Jody DeVere is President of Ask Patty.com, Inc. and has more than 25 years of achievement in sales and marketing leadership across diverse industries. Jody is currently the President of the Woman’s Automotive Association International, a leading automotive organization that supports upcoming female race car drivers, diversity, and charitable giving and provides scholarships for young women seeking careers in the automotive industry. She is also a member of the Car Care Council Women’s Board, and a member of the SEMA Businesswomen’s Networking Association.

In 2003, Jody was honored by the Los Angeles Business Journal as a “Woman Making a Difference” for her vision to integrate business and the community with “Tribute Care,” an inspiring Business Social Responsibility model for companies to enhance customer acquisition and loyalty by participating in cause-related charitable giving programs.

Jody is based in Southern California and has three children, one of whom has a spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis, and four grandchildren.

Carol Hollfelder’s interest in cars goes back to her childhood. Cars were and are a family passion. Although Carol has always loved cars, she began competing one horse at a time at the age of nine. She rode hunters and jumpers until she was injured in a motorcycle accident in 1987 at the age of 18. Due to a spinal cord injury, she could no longer compete as an equestrian so she turned her drive for competition towards sportcars.

Racing began with club events at Willow Springs, Riverside Raceway and other historic tracks. Driving courses came first, then club races. Carol began using her street car, a Toyota Supra, in these events. It was an automatic because a decade ago there were no hand controls for a manual transmission. In 1999, Carol won SCCA’s Cal Club Regional Championship in the T1 class. In 2003, she began campaigning a Ford Mustang equipped with Ford’s ASM/SSM transmission out of their Aston Martin Vanquish. She also drives with a brake/throttle system that was designed by her father. Tom Hollfelder. and fabricated by Steele Therkleson, a mechanic on the Le Mans winning 1966-67 Ford GT40 teams.

As a paraplegic, Carol has been faced with many obstacles which the able-bodied never confront. As a result of this, she is extremely interested in issues and research affecting the disabled.

Carol hopes to bring people’s attention to the hand control system that she uses. She hopes to show other people with disabilities that nothing is beyond their reach, not even the ultra competitive world of motorsports. She is also looking ahead in her own driving. Endurance racing with her husband at Daytona is a goal that she looks forward to achieving.

Tiger Racing: www.tiger-racing.com/

Justin Bonsignore, an 18 year old high school senior from Holtsville, NY, is ready to take the racing world by storm. Justin’s career in racing began 10 years ago at the age of 8. His father Tom, along with his uncles Bill and Frank, have owned and operated one of the top kart racing shops in the country, providing karts, parts and championship winning engines for over a decade. With their guidance, he made his first start in a kart at Medford Speedway on Long Island and finished 2nd. Two weeks later, he was in victory lane for the first time.

In 1997, Justin started his first ever National event at the famed Rockingham Motor Speedway. During the next 8 years, he achieved 17 National event wins, 11 poles, and 38 top five finishes in just 71 career National starts. He ended his karting career on top, with 5 straight feature wins and two championships in the same year.

In 2005, Justin stepped up from karts to begin his stock car career in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series at Riverhead Raceway. Throughout his 2005 campaign he scored one pole, one heat race victory and finished third in the championships standings, the highest position ever by a rookie. He was also proud to claim the NASCAR Rookie of the Year title.

Throughout his career, Justin has learned the value of cultivating relationships with sponsors and has used his success to create and drive forward the marketing efforts of many national companies. Justin is presently competing in the NASCAR Modified Division at Riverhead Raceway and proudly displays the United Spinal Association emblem on his #28 racecar.

Mike Dickerson has been SCCA Region Development Manager for four years and a former sales director and customer service manager.

Mike has been an active SCCA member for 16 years in almost all forms of activities: National competition racing license holder, Solo driver, ralliest, road racing flagger and steward. Professional race series support include Formula 1, ChampCar, ALMS, Grand Am Cup, Trans Am and NASCAR. Former Regional Executive (two years), Region Membership Chairperson, and Editor.

Mike is currently directly involved in planning and structuring SCCA programs related to site acquisition, Formula SAE relations, SCCA Region management training and growth, and national convention planning seminar development. Edits and publishes print and web version of SCCA’s Inside Line, an internal management newsletter for SCCA Region Executives.

Sports Car Club of America: http://www.scca.org/

Jeff Bressler is the News Director and Anchor for Motor Trend Magazine’s Motor Trend Radio, heard each Saturday and Sunday on over 160 stations across the nation as well as on Sirius and XM satellite. Jeff also serves as the motorsports anchor, product reviewer and frequent guest host on Auto World, heard each week on the National Radio Network. Jeff was the first national radio reporter to break the announcement on the untimely death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. while reporting live from Daytona for WJR in Detroit.

Jeff writes a monthly syndicated column titled “Third Age Wheels” that focuses on automotive news and product reviews for mature drivers. His Third Age Wheels commentaries are heard each week on the National Radio Network.

Jeff is also a frequent writer for the Ford Motor Company’s cutting edge website Ford Bold Moves. He also provides feature automotive articles to newspapers and magazines across the nation.

In addition to his radio work Jeff is the track announcer at Long Island’s historic Riverhead Raceway. The oval is one of only 60 short tracks nationwide that is NASCAR sanctioned. In 2001 Jeff was voted one of the Top 10 racing announcers in the United States by Short Track.

Motor Trend Radio: http://www.motortrend.com/multimedia/mtradio/

Three years after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), Robert Burgin pursued his lifelong dream of competing in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) drag racing. Today, Robert is a successful sportsman racer in the NHRA Super Stock Southeast Division.

Drag racing was a lifelong dream for Robert, who fell in love with the wheel-standing muscle cars of the 1960s and 1970s as a child growing up in South Georgia. After dabbling in drag racing for two years in college, Robert promised himself that one day he would return to racing and compete at a higher level. However, his dreams of racing were nearly destroyed in 1994 when he was diagnosed with MS. Robert decided to keep his MS a secret from his friends, family and co-workers and coined living and working as if nothing had changed. It wasn’t until three years later after the sudden death of his brother-in-law, that Robert realized that if his MS progressed, he would never be able to accomplish his lifelong goal of drag racing.

Robert bought his first car one month later and competed in bracket racing for two years before becoming licensed in Super Stock. In 2000, he completed his first full season of national competition, finishing 51st in national Super Stock points standing and 8th in the NHRA Southeast Division II. Robert also performed well at the US Nationals in Indianapolis, winning the Super Stock GT/BA class and racing to the semi-final round in Super Stock eliminator.

Steve “Wheels” Bucaro, of Palmdale, California specializes in modifying trucks and is heavily involved in the custom truck scene. His work is well-known within the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) community and his modified trucks have won numerous Best of Show events nationwide.

After Steve was spinal cord injured in a motorcycle accident in 1998, he decided to take his life-long passion for automobiles to the next level. He purchased a 1999 Dodge Ram Sport Quad Cab truck, outfitted it with hand controls and transformed it into a dream machine chock-full of added goodies that would make most car enthusiasts envious, including custom audio, suspension, and dual exhaust systems, 22-inch wheels, and a fully modified body and paint job.

Steve gained fame and a number of trophies for his truck’s unique design and customization. Steve was soon hungry for a new challenge, and developed plans to modify a 2003 Ram. He presented his ideas to Daimler-Chrysler, who took notice of Steve’s original work on the 1999 Ram and passed him the keys to a 2003 model. Steve’s 2003 Dodge Ram project was nothing like the industry had ever seen. Thanks to the help of a long list of sponsors and a whole lot of hard work and networking, Steve’s design ideas and concepts took shape…in a big way. His 2003 Ram took center-stage at SEMA with a butterscotch-orange paint job, 24-inch wheels, adjustable suspension, a rear driver-side suicide door to improve accessibility, a custom interior, and a ton of body work and other extra elements that immediately won the hearts of everyone who saw it.

Steve credits his injury with giving him a new focused approached to life, which can certainly be seen through the energy and enthusiasm he has put into his custom trucks.

Custom Truck Designer: www.checkmeoutcustoms.com/