October 12, 2009 - Wow!  The M.O.R.E. Powder Puff Race for the Cure in Barstow was AMAZING!  Keri and I had a great time and it was an incredible experience.  As I mentioned, we are not the primary drivers on the Scholte Motor Sports team (at least not yet...) and we did not go out there to break any land speed records.  But this past weekend, we learned a lot about the car, a lot about ourselves, and reaffirmed what we already knew about the off-road community -- It's the best.  When we busted a shock mount at around Mile 16, we rolled into a remote pit and the guys from Checkers Pit Club went to work.  They fixed the shock mount, filled our fluids, repaired Keri's fresh-air blower, gave us cold water, and sent us on our way.  HUGE thanks to everyone who helped us out there!  Additional thanks to all our friends and family who came out to support us and support the cause.  We look forward to returning next year!

~Shari

October 4, 2009 - Today Keri and I took the car out for a test drive.  It gaveus an opportunity to check out the new Rough Country suspension -- which was GREAT, by the way --and get more familiar with the car and how it handles.  We had a good time and discovered that Keri is a natural race car driver.  Who knew?  The Powder Puff Race for the Cure will be next Saturday the 10th and we are ready to go!  Woo hoo!!!

September 23, 2009 - My partner in crime, Charlene, has been pulled away from the Powder Puff race.  It's a disappointment, but we know there will be other races in our future.  There is good news... My oldest and dearest friend, Keri Johnson, will be taking Charlene's place riding shotgun as my co-driver.  I can tell you now that neither of us has raced before, so we aren't expecting to go pro after this one -- but we are going to have such a good time we will be talking about it for years to come.  It is just like Keri to come in and pick up the pieces when I need her and I am tremendously grateful for her support.  (And, there's a payoff for her, too.  She has secretly been wanting to tell me "where to go" for years; now she gets to do it officially.)  Keri has also been a dedicated and loyal friend throughout my journey with breast cancer, and this is just another of the wonderful things she has done to support our efforts to raise awareness.  THANK YOU, KERI!

~Shari

September 14, 2009 - So after some unfortunate/unplanned time off, things are back on track.  We are getting excited about the M.O.R.E. Powder Puff in Barstow on October 10.  We want to send a HUGE thank you to the guys down at Rough Country for sending us new front-end suspension components and would like to welcome them aboard as a sponsor.  We are thrilled to have them as part of the "team" and it gives us great confidence that we will be racing with their top of the line products.  In the coming weeks, we will be installing our new Rough Country suspension and taking the car out for a shake down.

Tick, tock.... The race is getting closer!

July 24, 2009 – Well, this is hard to admit, but we have to pull another race … and this one is a heart breaker.  I am not going to be able to do Vegas to Reno to raise money for breast cancer awareness.  Ironically, I won’t be able to do it because I am finishing my own treatment after fighting breast cancer.

I had what is, hopefully, my last surgery on Monday the 20^th.  After months of painful tissue expansion, I went in to the hospital where the surgeon replaced the expander with a permanent implant.  I feel remarkably good, considering, but there is NO WAY my doctor is going to allow me to race in two weeks.  Even if he gave me clearance, I’m afraid I would tear something and have to start all over again.  That’s just not an option.  I have to be smart about this.

So, this means that the girls’ team is going to be sidelined until the MORE Powder Puff race in October.  We are frustrated by this setback, but recognize that we are in it for the long haul – so there will be many opportunities in the future.  In the meantime, we will keep on Racing for the Cure!

~Shari

6/16/09 - The Love/Avon Army of Women contacted us and confirmed that we are officially their ambassadors.  We are honored and excited to be working with this incredible organization.  Not only will we be doing our own work to spread the word about breast cancer research, they will also be sending a representative to join us at the Vegas to Reno race in August.  Hey, does that mean we have one million new members on our team? :)

5/31/09 - We took a month off from working on the Jeep, but now we're back at it again.  Today we welded reinforcement plates to the new two-wheel drive front axle.  We're trying to lighten up the front end and make it stronger at the same time.  We will install the new and improved axle at the same time we replace the front suspension, which was destroyed at the Terribles 250.  Our goal is to have this done in June so we can take it out for testing and have it ready for the Freedom 250 on July 18 in Barstow, CA.

5/28/09 -I went to DJ Safety today to get fitted for my race suit.  I guess I didn’t think that there were that many measurements to it…a whole page worth!  I learned a lot about suits and how to make sure that they fit right.  With being a “girl” I had to get a custom suit because a off the shelf suit’s “top” wouldn’t fit properly…if you know what I mean!  I should get it in about 5-6 weeks…I will post a picture when I get it!

While I was there Joe and Loren also helped me fit into a helmet with the Parker Pumper vent to add to my collection.  I am thinking about having it painted, but will wait until I get the suit back to make sure that the colors match.

I also left with a head sock to keep my hair safe, a neck brace and some fire retardant gloves. 

Now if I can only figure out to install air conditioning into this whole setup for the mid summer race through the Nevada Desert I will be golden!  ;-)

Thanks DJ Safety for your time and help with getting me ready to hit the course!  www.djsafety.com

~Charlene~

5/29/09

I talked with Jim from the Lucas Oil Totally Off Road Radio today and he was excited to hear about our Mile-A-Thon for breast cancer at the BITD Vegas to Reno Race.  We are going to work on a plan to get onto the radio show before the event to talk about the ways to help sponsor the team.  I will post when we will be live.  In the meantime, if you haven’t already, please take a minute to help sponsor our all girl team race for breast cancer where everyone wins!

~Charlene~

5/28/09 - I talked with Shannon from XXX Offroad today.  He is excited about the challenge to try and run streaming video live throughout the entire event.  Don’t ask me how he does it (or plans on doing it) but we will have a live feed from the JeepSpeed during the entire race.  Well, maybe not the entire race, we will loose feed during non-cell service areas, but at least we can capture some footage for all of you that wants to track us on race day.  We do have the capabilities with this program to have you blog back and forth with our pit crew, and relay messages to the car. 

We also have the ability to have live volume.  Our team is debating this and how much we should tap into our communications systems.  The question is what the show rating will turn into  ;-)  You will just have to stay tuned to see what we decide!

~Charlene~

5/27/09 -I talked with Lance and Camo from Pirate 4x4.com today.  True JeepSpeed drivers at heart (they 2peated the Baja1000 in a JeepSpeed), they thought that this was a great idea with a great cause.  Watch for updates on Pirate4x4.com as well as on this website.  We are excited to have them as a supporter of our team and cause!

~Charlene~