster truck a few times! Who does that???? Vid here.

So, here I am now, social networking specialist and marketing coordinator for Drive Offroad (my dream job BTW). Jeepin’ is a whole new world for me—and boy am I ready to dig in and get dirty!!! Oh, I think I should mention that I have already been taught some of the basics, one of which includes that old saying that “It’s not a car. It’s a Jeep!” I have some good teachers. One of them being Dave Logan. We haven’t come up with a fancy title for him yet, but he is our tech specialist/brand ambassador. He is old and I’m pretty sure he has been doing Jeeps since the Willy’s made their first appearance. He is such a good teacher that he took me in the backyard of our building for a little drive about in his Jeep today. How sweet of him! I have to say that I was a little snotty when it comes to how slow the Jeeps look during their climbs. As I mentioned, I am used to driving cars with at least 500 whp. I figured there couldn’t be much fun in going under 2mph   Boy was I wrong!!! I went down what most of you would probably consider an ant hill and almost crapped myself!!! There is something about sliding around in the dirt with those big puffed up tires that gets your adrenaline going. When I got back to the office, I noticed I was shaking from adrenaline. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

I will be heading out on my first Jeepin’ excursion in April for the Easter Jeep Safari. I am so excited and really can’t wait for what’s ahead. Stay tuned because I will be blogging my little heart out before, during and after the event. Hopefully you like my writing style, because I am long winded when I am excited