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| Interested in becoming a sponsor, here is a preview of my packet. Look it over and if you would like to become a sponsor, send us an e-mail. |
| MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY My name is Debbie Taylor and I was born and raised in Marin County. I was born on June 29, 1962. I graduated from Redwood High School in Corte Madera. During my childhood years, I roller-skated competitively in local and regional competitions. I got involved with roller-skating as a young child when I went to a friend’s birthday party at the skating rink. My whole family, with the exception of my father, roller-skated at one time or another. I skated from age eight until I was a teenager. After graduating from high school, I went to work for Bank of America for seven years. Over the years I worked at several branches including Mill Valley, San Rafael, Ignacio, and Strawberry. I started out as a proof machine operator, moved up to a merchant teller, and then became an assistant to the operations officer. It was during this time that I married my husband, Bill, after dating him for three years. Then three years later, I decided to put my career on hold. My husband and I started our family. We have been married for 21 years and have two daughters, Crystal (age 18) and Niki (age 13). We rented an apartment for the first several years that we were married. After my first daughter was born I found myself getting bored, so I started managing the apartments we lived in. I attended several seminars on business and management for my management training. My husband and I also started our own automotive business during this time. I did the invoicing and bookkeeping from home and he worked out of an airport hanger in Sonoma. He did mostly old car restoration. We now have a shop in San Rafael where we do general automotive repairs and engine overhauling. I now work full time at our shop. I always enjoyed and did well in math, but who would have thought that I would end up becoming an office manager and bookkeeper. Over the years we have bought two homes. First, we bought a condominium at Hamilton Air Force Base in 1990, where we lived for 7 years. During this time I got heavily involved in my community. I became a board member for our homeowners association for a couple of years, and then became the president of our homeowners association. During my presidency, I got involved in the rebuilding of the Hamilton Air Force Base. I was very concerned in how it would affect my family, the surrounding families, and the future families to come. Once again, my involvement in this led me to become involved with the city counsel, and in return I ended up becoming a member of the Housing Development Commission. I really feel that my involvement made a difference, I had a say in how my community would be developed and how it would affect the future families who move into my neighborhood. In 1997, we sold our condominium and bought a home in Novato. Our new home is much bigger. Now that our girls were getting older, it was time to move on. We needed more space, and boy did we get it. We have a huge 4-bedroom house on 3 acres of land. We started buying goats just to keep the property mowed down. Next thing you know, we have not only goats, but sheep, pigs, chickens, a horse, dogs, cats, birds, turtles, rats, and our newest addition, a llama. We have our own little farm. I learned how to give them their shots and take care of them. We even got to breed and raise baby goats. We also raised our sheep from babies, which required bottle feeding them. In 1999, I got involved in racing. We have a big barn were we work on my racecar and a huge side yard were we store spare cars and parts. Most of my family lives in Marin or Sonoma County. My parents own a home in Corte Madera and my sister and her family own a home in Rohnert Park. My brother and his family, however, live in New York. We are all very close and have a lot in common. My husband has family in Marin and Sonoma County and all over the United States. My mother is my biggest fan. She goes to all of my races. My father, on the other hand, is a homebody. He is a big Nascar fan, but has only been to a few of my races. But most important, he was there when I won my championship. He is the one who got me involved in Nascar. My favorite Nascar driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr. Racing has become a big part of all my family’s lives. My sister even met her fiance through my racing and me. We all go racing together. My two nephews have been fans since they were real young and love to scrape mud off my car after the races. Racing is not only a sport to my family, but a way for us to stay close and spend time together. My favorite things to do outside of racing are camping, snow skiing, traveling, going for rides on the back of my husbands Harley, making things with stained glass, and most of all, spending time with my family and friends. |
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| THE DRIVER You may be wondering how I got involved in racing. This was not a dream of mine. If you had asked me at any other point in my life what I would be doing today, I would have never thought it would be racing. However, ask me today; even ask my family, racing is one of the most important and fore filling things in my life now. I am a woman in what is typically a man’s sport and I love it! I love the challenge, the speed, the adrenalin rush, and most of all the sport! I like to watch any kind of racing- dirt or asphalt, drag racing, road coarse racing, motorcycle racing, and especially Nascar racing. My Husband, Bill, and I own an automotive shop in Marin County and have been doing business for 19 years now. One day a friend of ours, Norm, came to us and asked if we would be interested in sponsoring him in his racing. My husband, who has been building engines for years, built him an engine for his racecar. In return, my family started going to the races on Saturday nights to watch him race. We all really enjoyed the thrill and the excitement of the sport. Norm then asked me to go out with him in his car when he raced. He had a passenger seat in his car and thought it would be fun to take me out and try to scare me. Little did he know, I wasn’t afraid at all! Actually it was just the opposite, I had a blast! I told my husband that I had never had so much fun! Next thing you know, my husband was building another engine for a friend of Norm’s. After several months of driving his car with his new engine, he came to my husband stating that he could not handle throwing all this money into a racecar and that he enjoyed watching the racing more. Next thing I know my husband comes to me and say, “I just bought you a racecar!” I said, “ ya, right!” Soon I was out on the track and racing! Who would have ever thought? I have been racing for 5 years now and still enjoy the thrill and adrenalin rush I get every time I get in my car! I started out racing in Petaluma, California in 1999 at our local oval dirt track in the Pure Stock division. At the beginning of the 2003 season, I told my youngest daughter, Niki, “We are going to go out tonight and win the main event.” When I got out in front there was no holding back. I was going to do what I set out to do and I did it. It took 4 years of racing every weekend and not missing a single race before I finally got that first main event win and we also won the championship that year. The added bonus was that I was the first female ever to win a main event or a championship in the history of the tracks 52 years. I was on cloud nine! It was then that I realized how much racing meant to me. I had learned a lot during that 4 years and had so much fun doing it, but there were some bad times too! The first thing you have to do to win a championship is to be consistent. You have to be at every race, do your best, hope you don’t have any car problems, and most important, you have to try to finish in the top five every week. Sometimes things don’t always go as planned. I can’t tell you how many times I had engine problems in the first four years. I drove a 1973 Ford Torino with a 351 Windsor engine. My husband says the reason we had so many problems was because I was driving a “Ford!” He is a big Chevy man! But, you have to take the bad with the good. You have to find the problem, fix it, and go out and try it again. You have to have patience, believe in yourself, and most important, you have to have FUN! Sometimes it’s hard to have fun when you are having problems, but you have to hold your chin up and smile, things will hopefully be better next time! I started out racing in an entry-level class. I told myself, “I will not move up to the next division until I win the championship in my division.” When I finally accomplished my goal, I moved up to the next division. We built a Super Street stock. This is really a division and a half up. This year I raced mostly down south. I can’t race locally with this type of car and I wanted to try something different. I wanted to race with the best of the best and learn how to drive the car. There is a big difference in this division. Not only do I have a lot more engine, dual exhaust, and a better handling car, but also I have a possi rear end now. It was like starting all over again. I used to have to really work the car to get it to turn in the corners and now my new car turns so easy, sometimes even to easy. To be a good race car driver requires a lot. You want to have the best tools and equipment to work with, you have to be devoted and willing to learn, you must have patients, and also a lot of time! My husband always makes sure I have the best, so in return I keep striving to do better. You can’t be afraid to ask questions and talk to people. Everybody makes mistakes, but you have to learn from those mistakes. This is how I learned to drive. You can’t be afraid of going fast, and God knows, I love to go fast. The more I learn the more I want to race. I want to be the best I can be! The most important thing I have learned is that seat time and experience can only make you a better driver. Some people are a natural and others have to work that much harder. Talk, Listen, and Learn! My favorite part about racing is the people I have met, on and off the track. I also have a big fan following, of all ages. Mostly because I am a woman in a man’s sport, but my fans think it is the best thing and really look up to me for being so enthused. I love spending time with my fans and hearing from them, I don’t only race for myself, but for my fans! I love to hear them scream and to see the smiles on their faces. This makes it all worth while! I am also a big Nascar fan, so I know how important it is to take care of your fans. If it weren’t for the fans, there would be no racetracks. I am often asked, “What are your dreams and where do you see yourself going in the racing world?” Well if it is up to me, I will be racing forever. I would love to become a Nascar Driver and make a career out of it. My favorite Nascar driver is Dale Earnhardt Jr. I like him so much, that I designated one whole room in my house for all of my Jr. memorabilia, and believe me, the room is full! I guess it is time for a bigger room. This room is also where I keep all of my own racing memorabilia and I also do all of my racing business from this room. My husband, for Christmas one-year, bought me a day driving at the Russell Driving School in Sonoma, California. He says he did it because it was wintertime and I was really jonesing. I went out there and had a blast. It was way different from what I was used to. For one thing, it was a road coarse track and I race on an oval track, and it was asphalt, not dirt. I don’t know, I could probably have fun racing anything, as long as it has four wheels and goes fast. I just want to do the best I can, keep learning, and have fun. For now, I think dirt track racing is more of a challenge to me. You never know what to expect from race to race and I feel it is a good place to start. Look how many Nascar drivers started out their racing careers on dirt tracks, a lot of them did, even Dale Earnhardt Sr., one of the biggest Nascar legends ever! Who knows, maybe I will be noticed by someone and become famous. Isn’t that everyone’s dream? I love what I do and I love making people happy. This next year, I plan on racing a couple of series. There is a series that is still pretty new, but all of your top Street Stock drivers race in it, and it is only four or five races. It is called the California Street Stock Series. I will also be racing out of Kings Speedway in Hanford, California. This is one of the tracks I raced at last year and found it to be a very well run track. The officials are always happy to have you there and thank you every night for coming and racing. They are very professional and run a good program. They don’t play favoritism and they have a good spectator turn out. There is good, clean racing at this track. This past season, we raced at tracks in Bakersfield, Santa Maria, Chowchilla and Antioch. Hanford was by far the best ran track. Depending on funding, we will race several open competition shows at the end of the season, that are two-day shows. I have a very strong race team. It consists of mostly family and good friends that are all very loyal to the sport. My husband is my number one supporter and crew chief. He is the one who makes it all happen. Currently he does all of the mechanical work and painting. He is the one that gets me out on the track every week. Both of my daughters are on my crew and they are there beside me every week to make sure my uniform and helmet are clean and ready, they wash the car between races, they keep notes for my race team, write down my starting positions for me, and make sure I have everything I need to get me on the track. They are also very instrumental in keeping our tools and equipment organized and with us. I have several friends that support what I do and are there every chance they get. Without the support of my team, I could not make it through the night. One of my crewmembers, Bruce, knows just what to do and gets in there and does it. He has been with me since I started racing. I often ask him, why do you stay with me, and he says, “Because you are motivated and always striving to do your best!” He really thinks I can go places. For the past 5 years, my race team has been funded mostly from our business, Taylor Automotive, and several small local businesses. My plan for next season, is to get the backing needed to cover our expenses, through seeking out sponsorship from bigger companies that can benefit from our services, as well us benefiting from their services, and that should get us more exposure state wide. In return we will have the funds for our team to grow and have the supplies and equipment needed to better our team. I am willing to put in the time necessary to work with my sponsors, as well as my team, to achieve my goals. On the following page is a list of my achievements and race results for the past four years. I did not include any information for last year, since we had a brand new car and were focusing more on set up and dialing the car in, than where we were finishing in race. |
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| RACE RESULTS & ACHIEVEMENTS PETALUMA SPEEDWAY PURE STOCK DIVISION 1999 SEASON (ROOKIE) 19 Races Total Ran 18 Races 1 Race we did not finish 1 Heat Race Win 7 Main Event Top 5 Finishes SEASON ACHIEVEMENTS We won our first heat race, the first time ever raced on this track, first race of the year. Finished 5th Place in the points for the season. 2000 SEASON 22 Races Total Ran 22 Races 1 Heat Race Win 10 Main Event Top 5 Finishes SEASON ACHIEVEMENTS Finished 4th Place in the points for the season. Voted Best Appearing Car 2001 SEASON 20 Races Ran 20 Races 6 Heat Race Wins 9 Main Event Top 5 Finishes SEASON ACHIEVEMENTS Finished 5th Place in the points for the season. Voted Best Appearing Car 2002 SEASON 22 Races Total Ran 22 Races 4 Heat Race Wins 1 Main Event Win 15 Main Event Top 5 Finishes SEASON ACHIEVEMENTS First Main Event Win Ever Set Record-First female to ever win a main event in the 52 years history at Petaluma Speedway. Set Record-First female to win a championship in the 52 years history at Petaluma Speedway. Finished 1st Place in points for the season. Finished 2nd Place in Owners Points for the season. |
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| YOU GO GIRL RACING 2004 SPONSORSHIP LEVELS Become part of the fastest growing spectator sport in the world! We offer sponsorship packages at all levels and provide maximum exposure for your company’s products and services. Primary Level Sponsorship Secondary Sponsorship * Title Sponsorship * Equipment Sponsorship * Associate Title Sponsorship * Services & Supplies Sponsorship * Platinum Sponsorship * Gold Sponsorship * Silver Sponsorship * Bronze Sponsorship TITLE SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in premier locations on the trailer, the car’s body, internet site, driver & team uniforms and other marketing promotions. Permission to use photos in company promotional materials. Tickets and trackside hospitality for your company and guests. Driver appearances. Typically 50%* of required season budget. ASSOCIATE TITLE SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in premier locations on the trailer, the car’s body, internet site, driver & team uniforms and other marketing promotions. Permission to use photos in company promotional materials. Tickets and trackside hospitality for your company and guests. Driver appearances. Typically 25%* of required season budget. PLATINUM SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in predominant locations on the trailer, the car’s body, internet site, driver & team uniforms and other marketing promotions. Permission to use photos in company promotional materials. Tickets and trackside hospitality for your company and guests. Driver appearances. Typically 15%* of required season budget. GOLD SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in locations on the trailer, the car’s body, internet site, driver & team uniforms and other marketing promotions. Permission to use photos in company promotional materials. Tickets and trackside hospitality for your company and guest. Typically 10%* of required season budget. SILVER SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in locations on the car’s body and driver & team uniforms. Tickets and trackside hospitality for your company and guests. Typically 5%* of required season budget. BRONZE SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in location on the car’s body. Tickets and trackside hospitality for you company and guests. Typically 1%* of required budget. *106% total sponsorship allows for negotiation margin. EQUIPMENT SPONSORSHIP Engraved plaque or engraving on donated items. Benefit lasts the life of the equipment. Trackside hospitality for your company and guests. SERVICES & SUPPLIES SPONSORSHIP Company logo will be placed in location on the car’s body. Trackside hospitality for your company and guests. |
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