Mary Pozzi (nee Rice) has a fair number of National Champion jackets hanging in her closet at home and after September 2008 she had to make room for one more. Calling the San Francisco Region SCCA home Mary after a long ‘vacation’ returned to leave her mark once again. Although her latest Championship came at the wheel of a 2007 Ford Shelby GT on Hoosier tires, I hear she is really a Camaro lover…
RR: Is this your first attendance at Nationals?
MP: No, 2008 made this my 13th appearance at Nationals.
RR: Is this your first National Championship?
MP: No, I now have eleven Championships including this one. I won A Prepared Ladies in 1980 and 1981 driving a Datsun 240Z. I also won A Prepared Ladies in 1984 driving an AC Cobra. Staying with Fords I won C Prepared Ladies driving a Shelby GT 350 in 1982 and 1983. For 1985 I drove a Mazda RX-7 for the win while I tried something completely different in 1986 driving a Dodge Omni GLH in C Stock Ladies for the win. From there all the rest of my Championships have come in F Stock Ladies. In 1987 I returned to my roots driving a Camaro Z-28 with the next two Championships in 1989 and 1990 at the wheel of a Camaro IROC-Z.
RR: What was your favorite memory of the competition?
MP: Having fun and getting reacquainted with people I haven’t seen in 18+ years. At the C Prepared party, it was great to spend about 30 minutes with Dick Berger with him having no clue just who I was for about 29 of them. His daughter, Liz, was laughing the entire time and I just played along keeping a straight face. That alone was worth the trip…
RR: Who has most influenced you?
MP: Whoever is my co-driver as we bounce ideas and driving off of each other. Lately, this has been Dave …
RR: Who inspires you?
MP: Friends within our sport give a lot of encouragement. Also my husband, Dave, is great as we share ideas about car preparation and driving.
RR: Do you have any special pre-race routine, or any superstitions you follow?
MP: I like to be prepared and hate last minute “surprises.� While it can be chaos in my non-car portion of life, car activities (especially competition related) are very organized and methodical. The trailer’s packed, all decals and numbers are either laid out or on the car, tires are properly inflated, drive train fluids checked, shocks adjusted, helmet in the car … that’s just for starters and you get the idea. And this is before I even leave home. As for any superstitions, none!!
RR: Do you have any driving aids or tools you use to help you?
MP: Not that I can think of. I try to have lots of fun and stay loose at an event which means I get to tease Charlie Davis unmercifully. I’m serious for about six minutes total at Nationals or a major event.
RR: What do you think you do differently than your competition?
MP: Hard to say … I try to always think about going forward. I do go sideways on occasion which can be great fun but is not always the fast way to stop the clock. Hate to admit it, but traction control should be your right foot and not some stupid button on the console … and can you tell how many times I’ve forgotten to push that stupid button on the Shelby right before a run????
RR: Have you attended any driving school?
MP: Yes, the 3-Day Competition MX5 Skip Barber School. Hope to attend an Evolution School if one comes to the West Coast in ‘09. I also run lots of Open Track days and instruct at autocross/track schools.
RR: Describe your driving style.
MP: Aggressive but smooth and drive like I’m being chased by Jason in a goalie mask.
RR: What was your first –and favorite autocross car?
MP: First car ever autocrossed was a ‘73 Mercury Capri. My favorite autocross car is one of my present cars, a 1973 Camaro RS. It’s compliant, easy to drive, and regularly gets it’s butt kicked in C Prepared because of a full interior, stereo, wipers, air conditioning/heater, and weight (3600 lbs). Some of these creature comforts came in very handy at the ‘07 National Tour at Atwater because it rained and was cold. It sucked to be everyone else in C Prepared at that event.
RR: If you could change one Solo rule – either for your specific class or in general — what would it be?
MP: Allow updating/backdating within a “generation� of car, not specifically limiting to a model year.
RR: Who would you like to thank for your success?
MP: I guess there’s three people … Paul Rice, Jr. for building my first Nationally competitive autocross car (Datsun 240Z), Frank Stagnaro for letting me drive the best Nationally competitive autocross car I’ve ever won in (Ford Mustang), and David Pozzi for the obvious … great husband and pretty good car builder, too.
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