::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,

12.19.05 off to new zealand

I'm going to be missing in action for a while. Tomorrow I get on a flight that will take me to "Aotearoa" -- the land of the long white cloud, otherwise known as New Zealand. It will take us over 27 hours to get there, because we will be making quick stops in Denver, Los Angeles, and Fiji (wish we could hang there for a bit) -- but 20 of those hours will be in the air. When I arrive it will be summer instead of winter and I will have lost almost an entire day of time, New Zealand is currently 18 hours ahead of North Carolina's timezone. I am looking forward scuba diving at Poor Knights, a place that Jacques Cousteau included in his list of the top ten diving sites in the world. It should be amazing. The folks that live in New Zealand are affectionately referred to as "kiwi's." That is referring to their national bird -- the kiwi bird, not the fuzzy litte fruit you are probably thinking of. I will be documenting all of my travels with my new Konica Minolta 5D Maxxum SLR and my Konica Minolta Dimage X1 and I will be posting the best of these images in my new Konica Minolta Travel Gallery, coming soon.

In other news, I went testing yesterday with my new Southeast Series race team and you can view some of the pictures from the test in the 2005 racing gallery. It went very well and we are all very excited to go racing in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Southeast Series next year. I hope to see you guys at the track. I wish you all a very happy holiday with your loved ones, see you next year!

12.11.05 oil and why it rules world

I have met many intelligent people in my time on earth but at the top of the list is a man named Steven Soderbergh. You may have heard of Steven because he is an Academy Award winning director. I had the honor of working with Steven on his movies Traffic and Ocean's Eleven. I just got home from seeing his latest creation Syriana, an intelligent, thought provoking look at the oil industry, war, politics and US foreign policy. Written by Stephen Gaghan, the American Film Institute honored it as one of the top 10 most outstanding films of 2005. Entertainment Weekly called it a movie that "... has a lot of big, important things to say about big, important things." I was not surprised at the product, a very complicated, real life portrayal of the scary but very big business of oil and war. I was also not surprised that the theatre was half empty. I guess a lot of people are too busy running out to get the latest unrated DVD of The Dukes of Hazzard. Ignorance is bliss, right? James Berardinelli says "It's a wake up call... an intensely fascinating look behind a curtain where few of us feel comfortable enough to peer." A curtain that most of us turn away from. Most people would rather not know. Like the evening news, it's just too much of a drag.

My advice is this-- if you want typical, simple-minded entertainment handed to you on a silver platter by big Hollywood studios after the mass demographics, if you want a predictable movie with one liners and girls in short shorts, if you want to forget about the real world and just be entertained, then this movie is not for you. But if you want to see a movie that will make you think about the world around you, a movie that is full of real life-- depressing and complex, but real-- if you want to think about the conflicts that are happening today, and why they are happening, the conflicts that are shaping our world, our society, our politics and the future for our children and our children's children-- then this movie will be right up your alley.

My two cents for whatever thats worth, Leilani

PS. (and yes, I realize this sounds funny, if not hypocritical, coming from someone who drives race cars) Did you know you can make French fries and then fuel your car? Cars can now be fueled using vegetable oil, one type of biodiesel. You can even drive for free by going to restaurants and asking for their used veggie oil, they'll be happy to give it to you. I realize there is not a huge abundance of diesel fueled vehicles in the United States, but it doesn't hurt to get educated. Oil is a problem that plagues us now and trust me, it will only get worse. If we switch to using vegetable oil as fuel, we can produce more of our fuel here in the U.S., allowing us to create jobs and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Find out more at GreaseNotGas.com.

11.16.05 what a wonderful world thanks to a porsche gt3

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Virginia International Raceway and had the chance to take some laps in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car and man, is that a fun automobile to drive. I was honored to have Price Cobb, the first American to ever win the Porsche Cup (in 1994) show me the fastest way around. Special thanks to everyone at Synergy Racing.

Tonight I'm headed to see my brother-in-law Bob Weir and his band Ratdog play in Atlanta. If you haven't heard of Ratdog you may have heard of his other band, a little old band they call The Grateful Dead. They are on tour all over the United States so check out their tour schedule to see if they are coming near your town. They are a really great band and always put on a great show. Some of you may remember that Bob sang the anthemn at the Nextel Cup Infineon race at Sonoma, California last year. He also makes some great sauces for a great cause, check it out here: Weir's Sauces.

Have a Grateful Day,
Leilani

10.11.05 a blog for parker

I just got home from Atlanta Motor Speedway where I spent the weekend instructing and giving rides for Fast Track Racing School. Before that we were at Lowe's Motor Speedway and we had a very special guest named Parker Fritsch. Parker was almost 3 years old when he was diagnosed with Philadelphia Positive Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. This Philadelphia chromosome makes it a much more aggressive type of leukemia and requires a more intense chemotherapy regimen. The only cure now is a bone marrow transplant. Parker's family headed to the University of Duke Medical Center in North Carolina where Parker received his new cells on March 23, 2005. Parker and his parents were in town for a check up. I had the honor of taking Parker's father on the track for 3 hot laps in the passenger seat with me and Parker was waiting on pit road cheering him on. By the time we got to pit road, Parker had convinced his mother to go on a ride as well. You can follow Parker's progress on his website. Parker is also an artist, as documented by USA Today: "Portraits by an Artist in a Fight for His Young Life." What a wonderful family, they truly brightened my day.

9.23.05 stay hungry stay foolish

Just got off the phone with a long time race team owner who shall remain nameless. We were talking about the fact that I was suppose to be in Talladega testing an ARCA car three days ago. We talked about how I cancelled my trip to Germany for it. We talked about how I flew home early from New York City (where I was doing some public speaking) so that I could get my seat fitted in the race car--- a good fast race car that was ready to be rolled onto the hauler. We talked about how the sponsor told us that we should do all these things. So I rearranged my life because I was going to a race. And then three days before we were leaving for the test, they pulled the plug. The nameless team owner told me that it happens all the time and I should get used to it. He told me it's happened to him at least 20 times in his career as a race team owner. He tells me I have to keep digging. So I do. I go back and read the latest thing to give me inspiration-- the Stanford University commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers and Pixar Animation Studios, and I remind myself that I am feeling hungry and I am feeling a bit foolish too. And that is just what Steve had wished for me.

Although I am not racing at Talladega on October 1st as planned, I still have some really exciting things happening. On Monday I leave for a photo shoot for a very large ad campaign that you will see soon and throughout 2006. It is going to be big and it's going to be cool and I am honored to be a part of it. I wish I could tell you more about it but you will see it for yourselves soon enough and I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.

I have to get back to my digging now.

Remember-- life is short. Race hard. Play hard. Nap hard.

Peace, Leilani

9.4.05 new orleans

Thoughts and prayers are with everyone in New Orleans and Mississipi. What is going on lately? Does it seem like the world is having more natural disasters than ever? Or is it just all the media in-our-face coverage we have now that is making me think the sky is falling? First the Tsunami, then Hurricane Katrina have me thinking I'm actually happy I don't live on a coast anymore, as much as I miss the ocean. Donate what you can for our friends down south here: American Red Cross, be sure to mark on your check that the donation you are making is for the Katrina Disaster Relief, otherwise your donation will go to a general fund that will not necessarily make it to the victims you intend.

This is way off the subject but what is a blog if not filled with random, useless information? I am digging the new Coca-Cola Zero ad campaign, partly because one of my favorite artists, G Love, is singing their jingle. Their site is worth a chuckle or two: Your mind is your crib. Chill.

Check out this commencement address by Steve Jobs, President and CEO of Pixar Animation Studios and Apple Computers, it's wonderful. You can read my tribute to Pixar blog here. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. Those are some words to live by. He reminds me a bit of another old favorite, anyone remember the wear sunscreen speech?

I'm topping this one off with a random picture from The Black Stallion. Don't ask why. I don't know and wouldn't tell if I did.

We will be making some really cool announcements regarding getting back out on the racetrack in 2006, so check back soon. Good things are happening. I've been very busy but overall, life is pretty good. Here's to hoping yours is too.