On Track for Success

by Chris Voth

Auto racing, specifically NASCAR, has come a long way from its Southern-bred, country-fried, “good-old boys” image. It is now the nation’s second-most popular sport on television (behind the NFL), and in 2006, 17 of the 20 highest-attended sporting events in the nation were NASCAR events.

While NASCAR may not have a long history in Southern California, drag racing does. Its roots are in the dry lake beds of the Mojave Desert. In 1951, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) formed as the sanctioning body to govern safety of the sport. The NHRA headquarters in Glendora is just five minutes from the Azusa Pacific University campus.

Fast Track NASCAR comes to California Speedway twice a year – the Auto Club 400 in February and a 500-mile race in September. This year’s Auto Club 400 attracted 90,000 fans, and the fall event expects to draw similar numbers. According to Fritz Maskrey ’99, the two events together will bring in more revenue to the area than a Super Bowl, upwards of $230 million.

Maskrey, a former Cougar baseball player, now serves as the senior director of corporate sales and marketing at California Speedway in Fontana. The 2.5-mile oval hosts several national racing series, including the AMA Superbikes, but its big draw is the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Maskrey, who lives with his wife, Keleigh, and son, Jack, in Huntington Beach, manages a team of six, which is responsible for all track sponsorship, the 91 VIP luxury hospitality suites, all signage and vendor retail space on property, and any other corporate revenue for the facility.

While Maskrey grew up in Dana Point, surfing and playing traditional sports like baseball, he had an interest in racing at an early age. “I remember watching NASCAR on TV with my dad, and for some reason, I just enjoyed it,” said Maskrey. “I had a passion for getting involved.”

At that time, no major track existed in Southern California, so there was not much of an opportunity to be a part of the national racing scene. That changed in 1997 with the opening of California Speedway. Then-APU sophomore Maskrey remembers coming out to the ribbon-cutting on opening day. (No comment on whether he skipped classes to attend.)

With a track close by, Maskrey began pestering the staff at California Speedway for the next couple of years about a job or mentorship. There were none available, but following his May 1999 graduation, they agreed to a meeting.

“We went through their Rolodex for about two-and-a-half hours and they gave me names and addresses to send résumés to,” said Maskrey. “Then I called up to Sears Point [near San Francisco] and said I want to volunteer to get my feet wet.

“I drove up there and lived out of my Jeep for two-and-a-half months, working for Sears Point leading up to the NASCAR race,” said Maskrey. That led to an internship with them and a second internship with Laguna Seca in Monterey. He eventually landed a full-time job at Laguna Seca and worked there until the end of 2000, when he got a call to come down and interview for a job opening at California Speedway.

Now in his seventh year at California Speedway, Maskrey’s focus centers on growing racing’s visibility in Southern California.

“I think NASCAR is still in its infancy here,” said Maskrey. “It’s not yet woven into the fabric of society. It’s not been here for 40 years like the Dodgers or Lakers, but once people get a taste of the sport, they get hooked the first time they come on site.”

Like NASCAR, the NHRA seeks to become more mainstream. While it has not yet received the same level of media attention, some of that is changing with the A&E reality series, Driving Force. The show follows 14-time Funny Car Champion John Force on and off the track as he interacts with his wife and four daughters.

Easily the biggest name in drag racing, Force is one of the most dynamic and outspoken personalities in all of sports. Kelly Antonelli ’03 is the marketing director for John Force Racing, Inc., based in Yorba Linda, and is in charge of scheduling, managing driver appearances, arranging interviews, and doing public relations work for the multimillion dollar operation.

“We are not only trying to get John Force’s name out there, but we are also trying to assist in the growth of the sport,” said Antonelli. “We want to take it to the next level.”

Force’s team fields three cars, one of which is driven by daughter Ashley, who is in her first year of professional competition. Female racers remain a rarity, but add to that the last name Force and a national television show, and it amounts to a lot of attention for Ashley’s season. Antonelli’s husband, Dean, is Ashley’s crew chief so the pressure increases to make sure she races well.

Similar to Maskrey, Antonelli did not grow up on racing. After graduating high school in Washington Court House, Ohio, she started an internship with Columbus-based Mac Tools, while taking college classes. The internship led to a full-time job in customer service and eventually a position in the motorsports division in 1994. The job included travel to all kinds of races at tracks all over the country, which took a toll on Antonelli’s education and her personal life.

“I liked the travel, but I had a steady boyfriend at the time,” she said. “When I started traveling, that really put a crunch on our relationship.”

A choice had to be made. Antonelli chose the job, but in 1998, Antonelli’s boss and Force, who is sponsored by Mac Tools, played matchmakers and set her up with a mechanic on Force’s team.

The two started dating and were married in June 1999. A few months later, Antonelli joined John Force Racing, Inc., and the newlyweds moved to California to be close to the team’s operations.

Still wanting to finish her degree, Antonelli enrolled in Azusa Pacific’s Bachelor of Science in Applied Management (now B.S. in Organizational Leadership) Program. She attended classes once a week in Orange County, while doing homework and writing papers on the road and at the track.

Antonelli now lives in Indianapolis and travels to all 23 national events, working at a frenetic pace to keep up with Force’s high energy. “It’s never boring,” said Antonelli. “It’s kind of like riding a roller coaster. But I love my job, and we’re introducing John and the NHRA to people who may not be familiar with our sport.”

Speed Racer Like most college students, Erica Nocita ’07 has a job on the weekends to help pay the bills. But unlike her classmates who may be waiting tables, mowing lawns, or working at Disneyland, Nocita drag races.

And she does more than just race, she wins. In fact, Nocita drove her Chevy Cobalt Phase 5 to two national wins last year en route to becoming the Eastern Champion in the NHRA Sport Compact Quick 16.

Nocita grew up around racing. Her father is a car guy, often affectionately called a “gear head.” He loves to work on, talk about, and be around cars; and he has done some drag racing himself. He used to take the family on vacations to the desert, where the kids would tear up the sand on four-wheelers and off-road vehicles.

When each of the kids turned 16, Mr. Nocita insisted they take a safe-driving course. Erica lobbied for a drag racing course at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in Pomona instead. Her dad conceded and that was it.

“Once I made my first pass, I just fell in love with the sport,” said Nocita, who ignored other extracurricular activities to begin racing a Super Stock Chevelle at the amateur level on weekends. She competed at local tracks from Irwindale to Palmdale.

For the uninitiated, drag racing involves an acceleration competition between two vehicles beginning at a standstill and racing in a straight line down a quarter-mile track. While the vehicles in the sport may vary in size, power, and speed, they all race the same distance and the same track. Drivers of similar class are matched up in a 16-car bracket, much like a basketball tournament, and compete head-to-head through four rounds to determine a winner.

When Nocita started showing up at the track, few young ladies were around, which made fitting in a bit difficult.

“A lot of the guys wouldn’t talk to me,” said Nocita, whose entire pit crew consisted only of her father and her best friend, Pat Selders. “As a girl, you have to work harder to be taken seriously. You have to be twice as good. If you mess up, they give you a bad time. If a guy messes up, they just say ‘it happens.’”

Undeterred, she continued racing, even though her interest perplexed her mother. “My mom doesn’t get cars. She just doesn’t get it.”

But she remained supportive, as long as Nocita maintained her grades. “No school, no cars” was her rule. Nocita obliged and graduated from Mayfield High School in Pasadena in 2002 before attending the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“I could only take one year there,” she said. “I missed my family, and it was too cold to wear my flip flops. Plus, I didn’t get to race, which was hard.”

Nocita, a business major, returned to Southern California in fall 2003, enrolled at Azusa Pacific University, and got back behind the wheel. She started racing her father’s 1966 Chevy Nova at the next level up, going from zero to 120 miles per hour (mph) in five seconds.

There are many different classes and categories in drag racing. At the top sits Top Fuel Dragsters, which go more than 325 mph and cover the quarter-mile track in less than five seconds. There are also Funny Cars, Pro Stock Cars, Pro Stock Bikes, Pro Stock Trucks, and many other kinds of vehicles on down to regular street-legal cars.

While the professional drivers compete in the 23-race NHRA POWERade Series, there are thousands of “weekend warriors” like Nocita who pay to race at local tracks just for the fun of it. The cost of the cars, engines, entry fees, and transportation make it an expensive hobby, unless a driver is lucky enough to attract a sponsor. Fortunately, that happened to Nocita at the end of 2004, inking a deal with GM to race the Chevy Cobalt Phase 5. Ironically, Nocita’s gender sparked the carmaker’s initial interest.

The sponsorship includes a car, parts, testing, technical support, travel expenses, and a driver’s stipend. It also comes with the responsibilities of making personal appearances and attending more races, including competitions on the other side of the country.

Nocita competed in her first race as a sponsored driver in West Palm Beach, Florida, April 1-2, 2005. While a friend transported the car, Nocita, her father, and her new crew chief flew in for the weekend. It was worth the trip.

Against incredible odds, Nocita won her first NHRA national event and took home a prestigious “Wally” trophy (named after NHRA founder Wally Parks) . “I’ve wanted to win a Wally since I started watching drag racing, so winning at West Palm Beach was an emotional and exciting time for me.”

A month later, she did it again and won at Englishtown, New Jersey. “I’d heard a lot about the competition there, and for years had seen the track on television, so that was another great moment.”

By virtue of those two wins and solid performances in other races, Nocita won the Eastern crown. But it was not an easy accomplishment, especially while trying to balance racing twice a month, travel, classes, and homework.

“It was really difficult and wasn’t always fun to be at a great track like Englishtown and have to be in the trailer doing applied calculus, but that was the only time to get it done.”

Nocita acknowledges there were a lot of understanding sponsors and professors who made the dual life possible. “The people at GM have been unbelievable in their support of my school schedule,” said Nocita, “and my professors helped me in scheduling some of my work and exams around my travel schedule.

“At first when I told them I had to go racing, they looked at me like I was giving them a ‘my dog ate my homework’ excuse, but then they were cool with it.”

Nocita defends her title in 2007 while finishing her final semester at APU. Then she hopes to attend the University of Southern California to become a pharmacist. Despite her success in drag racing, she does not plan on making it a career.

“I want racing to be a part of my life, but I don’t want it to consume me,” said Nocita. “I would like to have a regular life like everyone else.”

Maybe she is not that different from her classmates after all.

Chris Voth ’95 is a freelance writer and stand-up comedian who lives in Denver, Colorado. <a href="mailto:" [email protected]”"> [email protected]

Fast Track NASCAR comes to California Speedway twice a year – the Auto Club 400 in February and a 500-mile race in September. This year’s Auto Club 400 attracted 90,000 fans, and the fall event expects to draw similar numbers. According to Fritz Maskrey ’99, the two events together will bring in more revenue to the area than a Super Bowl, upwards of $230 million.

Maskrey, a former Cougar baseball player, now serves as the senior director of corporate sales and marketing at California Speedway in Fontana. The 2.5-mile oval hosts several national racing series, including the AMA Superbikes, but its big draw is the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Maskrey, who lives with his wife, Keleigh, and son, Jack, in Huntington Beach, manages a team of six, which is responsible for all track sponsorship, the 91 VIP luxury hospitality suites, all signage and vendor retail space on property, and any other corporate revenue for the facility.

While Maskrey grew up in Dana Point, surfing and playing traditional sports like baseball, he had an interest in racing at an early age. “I remember watching NASCAR on TV with my dad, and for some reason, I just enjoyed it,” said Maskrey. “I had a passion for getting involved.”

At that time, no major track existed in Southern California, so there was not much of an opportunity to be a part of the national racing scene. That changed in 1997 with the opening of California Speedway. Then-APU sophomore Maskrey remembers coming out to the ribbon-cutting on opening day. (No comment on whether he skipped classes to attend.)

With a track close by, Maskrey began pestering the staff at California Speedway for the next couple of years about a job or mentorship. There were none available, but following his May 1999 graduation, they agreed to a meeting.

“We went through their Rolodex for about two-and-a-half hours and they gave me names and addresses to send résumés to,” said Maskrey. “Then I called up to Sears Point [near San Francisco] and said I want to volunteer to get my feet wet.

“I drove up there and lived out of my Jeep for two-and-a-half months, working for Sears Point leading up to the NASCAR race,” said Maskrey. That led to an internship with them and a second internship with Laguna Seca in Monterey. He eventually landed a full-time job at Laguna Seca and worked there until the end of 2000, when he got a call to come down and interview for a job opening at California Speedway.

Now in his seventh year at California Speedway, Maskrey’s focus centers on growing racing’s visibility in Southern California.

“I think NASCAR is still in its infancy here,” said Maskrey. “It’s not yet woven into the fabric of society. It’s not been here for 40 years like the Dodgers or Lakers, but once people get a taste of the sport, they get hooked the first time they come on site.”

Like NASCAR, the NHRA seeks to become more mainstream. While it has not yet received the same level of media attention, some of that is changing with the A&E reality series, Driving Force. The show follows 14-time Funny Car Champion John Force on and off the track as he interacts with his wife and four daughters.

Easily the biggest name in drag racing, Force is one of the most dynamic and outspoken personalities in all of sports. Kelly Antonelli ’03 is the marketing director for John Force Racing, Inc., based in Yorba Linda, and is in charge of scheduling, managing driver appearances, arranging interviews, and doing public relations work for the multimillion dollar operation.

“We are not only trying to get John Force’s name out there, but we are also trying to assist in the growth of the sport,” said Antonelli. “We want to take it to the next level.”

Force’s team fields three cars, one of which is driven by daughter Ashley, who is in her first year of professional competition. Female racers remain a rarity, but add to that the last name Force and a national television show, and it amounts to a lot of attention for Ashley’s season. Antonelli’s husband, Dean, is Ashley’s crew chief so the pressure increases to make sure she races well.

Similar to Maskrey, Antonelli did not grow up on racing. After graduating high school in Washington Court House, Ohio, she started an internship with Columbus-based Mac Tools, while taking college classes. The internship led to a full-time job in customer service and eventually a position in the motorsports division in 1994. The job included travel to all kinds of races at tracks all over the country, which took a toll on Antonelli’s education and her personal life.

“I liked the travel, but I had a steady boyfriend at the time,” she said. “When I started traveling, that really put a crunch on our relationship.”

A choice had to be made. Antonelli chose the job, but in 1998, Antonelli’s boss and Force, who is sponsored by Mac Tools, played matchmakers and set her up with a mechanic on Force’s team.

The two started dating and were married in June 1999. A few months later, Antonelli joined John Force Racing, Inc., and the newlyweds moved to California to be close to the team’s operations.

Still wanting to finish her degree, Antonelli enrolled in Azusa Pacific’s Bachelor of Science in Applied Management (now B.S. in Organizational Leadership) Program. She attended classes once a week in Orange County, while doing homework and writing papers on the road and at the track.

Antonelli now lives in Indianapolis and travels to all 23 national events, working at a frenetic pace to keep up with Force’s high energy. “It’s never boring,” said Antonelli. “It’s kind of like riding a roller coaster. But I love my job, and we’re introducing John and the NHRA to people who may not be familiar with our sport.”

Speed Racer Like most college students, Erica Nocita ’07 has a job on the weekends to help pay the bills. But unlike her classmates who may be waiting tables, mowing lawns, or working at Disneyland, Nocita drag races.

And she does more than just race, she wins. In fact, Nocita drove her Chevy Cobalt Phase 5 to two national wins last year en route to becoming the Eastern Champion in the NHRA Sport Compact Quick 16.

Nocita grew up around racing. Her father is a car guy, often affectionately called a “gear head.” He loves to work on, talk about, and be around cars; and he has done some drag racing himself. He used to take the family on vacations to the desert, where the kids would tear up the sand on four-wheelers and off-road vehicles.

When each of the kids turned 16, Mr. Nocita insisted they take a safe-driving course. Erica lobbied for a drag racing course at Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in Pomona instead. Her dad conceded and that was it.

“Once I made my first pass, I just fell in love with the sport,” said Nocita, who ignored other extracurricular activities to begin racing a Super Stock Chevelle at the amateur level on weekends. She competed at local tracks from Irwindale to Palmdale.

For the uninitiated, drag racing involves an acceleration competition between two vehicles beginning at a standstill and racing in a straight line down a quarter-mile track. While the vehicles in the sport may vary in size, power, and speed, they all race the same distance and the same track. Drivers of similar class are matched up in a 16-car bracket, much like a basketball tournament, and compete head-to-head through four rounds to determine a winner.

When Nocita started showing up at the track, few young ladies were around, which made fitting in a bit difficult.

“A lot of the guys wouldn’t talk to me,” said Nocita, whose entire pit crew consisted only of her father and her best friend, Pat Selders. “As a girl, you have to work harder to be taken seriously. You have to be twice as good. If you mess up, they give you a bad time. If a guy messes up, they just say ‘it happens.’”

Undeterred, she continued racing, even though her interest perplexed her mother. “My mom doesn’t get cars. She just doesn’t get it.”

But she remained supportive, as long as Nocita maintained her grades. “No school, no cars” was her rule. Nocita obliged and graduated from Mayfield High School in Pasadena in 2002 before attending the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“I could only take one year there,” she said. “I missed my family, and it was too cold to wear my flip flops. Plus, I didn’t get to race, which was hard.”

Nocita, a business major, returned to Southern California in fall 2003, enrolled at Azusa Pacific University, and got back behind the wheel. She started racing her father’s 1966 Chevy Nova at the next level up, going from zero to 120 miles per hour (mph) in five seconds.

There are many different classes and categories in drag racing. At the top sits Top Fuel Dragsters, which go more than 325 mph and cover the quarter-mile track in less than five seconds. There are also Funny Cars, Pro Stock Cars, Pro Stock Bikes, Pro Stock Trucks, and many other kinds of vehicles on down to regular street-legal cars.

While the professional drivers compete in the 23-race NHRA POWERade Series, there are thousands of “weekend warriors” like Nocita who pay to race at local tracks just for the fun of it. The cost of the cars, engines, entry fees, and transportation make it an expensive hobby, unless a driver is lucky enough to attract a sponsor. Fortunately, that happened to Nocita at the end of 2004, inking a deal with GM to race the Chevy Cobalt Phase 5. Ironically, Nocita’s gender sparked the carmaker’s initial interest.

The sponsorship includes a car, parts, testing, technical support, travel expenses, and a driver’s stipend. It also comes with the responsibilities of making personal appearances and attending more races, including competitions on the other side of the country.

Nocita competed in her first race as a sponsored driver in West Palm Beach, Florida, April 1-2, 2005. While a friend transported the car, Nocita, her father, and her new crew chief flew in for the weekend. It was worth the trip.

Against incredible odds, Nocita won her first NHRA national event and took home a prestigious “Wally” trophy (named after NHRA founder Wally Parks). “I’ve wanted to win a Wally since I started watching drag racing, so winning at West Palm Beach was an emotional and exciting time for me.”

A month later, she did it again and won at Englishtown, New Jersey. “I’d heard a lot about the competition there, and for years had seen the track on television, so that was another great moment.”

By virtue of those two wins and solid performances in other races, Nocita won the Eastern crown. But it was not an easy accomplishment, especially while trying to balance racing twice a month, travel, classes, and homework.

“It was really difficult and wasn’t always fun to be at a great track like Englishtown and have to be in the trailer doing applied calculus, but that was the only time to get it done.”

Nocita acknowledges there were a lot of understanding sponsors and professors who made the dual life possible. “The people at GM have been unbelievable in their support of my school schedule,” said Nocita, “and my professors helped me in scheduling some of my work and exams around my travel schedule.

“At first when I told them I had to go racing, they looked at me like I was giving them a ‘my dog ate my homework’ excuse, but then they were cool with it.”

Nocita defends her title in 2007 while finishing her final semester at APU. Then she hopes to attend the University of Southern California to become a pharmacist. Despite her success in drag racing, she does not plan on making it a career.

“I want racing to be a part of my life, but I don’t want it to consume me,” said Nocita. “I would like to have a regular life like everyone else.”

Maybe she is not that different from her classmates after all.

Chris Voth ’95 is a freelance writer and stand-up comedian who lives in Denver, Colorado. <a href="mailto:" [email protected]”"> [email protected]