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Mei is expected to compete at Evergreen
Speedway, WA August 19, 2006
Bio
Continental Drifting: Star
Girl Racer Verena Mei
Verena Mei: Model and Race
Driver
2006
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Continental Drifting: Star
Girl Racer Verena Mei
If there are two things that male racing fans would
love to combine if given the chance, they’d be
drifting and hot chicks. The union of the
world’s hottest new style of racing and sexy,
action-ready gorgeous girl is a dream come true to
red-blooded American young men everywhere, right?
Well, Verena Mei and her Star Girl Racing site is
just what the doctor ordered!
This Asian bombshell is one of the most
recognized models in the Sport Compact Racing
industry. Mei has been an International Toyo Tires
Poster Model for 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003. During
2002 and 2003, she she also represented the Import
Drag Racing Circuit (IDRC) as a Starter Girl. As a
full-time model and actress, Verena is constantly
on the go, traveling to Pro Sport Compact events
throughout the year, signing autographs for fans
throughout the nation. She has also graced the
pages of Super Street, Turbo Magazine, Sport
Compact Car, Modified Magazine, Drag Sport and many
other popular industry magazines and Web sites.
Best of all, in April 2002, Verena became the first
model in the sport compact industry to earn a NHRA
Pro Competition Drag Racing License.
How did she get into racing, you
wonder?
In 1999, she modeled at SEMA , the largest
automotive tradeshow, and remembers seeing the Toyo
Tires models and the line of men waiting for their
autographs. She looked at them and thought,
“Wow, I wonder how you get that job,
they’re so lucky, I’d love to do that one
day.” In 2000, she signed with Toyo Tires,
which introduced Verena to the Sport Compact scene.
Appearing at race after race, show after show,
throughout the nation, Verena became friends with
many racers, crews and other people in the
industry.
“From one city to the next, from one event
to another. I traveled with the same people all the
time,” she once said. “They became my
closest friends, people who would always look out
for me. After a while they just considered me as
one of the guys.”
The more she learned about racing, the more
interested she became in the sport. “I always
said that I wanted to race too. One day it occurred
to me that I CAN race – there’s nothing
holding me back. Just because I’m a model, it
doesn’t mean I can’t race.”
With Bobby Unser Jr.’s recommendation,
Verena attended and graduated from The Motion
Picture Stunt Driving School in Palmdale, CA in
January 2002. She learned how to control a car in
extreme situations and perform cool stunts
including drifting, reverse driving at 55 mph,
180’s, and 90’s into a parking space -
just to name a few.
Verena attended the Frank Hawley Drag Racing
School in Pomona, California. On April 9, 2002,
Verena earned her NHRA Professional Competition
Drag Racing License. On her seventh run in her
life, she made her best elapsed-time running a 9.46
second mile at 143.81 mph in a Super Gas Firebird.
This 9.46 seconds of her life, made her the Fastest
Asian-American Woman in the World and the First
Asian-American Woman to earn a NHRA Professional
Drag Racing License.
Once she got her footing in the racing
community, she decided it was time to package
herself and her skills via a Web site. Hence, the
birth of www.StarGirlRacing.com. The site is
“where model and racer becomes one,” she
says. Fans can get “updates on my race car,
post messages on my forum, and best of all, you can
go to my store to purchase personally autographed
photos and Star Girl Racing merchandise.”
“I miss being at the track so much during
the off-season,” she admits. “It’s
become a large part of my life.”
And life just gets wilder and more exhilarating
for this gal on the run, as her love of sports and
the great outdoors doesn’t stop at racing. She
also gets wet and wild via bodyboarding,
snowboarding, racing, rollerblading, skateboarding
and surfing. But nothing will ever replace her love
for racing, her #1 passion.
“I love the Sport Compact scene,” she
gushes. “I’ve met so many of my good
friends at these events and have learned so much
about racing and what it takes to be a
racer.”
We recently had a chance to chat one-on-one with
Verena about her love of racing, drifting and
getting hot under the hood.
How often do you race professionally?
This is the first year that I've competed in a
Professional Race. It's so exciting to be a part of
the first year of Professional Drifting in the US,
and being the first girl to run in a series. I've
competed at two Formula-D events, one U.S. Drift,
and the Hankook Drift Nationals, where I took third
place while blowing my engine. I'm really looking
forward to competing at different venues as more
pop-up next year. You'll definitely see me sideways
on the track!
Tell us about your love of Drifting?
I have a NHRA Pro Drag Racing License to go as
quick as a 7.5 second quarter-mile, but my
front-wheel drive, pro-stock drag race car is still
being built. I'm currently training diligently
perfecting my drifting skills to become a fierce
competitor in 2005. I've been fortunate to have
formed a wonderful partnership with Motegi, Rotora,
Nissan Motorsports, Yokohama, Twins Turbo
Motorsports, Tein and all the rest of my
sponsors!
What is your favorite video game?
I like playing Halo and any other shoot-em-up
video games like House of the Dead. I'd really like
to be a character in a racing game one day -- that
would be fun! Everyone would get a chance to push
my buttons.
Does your website get you in closer contact
with your fans?
Definitely! When someone see me at an event, on
TV or in a magazine and want to find out who I am,
they just visit my site. Some people post on my
forum to chat with me and other people. It's just a
place where you can talk to others about what's
going on, and share a common interest. Most of them
send me e-mails, and I respond to each of them
personally. It's a way for me to reach all my fans
from all over the world, even if they don't have a
chance to come to my events. I get a lot of e-mails
from kids who ask me for advice on how to get
started racing, modeling, or how to get sponsors.
It's really great being a positive role model and I
hope to make a difference in their lives!
What is your goal as a racer?
1) As the first girl to compete in a U.S. Drift
Series, my goal is to be the first girl to qualify
in the Top 16.
2) Be a positive role model.
3) Educate young adults about racing responsibly --
keeping it "On the Track." 4) Gain maximum media
coverage representing my sponsors.
5) Become a versatile driver in various types of
motorsports.
Bio
Name: Verena Mei
Hieght: 5'4"
Measurements: 36-25-36
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Black
Dress: 4/5
Shoe: 7
Hometown: Pearl City, Hawaii
Resides in: Los Angeles, CA
Birthday: November 2, age 23
Sign: Scorpio
Daily Driver: 1996 Acura Integra
Currently: Drifter And Model
As long as there's been racing, there've been
race babes. Sometimes they're hired to look pretty
and hand out trophies. Sometimes they're hired to
look pretty and pose next to cars. But drive?
Never. At least, that is, until Verena
Mei.
Verena is, as far as Hot Rod knows, the
first race babe to take her career and re-aim its
trajectory at driving. She was a model at sport
compact drag racing and drifting events for years
before she decided to get the behind the wheel
herself, and she's currently competing in Formula D
drifting events. This is the equivalent of Linda
Vaughan coming down from her Hurst Golden Shifter
in 1964 and mixing it up with Garlits, Prudhomme
and Nicholson.
"I was a Toyo Tire model for three years,"
Verena says to explain her conversion experience.
"That's where I learned about racing... from going
to the drag racing events. And I basically got
bored standing around the cars."
So on the advice of friend and mentor Bobby
Unser Jr., Verena enrolled in the Motion Picture
Stunt Driving School at Los Angeles County Raceway
in Palmdale, California in 2002. It was on the
asphalt pad there that she first slid the school's
Caprices. With that under her tiny waist's belt,
she went to the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School and
earned her NHRA Super Gas professional competition
license. Finally she attended the Bondurant
Drifting School where she got an advanced degree in
creative sideways tire destruction.
So drag racing is on hold for the time being
(she's having an all-motor car built) while Verena
slips through the world of drifting behind the
wheel of her turbocharged 1991 Nissan 240SX. "I'm
learning a lot from my mechanic friends," she says
about bolting together the Nissan. "I've done most
of the work myself. It's a really cool learning
experience. As far as drifting goes, I'd like to
win a championship. Then I'd like to crossover to
NASCAR or anything. I like racing in general."
Verena is still doing some modeling work, has
made a few appearances on TV and had a small role
in Rush Hour 2. But can a driving career mix with a
high-profile media presence? Could she model and
drive at the same event? "At SEMA," she explains,
"Motegi had me in a little dress. But when I race
I'm very focused and it's tough to do both."
Source: www.stargirlracing.com
or E-Mail
Verena Mei: Model and Race
Driver
If Jalopnik had a cable talk show, actress, model
and Pro Sport Compact driver, Verena Mei would
feature prominently on the “Women We
Love” segment. Mei, a Hawaii native, who
recently became the first Asian-American woman to
earn an NHRA Pro Competition Drag Racing license
(she’s done a 7.5 second quarter-mile in a
super-gas Firebird), started out as a tradeshow
model.
Not content to stand around while the guys got
all the glory, she enrolled in The Motion Picture
Stunt Driving School in Palmdale, CA, and,
subsequently, the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School
in Pomona. Recently, she turned pro, competing in
two Formula-D drifting events, with sponsors such
as Nissan Motorsports and Yokohama tires.
We’ll be watching her in 2005, you can bet on
it.
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