LAUREL VIERA - THUNDER VALLEY RACING'S NOVEMBER DRIVER OF THE MONTH

Laurel Viera - Thunder Valley Racing's November Driver of the Month


Laurel Viera's earliest memories of racing are of standing by her
stepfather's racecar and holding his helmet--from age 3 and up. Her summers
during elementary school were spent at the track including a stint as a
trophy girl on her 12th birthday. Her first opportunity to drive didn't
come until 1992 when she met someone who helped her get into dirt track
endurance races at county fairs with 100 or so cars running 150 laps. She
had done endurance racing for 2 summers when one of her sponsors offered to
put her in a dirt track hobby stock. In 1994 she bought a used 1980 Malibu
hobby stock and met her goals for her first race completing the race
without getting lapped or crashing.

She had her first A feature win in 1995 in Jackson, MN. "My most memorable
racing story covers two weekends. First, was my A feature win in 1995. Ever
since I could remember, I wondered what it would be like to stand in
victory lane. It was a long time coming in my life but it was better than
what my fantasy had played out many times over. The following weekend, the
TV station showed up to do a story on me, as well as my Mother was there
for the first time ever, to watch me race.

On the start of my heat race, another car and I got tangled up and when we
broke free, I was headed for the wall. All I could think of was my Mother
was in the audience for the first time. Suddenly, I was hit so hard that it
spun me around and sent me down the track and into the infield. I went
through the grass, launched off some railroad ties and through a wall of
billboards. The car came to a complete halt smashing into the rider's door
of a brand new 1995 Ford Mustang. $4,000 worth of damage, yes, to the pace
car. That is my claim to fame. Even 6 years later, people still talk about
my pace car crash, not my record book feature win the week before."

Laurel drove hobby stocks from 1994 until 1999. "In 1996, my partner and I
built a brand new hobby stock. 1997, we used the same chassis and in 49
starts, I had 29 top 5 finishes, 10 top 10 finishes and only 3 DNFs.
In 1998, my partner and I shared a car, which resulted in a track
championship for him on Friday and a top ten finish for me on Saturday,
even with missing a points night and 5 DNFs. (I had some bad luck with
mechanical problems, being the second night driver.)"

During her hobby stock years she drove at 11 different tracks in Iowa,
Minnesota, and Oklahoma.  In 2001, they converted the dirt track stockcar
to an asphalt setup and have been racing in the NASCAR Sportsman division.
"I am racing in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. It is a fast 5/8 mile track that the
likes of Dick Trickle, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and the Sauter family have
come from. I plan on spending another year in the Sportsman division on
asphalt and then we'll see what happens from there."

Given how long she's been racing, its no surprise that Laurel looks up to
those who understand how to hang in there. "Shirley Muldowney is who I
credit with really changing the idea of women in a man's world. Her first
step was getting women allowed into the pits. I feel that was probably the
biggest change for women in racing. Then she stuck with it, through, not
only the good/winning times but the tough times. Perseverance! I also give
a lot of credit to my mother, who raised me to believe that I could do what
ever I wanted in my life and be good at it too!!! "