How big is Courage? For Alex Zanardi, it comes in at five foot, ten inches and just over a hundred and fifty pounds. A little closer to home, Carol Hollfelder delivers just as much determination, though in a smaller package. Carol was injured in a motorcycle accident at 18. Left as a paraplegic, she could not continue with her love of horse riding.

Since her mother's purchase of a Sunbeam Tiger in 1970, the Hollfelder family has been collecting and racing cars. Carol spent a great deal of time learning about them and learning to drive. Although her accident closed one door, others only needed a push to open again. Her competitiveness from equestrian pursuits found its outlet in club racing events at Willow Springs, Riverside Raceway and other historic tracks.

Carol used her street car, an automatic Toyota Supra, in the events. At the time, there were no hand controls for a manual transmission. In 1994, Clay Regazzoni responded to a letter from her father, Tom Hollfelder, and found a set to install on her Ferrari Mondial Quattrovalvole. When Regazzoni came to California for the Formula One Long Beach Grand Prix, he brought three technicians and a set of hand controls. He also taught Carol how to drive with them.

In 1999, she won the SCCA Cal Club Regional Championship in the T1 class, driving a Ferarri 355 with paddle shifter option. After moving into professional racing, it became clear that the Ferrari wasn't fast enough. Today, she competes in a Ford Mustang in the SCCA Speed World Challenge GT Championship circuit.

Specially engineered hand controls enable Carol to race competitively and Ford supplies the team with Cobra 4.6 DOHC engines and ASM/SSM transmissions from the Aston Martin Vanquish. The gearboxes employ Formula 1 style paddles that enable gear changes in less than a quarter of a second.

Team sponsors include Ford Mobility Motoring, Mobility Products and Design and Ricon Corporation for special adaptations. Companies like Bassani, Vortech, StopTech, Momo, HP Motorsport, Fluidyne, Aeromotive and others contribute as well. The Vortech-equipped, 32-valve motor currently punches out five hundred horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque. Regardless, delivering a competitive race vehicle has it's own challenges.

The advanced technology of the transmission means that mechanical failures are not the only possible difficulties. Carol explains, "When my transmission refuses shifts, it's not like missing a shift with a standard, manually selected tranny. In that case, you usually make the shift on the second try and only lose a few seconds."

"In my race car, you lose a bit more time because the car shifts to neutral and then when you request another gear, up or down, it shifts to 6th. It's one of those safety things to prevent over-reving the engine. The problem is that it takes precious seconds to downshift from 6th back into the power band and get moving again. When there are multiple refusals in a single lap, it's absolutely maddening, but even one will destroy an attempt at a qualifying lap." Such experiences at Road Atlanta this past September were eventually traced to a faulty sensor.

As well, because of Carol's injury, she needs to wear a cooling suit to help with body temperature regulation during races. As a backup, the roof of the Mustang was removed and replaced with a carbon fiber version having a vent. Air is directed at the driver and Carol has found it very effective, even on hot days.

Managing these additional challenges is Crew Chief, Paul Brown. Having sponsors to supply the technology is important, but integrating the whole package is equally so. Beyond this, professional racing brings its own challenges and vagaries. Things can go quite wrong for no fault of your own. Carol has had her share of off-road excursions, but she has always been able to count on her crew to get things back in shape again.

While Tiger Racing was named for that first sports car her mother bought, it also reflects the courage that is exemplified in every member of the crew. Still, if you asked them, they would likely tell you that they don't have near what Carol shows every time she drives out of pit lane.

For an interview with Carol herself, click here.

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