Calling The ActionIn the midst of her Late Model and Women's Global GT schedule, Sunny Hobbs has found the time to do some pit reporting. Her latest TV gig was this past October when she was hired by Pit Wall Productions to do the pit reporting for the USAC WorldCom Midget and Stoops Freightliner Sprint Series races at South Boston (Virginia) Speedway.
Hobbs got a chance to interview NASCAR Winston Cup driver Tony Stewart, who happened to be in the area to race at nearby Martinsville Speedway, and decided to drive the Steve Lewis-owned, Bob East-prepared No. 9 Midget-which he took to Victory Lane.
This wasn't Hobbs' first time in front of the camera. In April 1999, she had the opportunity to interview some of the top NASCAR Winston Cup teams at Talladega Superspeedway during the Diehard 500. She talked to the drivers and crew of the No. 8 Budweiser team, the two RCR Chevy teams and even the crew of the No. 22 Caterpillar about the popular Chevrolet pickup trucks and their "Like A Rock" appeal.
Rough RiderOff-Road Racer Molly Morter Has Found Success And Happiness On And Off The TrackAs Molly Morter jumps in her car to drive to the starting line, her mom straightens the angel pin on her Extreme firesuit and wishes her good luck. Her brother/teammate Andy tells her to watch out for the kicker on the second jump in front of the crowd. Finally, Morter's dad and other crewmembers, Tony and Rees, greet her in the staging area to start the ceremonial strap-in.
Morter zips up her firesuit, fastens the collar and clicks each of the five straps of the shoulder harness into the buckle on her lap. "Strap in tight Molly," her dad says. Morter puts on her helmet and looks through the hazy shield covered in tear-offs. She's ready.
The green flag drops. "Go, go, go Molly!" screams her Dad from his perch overlooking the track. From First gear to Second to Third, Morter shifts without taking her foot off the gas. Rounding the sweeper with her foot to the floor, she takes the first jump and the second without lifting. She's in the lead.
On the gas. Wide open. Whatever you might call it, off-road racer Molly Morter takes it to the extreme on and off the track. In a relatively short period of time, Morter has started racing, earned a bachelor of arts degree from Marquette University, won numerous races and a couple of championships, become a successful public relations representative for the DaimlerChrysler Motorsports program, raced in the famous Tecate Baja 2000 and been featured on MTV along with other women in extreme sports. So what else is there to do? Well, she's not lifting off that throttle, that's for sure.
Morter is the first one to say that being a woman has not slowed her down from gaining what she wants from racing and life in general. Actually, racing has given her that extra bit of confidence and taught her to "embrace competition and challenge herself in every aspect of life," not just racing.
At the age of 18, Morter decided she would like to try off-road racing. "Hey, why not?" she thought. Her dad and brother Andy had already shown their skills on the off-road dirt tracks of the Championship Off-Road Racing Series (CORR). She probably had it in her genes to do the same.
And that she did. After finishing in the Top 5 of all the events she raced, Morter figured she had what it takes to be a top contender. Three short years later, she won six races and the 1998 World Championship title in the Women's Light Buggy class of the CORR Series.
Cut to three years later and you will find the spunky 5-foot, 4-inch Morter knee deep in all aspects of racing-from competing to representing other teams and drivers. She's a senior account executive for Golin/Harris International, a public relations firm located in Chicago.