SIGNATURE PROFILES

©1999-2002 Dwight Drum

CHRISTI PASSMORE

"I would like to run Winston Cup."

Story by Dwight Drum
Photos and driver information by Leo Dougherty

Christi Passmore has the drive to win. The Pryor, Okla., resident graduated in 2000 with a GPA of 3.85 and exchanged a seat in class for a seat behind the wheel of a powerful sprint car. Passmore has excelled on the race track with many wins.

Passmore now has the ride to get bigger wins as ARCA driver Andy Belmont has agreed to place her in an Andy Belmont Motorsports Ford for six ARCA/ReMax races during 2002. Their objective is to compete for 2003 Rookie of the Year in the ARCA/ReMax Series with a goal of competing in the NASCAR Busch and Winston Cup Series. Belmont must see something in Passmore and her driving skills.

Athletes are born with special abilities. It takes elevated cognitive sensitivity to process visual stimuli and therefore excel in any national sport. Translation: professional athletes see more and see faster than the rest of us. What they see they process faster. It takes mental ability to drive a competitive race car. It also takes physical toughness. Without physical strength elevated cognitive sensitivity is of little use in competitive sports. The body must carry the mind.

Another chief ingredient in a champion mixture is a competitive spirit. Without the will to win the best brain in the fittest body is wasted in competition. Also important is the control of fear. The best drivers seem to be fearless, but they aren't. Their level of fear recognition or tolerance is beyond most, and they also learn to control fear along the way. Most don't start racing at 200 mph, they race a lower speeds and then step it up.

Passmore was born with special abilities. She brought her mental and physical attributes to mini-sprint cars then moved up to Sprint cars. She showed her competitive spirit with wins in Oklahoma, Missouri, New Zealand, and Australia. As she moves on to ARCA stock cars, she must have big heart and big speed to win. She will be less than welcome in male-dominated sport. Other racers might want to deny her entry into big time racing, but they can't deny her winning ways to earn the right to be there. (Passmore placed first during her 2002 sprint car debut in Little Rock, Ark.)

Passmore also needs a race car and a race team. Price: Expensive. Cost: Necessary. Andy Belmont Motorsports has agreed to provide the means and the training.

About five years ago Angelle (Seeling) Savoie brought her petite stature and a fierce will to win to male-dominated motorcycle drag racing in the NHRA. When she began to win, male competitors began diets. In drag bikes it became apparent that less weight resulted in more horsepower. Savoie became a two-time Winston champion and still dominates the class that she changed.

If Passmore becomes the first female winner in NASCAR many eyes will turn her way. If she is among the first few female winners in the big stock car sanctions, many eyes still turn her way. The stakes are high, the rewards higher.

She has an appropriate racing name. (Passmore) That should serve her well. Another fitting name in motorsports (Force) has served NHRA champion John Force throughout his winning career.

Whether Passmore continues to pass up the competition and achieve pinnacle success is all future stuff. You can join us now in the present for her words about racing and more.

DWIGHT CHATS WITH…CHRISTI PASSMORE

"Honesty."

"The thrill and the fun and winning."

"In sprint cars they call me 'The Kid'." In New Zealand they call me 'The Crowd Pleaser'."

"Yes, I've visited and raced in New Zealand for about four and half months and Australia for about a month."

"It was an opportunity that came fast, but it's something I've always wanted to do when I was a kid….to go overseas. The racing was a plus. I always wanted to go three. I never thought I'd get to race there. It was a great experience. I went there last year and they asked me to come back this year. We missed four shows there because I had to come back and race in Florida."

"Dave Blaney. Jeff Gordon and my dad. Just because they came form sprint car racing. The transition from dirt to asphalt is unreal, bigger than I thought it was going to be. I guess if you just stick with it even though it is tough, you'll eventually get it. It's a lot tougher than most people expect. The transition is going to take a while before I even get close. We're going to be back movers in ARCA for while before we even get the transition to run in the front of ARCA."

"Yeah."

"I would like to run Winston Cup. That's been of goal of mine ever since I was old enough to know any better. Everyone says once you're an open wheel driver you'll want to stick with open wheel, but I've never had any dreams other than NASCAR. I'd like to drive in the Indy 500 because it's the most prestigious race besides the Daytona 500. Running the full IRL tour would be neat, but that's not where I want to have a career.

"Yes."

" Yes."

"Yes."

"I haven't in the past two years because my winters have been consumed by racing, but I like to snow ski. We normally go to Colorado for Winter Park."

"Ford 350 Duel Wheel truck. It's the cowgirl side of me."

"Yes. On the road is very hard to work out. I normally run every day. If I'm at a place for period of time I'll try to find a gym. It's difficult to take equipment on the road. At home I work out one to two times a day and run two to three miles."

"Girls are not as physically strong as man. Sprint car racing comes a lot easier to men. Girls are not built physically tough like most men are, so we almost have to work out to keep up with men. I don't consider myself is physically fit as I need to be.

"Golf. I went to state competition in golf."

"Upper body. I get sore there after racing, not bad I can feel it."

"Two Chihuahuas named Hoosier and Chassis."

I don't eat a lot of red meat. I eat chicken but other than that no. I drink a lot of water, and I don't drink alcohol."

" Honesty."

"When I get frustrated, I mainly lose confidence."

"I don't believe I have one, not that I know of. I would think too much if I visualized a routine."

"I don't really have a scariest moment. I'm not scared of much."

"I like to hit golf balls."

"The politics. I like to focus just on the racing. An owner/driver has a lot more to deal with behind the scenes. I'd be a lot better driver driving for someone else. A lot of little things blow up to bigger things because something was overlooked. It's usually something small that gets blown out of proportion."

"Yes. I dream about racing all the time, four or five times a week."

"Going fishing."

"I notice when drivers look in mirrors, they steer in the opposite direction. I don't think I'd do it but I notice it. They teach us in ARCA driving school to watch people on the road when they look in their mirrors as they tend to steer in the opposite direction."

"Failure. It's my biggest fear in anything."

"I don't notice the speed. It all happens fast. If you're racing at speed with other cars it's hard to notice. I can't tell the difference from the sprint cars to the stock cars."

"My neck and shoulders."

If I'm uneasy about something that the car is doing, don't make any more laps and let them fix it."

"My parents."

"My father got me started. He's been racing for 22 years and he got me in a mini-sprint car I was 12. It's something I always wanted to do, and I moved up to a full size sprint car when I was 15."

"Being on fire."

"Honesty and trust worthy. Perfectionist."

"I thank my sponsors and parents for giving me the opportunity to race."

Christi Passmore has experience and youth on her side in her quest to race ARCA to BGN to NASCAR. She knows about winning yet she's ready to learn. Having Andy Belmont as mentor will accelerate the learning curve. Passmore has many challenges to face, but she faces them with a big will to win. She seems comfortable in competition and her past has a history with winning, golf and racing. I could choose many words to describe her character, but I found a word that fits winning and the sports she loves. Christi Passmore is…

The Striker