All
Press Releases by Belinda Endress
September 4, 2002
Belinda
Endress Gets Creative to Finish Grand-AM at VIR
ALTON,
Va., Wednesday, September 4, 2002 — Belinda Endress drove
through a grocery list of obstacles to finish 11th in the
hotly contested Grand-American Cup Street Stock Series GS
II class at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) over the
weekend. The Newbury Park, California-resident piloted the
# 31 Audi Quattro S4 for The R.A.C.E. Team, Inc. with co-driver
and car owner, Raff McDougall through some of the most treacherous
conditions of her career. Like much of the weekend, the 250-mile
race was run in the rain. A parade lap pit stop to attempt
to correct a fogging windshield put Endress, driving for the
first time at VIR and in the Audi, a lap behind from the start.
However, she overcame the difficulty through quick thinking
and ingenious problem solving to take the checkered flag.
“It was a real disappointment that the windshield fogged
up so badly,” offered the former Women’s Global
GT Series standout. “As soon as we started the parade
lap it fogged up, I mean really fogged up! I had no choice
but to pit. I was lucky just to make it around the track!
We wiped the shield only for it to completely fog up as I
went through turn-one. I navigated blindly around to pit again.
I had to do that five times. I asked for a rag on a stick
so I could wipe the shield as I went down the straights. I
got into a rhythm of going through the corners: short shifting,
wiping, shifting, wiping. I radioed in at one point, saying
‘we will never give up!’ and we didn’t. All
things considered, we finished pretty well. VIR was fun and
technical. The R.A.C.E. Team was just super to work with and
the Audi was a blessing to drive in the rain. All-in-all it
was a fun, wet and wild race weekend!”
Xtreme Island Designs (XID) of Honolulu is the primary sponsor
of the former stuntwoman’s Audi. XID is a maker of high-energy
island-oriented apparel that is sold throughout the United
States. A strong supporter of Endress’ career for a number
of years, XID followed her into the highly competitive and
professional Grand-Am Cup Street Stock Series in early 2002.
Endress owns and operates SK Productions, a sports video company.
Prior to racing cars she was heavily involved in horse racing,
working as an assistant trainer and exercise rider. Currently,
outside of her daily work routine and racing, she acts as
a safety and high performance-driving instructor in southern
California.
For
more on Belinda Endress please see www.GodSpeedOnWheels.com.
To learn about XID, please visit www.godspeedonwheels.com/xidwrite.
Visit www.raceteam.org
to learn more about ‘The Race Team”.
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