JustPlainRacin Blog

December 17, 2008 (Daytona Beach, FL) - EM Motorsports and Hylton Motorsports are proud to announce that Leilani Münter has been hired to test the team’s 2005 Ford Taurus during this weekend’s ARCA Series open test at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR Legend James Hylton, 1966 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, will be Leilani’s mentor and coach throughout the weekend. “I am thrilled to have a driver of Leilani’s caliber in our race car. Her proven talent combined with her determination to succeed in the sport will be a winning combination in the ARCA Series,” said Hylton, “I am looking forward to seeing her race in the ARCA 200 at Daytona on February 7th.”

Leilani Münter has been racing since 2001 and last year became the fourth woman in history to race in the Indy Pro Series, the development league of IndyCar. Prior to running in the Indy Pro Series, she spent 6 years in stock car racing, earning 19 top ten finishes and 9 top five finishes in 39 starts. Leilani also sat the record at Texas Motor Speedway for the highest finish for a female driver at the 1.5 mile speedway. In 2007, Leilani moved into the Indy Pro Series and the open wheel community quickly took notice when she qualified fifth and had a very impressive run in her debut at Kentucky Spe edway. This performance earned her praise from the Indy Pro garage, including four time Indy 500 Champion Rick Mears who said, “Leilani did a great job, I am looking forward to seeing her race some more.”

But no one is looking forward to Leilani getting back in a race car more than Leilani.

“I can’t thank Hylton Motorsports and EM Motorsports enough for this opportunity. There is no better racetrack in the world to get behind the wheel of a stock car than Daytona,” said Leilani, “To have the opportunity to work with James Hylton, a true legend in the sport, is an absolute honor and I know I will learn a lot from him.”

Sponsorship opportunities are available for Daytona and the remainder of the 2009 season. For information, contact Prime Time Media (New York City Office) 718-374-5146 or email prime@primemedia.info and for Leilani Münter’s management, personal services agreements, and media requests please contact Marissa Nilon, Wasserman Media Group mnilon@wmgllc.com or call Dan Levy at 919-256-1600.

About the Carbon Offset

Leilani will continue with her commitment she started in 2007 to offset her carbon footprint by adopting an acre of rainforest for every race she enters. As she did for all her Indy Pro Series events (both races and tests), Leilani will be offsetting her race car’s emissions with World Land Trust.

“I felt a responsibility to do something about the impact I have on the environment because of my racing career,” said Leilani, “I am speaking out about my actions in hopes of bringing awareness to race fans and the racing community. Carbon offsetting is not the solution to climate change, but I had to do something about my unavoidable emissions.”

Leilani holds a degree in biology for the University of California San Diego and is well known for her support of environmental causes. She has made three trips to Capitol Hill this year to speak to members of Congress on behalf of climate change legislation and is an Ambassador for the National Wildlife Federation.

“World Land Trust helps local organizations buy, protect, and replant tropical rainforest to help absorb the carbon we pour into the air,” said Byron Swift, President of World Land Trust-US, “Every time Leilani races she helps us purchase one more acre of endangered tropical rainforest. It’s just great that she’s doing this and at the same time raising awareness in the racing comm unity of the need to balance our use of carbon.”

Leilani is a long time vegetarian, an animal friendly and environmentally sound diet. An area of rain forest the size of seven football fields is destroyed every minute to make room for grazing cattle and an average meat-eater requires about 20 times as much land as a vegetarian to fulfill their yearly calorie requirements. The United Nations determined that raising animals for food generates almost 50 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, SUVs, trucks, and airplanes in the world combined. In addition, a report from the University of Chicago determined that switching to a vegan diet is 40 percent more effective in countering global warming than switching from a standard American car to a Toyota Prius.

For more information, visit http://worldlandtrust-us.org.

About James Hylton

James Hylton is a NASCAR Legend and at age 74, he is the oldest active NASCAR driver. He was the 1966 NASCAR Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year and finished second in NASCAR Sprint Cup points on three occasions, scored wins at Richmond and Talladega and captured four pole positi ons in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition. During his NASCAR Sprint Cup career, Hylton has recorded 140 Top-Five finishes and 301 Top-Ten finishes. He will be attempting the Daytona 500 in February and will be the oldest driver to ever race it if he qualifies. For more information visit http://jameshylton.com

About EM Motorsports

EM Motorsports, previously R&J Racing, is a NASCAR Sprint Cup and ARCA Series race team founded in 2004 and is currently owned by John Carter and Doug Barron. The team has been the home of drivers including Bill Elliott, Boris Said, Joe Nemechek, John Andretti and Johnny Sauter. EM Motorsport has formed an alliance with Hylton Motorsports and will be fielding a race car for James Hylton in the 2009 Sprint Cup Series, including the Daytona 500. For more information visit http://em-motorsports.com

About Leilani Münter

Leilani Münter is a professional race car driver and environme ntal activist. She holds a bachelors degree in Biology specializing in Ecology, Behavior and Evolution from the University of California San Diego. Leilani adopts an acre of rainforest for every race she runs and is a long time vegetarian and eco activist. She is politically active in the legislative fight for the environment and has made several visits to Capitol Hill to speak with members of Congress on behalf of climate change legislation.

Leilani is the fourth woman in history to race in the Indy Pro Series, the development league of IndyCar. She set the record for the highest finish for a female driver in the history of the Texas Motor Speedway when she finished fourth in 2006. Her racing accomplishments have landed her on the pages of USA Today, Italian Vogue, Esquire, ESPN and Sports Illustrated named her one of the top ten female race car drivers in the world.

With family ties in the music community – her brother-in-law is Grateful Dead guitarist and singer Bob Weir – Leilani is a self described “vegetarian hippie chick.” She blogs on the green section of the Huffington Post, rated number one on Time Magazine’s blog index, and documents her efforts to go green on her eco site http://carbonfreegirl.com.

Tulsa, OK (November 30, 2008) — “The Business of Racing” Driver Development Seminar is set for Tuesday, January 13, 2009, from 10:00 AM-3:30 PM, held in conjunction with the 2009 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals. This learning experience, held at the Hicks Community Center (approximately five miles from the QuickTrip Center’s Tulsa Expo Raceway where the Chili Bowl is held), is designed for race car drivers in the beginning stages of pursuing a professional auto racing career, although all ages and levels of experience are welcome.

Drivers attending or participating in the Chili Bowl who choose to attend the Seminar will receive all of the tools necessary to know how to approach “the business of racing,” and will be able to apply those tools directly and immediately in preparation for the 2009 racing season. One parent of each driver will also be invited to attend the Seminar to learn about the important role they will play in the development of their child’s career (parent’s attendance is not mandatory).

Seminar topics will include: Marketing - how to get and keep sponsors; Public Relations and the Media - what to say to whom and when to say it; Presentation - first impressions count, on and off the track; Materials Development - how to put together an impressive portfolio to follow you through your career; Fitness and Nutrition - getting and keeping a fit mind and body specifically designed for racing; Legal / Insurance / Protecting Yourself / Salary - how to protect yourself and make the most out of your career from start to finish; Speaking - representing the people and organizations who allow you to race; Fan Relations - dealing with the demands of being a role model and taking care of your fans; On-Track - internal focus and external communication to get the job done right; Team Relations - working within a true team environment and contributing to their overall success; Driver Safety - making sure you take the checkered flag each time you strap in; Communications - how to relate to each person in your racing career effectively.

“The Business of Racing” Driver Development Seminar will include in-depth information on a variety of subjects intended to give any driver the tools he or she needs to succeed as a professional in auto racing, as well as an extensive Q & A after each seminar topic, materials/handbook/CD of all seminar information, lunch, snacks, beverages, PLUS one 30-minute personal coaching session via the telephone for the driver any time during the two months after the Chili Bowl concludes. Drivers and parents will be asked ahead of time what specific information they want to find out through this Seminar, and the Seminar topics will be adjusted and customized to answer those questions. The driver does not have to be a Midget car racer to register for this Seminar.

Please note that there is a limited enrollment cap for this Seminar, so reserve your seat today!

For more information and to request a registration form for “The Business of Racing” Driver Development Seminar, please e-mail: RacingPR@oh.rr.com (include your phone number so we can communicate with you immediately about this opportunity)!

Condition on CanonCameraGuy… Well as most people know (he isn’t a person to hide much from anyone. Towards the end of April, Ron lost his sight in his left eye (history has it as 3 detached Retinas causing a Cataract in 2001).

Things were going well with the eye until the middle of April. When the sutures put in tohold the old lens IN, somehow became detached. From that time unil now I’ve been somewhat blnd.

We tried an unsucessful operation to sew the old lens in place, with new sutures (my description). This way seemed I could be a whole person sooner… NAW! The surgery was a success but a growth grew behind the lens and withstood laser cutting.

SO, on the 30th of August, we tried once more… We got a new lens, new sutures etc. Well Thank God for automatic focus and I’ve been able to take images but not able to color correct them the way I like too.

Hopefully in a couple od days I’ll have full clear and clean eyesight back to color balance, crop the images I have on hold!

Thanks for all the prayers and most everything else! I’m truly best to have the auto racing fraternity to assist getting through this!

Great Racing at Manzanita Speedway! Winged Sprint Cars and Non-wing sprint cars . Great racing lastSaturday night on 09/27/08.

A new website you ought to take a look at: Racertube.com

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How Hot Is It?

While I was

photographing NASCAR at Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) when it was here on04/10 -12/08.

This person bought his jacket and is going to wear it no matter how hot it is! It was atleast 80 degrees out and the track was well over 100 degrees. The picture was taken in the infield.

MEMPHIS, TN (March 19, 2008) – EM Motorsports owner John Carter announced today that Tony Raines would pilot the Rhino’s Energy Drink Dodge Charger in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 on March 30, at Martinsville Speedway.  Raines is a veteran of six NASCAR SPRINT CUP Series starts at Martinsville.  Raines’ best finish at the historic half-mile track was a 10^th place finish in last October’s Subway 500.  Raines qualifies well at the track with an average starting position of 17.3 in his 6 races.

Raines began his NASCAR career in the Craftsman Truck Series in 1997, driving a Ford F-150 for Kurt Roehrig Racing.  Raines won the Western Auto/Part’s America 200 at Odessa, MO in only his fifth series start.  Overall, Raines has recorded 53 Craftsman Truck Series starts with 4 wins, 11 Top-Fives and 22 Top-Tens.

In 1999, Raines began running the NASCAR Busch Series for Bill Baumgardner and BACE Motorsports.  In 2001, Raines finished sixth in the Busch Series standings driving for the BACE Motorsports team.  Raines has 192 Busch Series starts with 14 Top-Five and 47 Top-Ten finishes to his credit.

In 2003, Raines and BACE Motorsports moved to the NASCAR Sprint CUP Series and together scored an impressive sixth place finish in the POP Secret 500 at Rockingham.  2006 saw Raines join forces with Hall of Fame Racing, where he competed in 63 SPRINT CUP Series events during two seasons. During his career, Raines has competed in 117 SPRINT CUP Series races with 3 Top-Tens.

EM Motorsports is based in Toccoa, Georgia and is led by owner John Carter, Crew Chief Charles Swing and Marketing VP Doug Barron.