I first discovered that my high school had a road course racing team when I was volunteering at, then, Sears Point Raceway as a Course Marshal.  I saw a car that said Eureka High School Motorsports on the side.  It turns out the auto shop instructor, Larry Hansen was the team leader and driver and the students made up the crew.  My high school was just big enough that I hadn't known about the team previously.  So I switched sides from course worker to race team member and spent the rest of my high school career taking auto shop and participating in the team's racing and building activities after school.  We were racing a Nissan Motorsports sponsored 1996 Nissan 240SX in the GT3 class at the time and building a new car, a 1999 Nissan 240SX.   I traveled with the team to Sears Point Raceway, Phoenix International Raceway, and Buttonwillow Raceway.  Larry was a very successful driver, placing high several times in the SCCA National Championships in Mid-Ohio.

I also got the unique privilege to be nominated for homecoming queen by the auto club and participated in all the homecoming activities including the parade through town which consisted of me being towed in the race car behind the tow rig.  And if you are familiar with Applebee's restaurants, you know that they feature sports memorabilia from local schools and teams among other decor.  I had the opportunity to participate in the making of the Eureka High School Motorsports display for the Eureka, CA Applebee's which is still on the wall to this day.