::Leilani Munter.com::

This is a place for me to express my thoughts on racing, the environment, science, politics, and whatever else might cross my wandering mind. It will be an overflow of random ideas, reflections, notes and quotes to be enjoyed by those of you who take the time to read it. Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you down the road...

Peace,

10.12.07 italian vogue photo shoot

What an amazing day! Today I stood in a rainforest (in Canada of all places!) wearing a very powerful combination of Dolce and Gabbana and my racing suit with live exotic butterflies flying all around me! I was being shot by top celebrity and fashion photographer Paul Alexander for L'Uomo Vogue (Italian Vogue). It was truly a magical setting and I have no doubt that these will be among the best photos I will take in my lifetime.

L'Uomo Vogue magazine is featuring eco friendly celebrities in their upcoming environmental issue and I am honored to be included.

My day started at 530am (yikes!) when the hair and make up artist showed up at my hotel in downtown Toronto to start the transformation from race car driver to fashion model (if only for a day!). I am a race car driver but I am also a woman and all women love to play dress up once in a while! In my normal life I am very casual, usually wearing jeans and a tshirt on days I am not in my racing suit. In other words, I don't get to wear Dolce and Gabbana very often so it was a really fun experience for me!

We then headed over to the Toronto Zoo where I first laid eyes on our fantastic set - a magical tropical rainforest filled with butterflies. We were in the Malayan Woods Pavilion of the Toronto Zoo. I immediately took out my camera and began snapping photos of the butterflies, here is my favorite shot.

Fashion TV was on the set filming and will air footage of the photo shoot as well as an interview with myself and photographer Paul Alexander when the environmental issue of L'Uomo Vogue hits the stands.

I recently announced my commitment to purchasing an acre of endangered tropical rainforest for every Indy Pro Series race I compete in. I have already purchased two acres for my races at Kentucky Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway and I will purchase 16 more acres next year during my bid for 2008 Indy Pro Series Rookie of the Year. It makes me feel just a little bit better about being a race car driver. I want to set a good example by offsetting my carbon footprint.

PS. Cheers to Toronto for being such a hip vegetarian friendly city. I bought a veggie dog on the streets of downtown and smothered it with sauerkraut (I'm half German you know) and it was YUM-MEE!!!

9.29.07 my new dream car

Move over Eleanor, you've got competition. This is my new dream car for many reasons. But the number one reason is because it produces WATER instead of CO2. Just good old H20. Brilliant, isn't it? Please start putting in the hydrogen infrastructure (Iceland is way ahead of us) so we can all start driving these. My vote goes to the canditate that makes this happen. Thanks.

9.17.07 a film you need to see

Brought to you by James Gandolfini, a documentary film about the very real cost of the war -- people. Alive Day Memories is the story of ten men and women that have come home from Iraq, in their own words. A very sad, very eye opening film.

8.30.07 what is a carbon footprint, you ask?

A carbon footprint is a person's impact on his or her environment measured in units of CO2, or greenhouse gases. Anytime you use energy to heat or cool your home, watch tv, drive your car, or fly in an airplane you are contributing to the CO2 in the atmosphere. The level of CO2 in our atmosphere has skyrocketed causing global warming. Human beings once created very little greenhouse gases but that ended when we stopped riding horses and wagons and traded them in for planes, trains, and automobiles. These days we all contribute and with the population of the world at 6.6 billion, that adds up to a lot of CO2. According to the CIA's World Factbook, our population increases by approximately 211,090 people every day. Stop and think about that number for a second. Visualize 211,090 people together in one place. Now visualize that many people being added to our Earth EVERY DAY. The moral of this story: We have a major population explosion on our hands here. In other words, there is no need to bring unplanned children into this world.

Now stop frowning, it's not all bad news. We have become more educated about the effects we are having on the atmosphere and you can now purchase carbon offsets to help reduce your carbon footprint. For example, trees breathe in CO2 and release harmless oxygen in it's place. There are many organizations that allow you to purchase and protect blocks of rainforest or contribute to replenishing depleted forests. When I returned to racing this year (sans fenders) in the Indy Pro Series, the first thing I did was purchase an acre of rainforest from World Land Trust to help offset the footprint I make while I am flying around the racetrack at 200 mph.

As I continue to race, I will buy more acres of rainforest to protect. Not only for it's value as a carbon offset, but also to protect the many endangered animals whose natural habitat is being threatened. In addition, many undiscovered species of plants live in the rainforest and could be incredibly valuable to us in the medical field. Rainforests currently provide sources for one-fourth of today's medicines. The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells and 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest. Other drugs that were discovered in the rainforest include penicillin, AZT, aspirin, and the polio vaccine. The biodiversity in the rainforest is likely to hold the key to unlocking cures for future diseases.

If you are interested in finding out more about our Earth, visit the Earth Watch section of my website. Thanks for caring enough to do your part. Together we can do this.

Leilani

8.18.07 training hard for the big leagues

I have been working out like crazy these past few weeks in preparation for my debut in open wheel cars. I am eating healthy, exercising every day, and studying my new craft. Eating, breathing, and sleeping open wheel racing. I must say I had a great time in Kentucky, I absolutely love driving these cars! I have a championship team behind me, and I have to thank all the guys at Sam Schmidt Motorsports for giving me an incredible race car to drive at Kentucky. I also have to thank my coach Jaques Lazier for doing such a great job on the radio and teaching me so much about what I need to do in these race cars. Four time Indy 500 champion Rick Mears also spent a lot of time talking with me on the morning of the race. I can't begin to explain what an honor it is for me to have these incredibly talented drivers to turn to for guidance. I feel like I am living a dream.

My team owner Sam Schmidt is an amazing guy. If you don't know Sam's story, he was a driver in the IRL when he was injured in an accident while testing his Indy Car and is now paralyzed. He is an incredible person and I am honored to drive for him. Find out more about Sam and the Sam Schmidt Paraylsis Foundation here.

The race aired on ESPN2 last night and thanks to everyone for all the nice messages about the great run I had going in that race. I am confident I would have had a top five finish in that race had I not been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was at the infield care center and after I saw the doctors I was in the waiting room answering media questions when I look up and see myself throwing a temper tantrum next to my wrecked race car on TV! I was horrified! All I can say is that I had such a good run going and it was a very emotional moment when I realized my race was over. I am also definitely not used to having tv cameras on me. My races for the past 6 years have not been televised so I will have to learn from these mistakes. As author Douglas Adams once said -- You live and learn. In any case, you live. He is a funny one that Douglas Adams.

I also have to ask you all to please visit my new eco-conscious sponsor SMART Papers who produce environmentally responsible papers featuring up to 100 percent post-consumer waste content, helping to ensure responsible use of forest resources. For those of you who have read my blog in the past, you know how I feel about protecting the Earth and it's resources, so it is very important to me to work with companies that are also thinking green. I am so proud to have them on my race car.

Something pretty cool I want to share, the announcement of the SMART Papers sponsorship of my race car was up on the largest electronic billboard in the world New York City's Times Square. Seriously, how cool is that?!

I will be at Infineon Raceway Aug 25-26 hanging out and signing autographs during the Indy Car/Indy Pro series race weekend so if you are around please stop by and say hello. Next race is Chicagoland Speedway on September 9th! If you can't make it to the race, you can watch it on ESPN2 Sept 13 at 5pm.

See you down the road...

Leilani

7.26.07 you can now buy a ufo for $90,000

Whoops did I say UFO? I meant the M200G...

The age of the Jetsons has arrived.

Now in production and retailing for $90,000-$125,000. The machine hovers 10 feet off the ground and can get up to 50 mph. Because it's classified as a recreation device and not an aircraft, it is not subject to FAA regulations and anybody can operate one. Something about that last part kind of scares me.