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April's Blog
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Written by April Smith
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:00 |
I am a diesel technician and work for the Halton Company in Portland, OR. I also work seasonal terms at Clark College, in Vancouver, WA, as an automotive instructor. I spend most of my time at work and racing a variety of vehicles or bikes. When I get bored with that, I go flying.
If I had to sum myself up in one word, it would be "motivated". I come from a respective background full of racing and automotive related activities. I love to try out new things and work at being the best that I can in everything that I do.
My love for racing began back when I was 7 years old. I raced motocross at the local Woodland, WA track for a couple of years. From there, it grew into racing cars. When I was 15, I started racing at the local dragstrip with my daily driver and continued to do so for another 10 years. I bracket raced muscle cars, slow cars, a nostalgia dragster, and various types motorcycles. I even made it to the Race of Champions (top 4 competitors at the team finals in Canada in 2005) on a 2004 Suzuki GSXR1000.
During that time, I also got involved in karting, circle track, rallycross, TSD rally, and finally performance rally, all which I have competed in each for three years or more. I even competed in the 2007 Indoor Kart World Championship as the highest ever placing female at 46th place overall of 121 entries.
Rally is my favorite form of racing because it not only takes extreme and precise skill in all types of situations, but also high pressure communication and teamwork with one or more people simultaneously. It's always a challenge and the roads are always new, giving equality to all competitors.
In 2006 and 2007, I led as rallycross director for the SCCA Oregon Region Rallycross program, winning the highest national award for rallycross in 2006 for the best region. I also won 1st overall in Production class in 2005 and 2007... in a Geo Metro.
In time-speed-distance (TSD), I have won numerous awards in computer and seat-of-pants classes and took the CSCC overall championship as a driver in 2004 and 2007.
Since 2005, I have raced stage rally where I have podiumed first, second, and third places in Production and G2 classes. The majority of those wins were in a Geo Metro, which shows that having the fastest car doesn't always mean that you will win. While racing against Sentra SERs, Acuras, and 2wd Subaru Imprezas in my class, I podiumed a 3rd place National win in Production class in '05, beating out the rest of the competition. This was also my very first stage rally race ever.
When I'm not racing or working, I seek thrills by piloting a Cessna, instructing for the local rallycross school, and restoring my own cars. I also enjoy inventing new ideas and bringing them to life. I have created things such as hydrogen fuel cells for cars to vehicles that looks like spiders or are driven by squirrel power.
As the time approaches to leave for the Alcan, preparation and teamwork become even more critical. Check back here for updates on the progress and the adventure of Team Mitsubishi Alcan.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 January 2008 20:03 )
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April's Blog 
