This article first appeared in the November, 2014 edition of SportsCar Magazine. SCCA members can read the current and past editions of SportCar digitally here after logging into their account; To become an SCCA member and get SportsCar mailed to your home address monthly in addition to the digital editions, click here.
SHELLY MONFORT
SCCA MEMBER SINCE 1982
SAN FRANCISCO REGION
I joined SCCA as a teenager. My first racing experience was behind the wheel of a purpose-built Dodge Dart drag racecar – in the “powder puff” bracket. By 18 I had discovered autocross; I wasn't blinding fast, but I was hooked!
I worked part time during school, machining parts at Elgin Cams. I rebuilt the engine in my car myself, including boring the cylinders and decking the block. My best friend and I entered a Drivers School at Sonoma Raceway in a GT3 Datsun, earning my Club Racing license. I was figure skating competitively at the time, and my parents looked quizzically at my collection of frilly skating dresses and Nomex racing gear – and my skating coaches (mostly) tolerated the grease under my nails.
I raced GT cars, then Improved Touring and, eventually, Formula Mazda. In autocross, I progressed into National level events, and won a National Championship in E Prepared Ladies, and later in H Stock Ladies.
My racing enthusiasm strongly influenced my decision to pursue a mechanical engineering/product design degree at Stanford University, and my engineering training helped me gain a better appreciation for the mechanics and dynamics of racecars.
A technical career in medicine left me little outside time, and my racing schedule gradually and insidiously shrank until I was participating in a casual race or two. I had earned patents on new technology, founded a couple of startup companies, traveled the world – and still loved cars and kept up on who's who in my monthly SportsCar.
In 2007, a friend said to me, "Wow, you drive racecars? How come you aren't doing it now?" It was a good question. The next week I test-drove a Lotus Elise, and I was hooked all over again!
In 2008, I was rusty but trophied at the Tire Rack Solo National Championships in Super Stock Ladies. In 2009, I won the championship in my Lotus, the first of six consecutive championships in SSL.
This year I received the SCCA Driver of Eminence Award, and it was one of the most humbling and overwhelming experiences in my life to be honored by my peers for my accomplishments and contribution. In all, it's been a great ride and I hope I am racing and helping others in the sport for years to come.
