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It was a learning curve for both Len and Chris,
so there were times that Len dialed her in too
slow and Chris would run too fast and break
out, but they usually had the opportunity to
win a couple of rounds. As a driver, her focus
was amazing to watch. In the very beginning,
she would sit either in a chair, our golf cart
or in the car and just practice "making a pass"
over and over again so that when she was in
the car, the motions would become second nature
and so routine that she would not have to think
about what she needed to do when she got to
the starting line. Chris would talk herself
through each step. Nobody told her to do that
... she just did it on her own. Chris was gobbling
up the information that Len and our friend,
Jere Stahl, a former National Champion, gave
her to learn and kept asking for more.
Len had built a full size simulator in his
shop that had the same driving configuration
as the Cavalier. The simulator was connected
to a full size Porta-Tree Christmas tree. One
weekend, Chris drove up from New Jersey and
picked up the simulator and the tree so she
could practice at home to improve even further
her already excellent reaction times.
Applegate keeping
the Cavalier clean. |
Chris was a delight to travel with and to work
with. She was never a "princess" and pitched
in to help clean the car and to adjust whatever
when the car needed changing. She always was
the first to lend a hand when it came to setting
up at the beginning of a meet and the last to
leave when breaking down and packing up at the
end of the day.
Chris even helped cook when the need arose,
although, by her own admission, she is a better
driver than she is a cook! But that was okay,
too; not everyone has the talent to drive a
car like Chris could.
In such a very short time we considered each
other family and it is difficult to believe
that we were only together for such a short
period of time. It seemed like we had known
Chris forever and she was a member of our family.
We jokingly adopted "Girl Power" as our unofficial
slogan, and to this day our 4-year-old granddaughter,
Emily, uses it with great regularity, and informs
those who will listen that when she grows up,
she is going to be a race car driver, just like
Chris.
Applegate and
a fan, my granddaughter, Emily |
In her short career with us, Chris was already
building quite the fan club. For such a young
woman, she was always polite, poised and gracious
to those who came to ask for her autograph or
to admire and ask about the car. Chris made
time to talk to everyone because she felt that
everyone was important, no matter what his or
her questions were. We even had one fan who
wanted to trade his "secret" chili recipe for
a Stahl Engineering T-shirt, and even though
we were done for the day, Chris climbed into
the nose of the packed gooseneck trailer and
dug out a shirt for him. However, she graciously
passed on taking his chili recipe.
On September 16, 2003, the Tuesday before Chris
was to fly out and meet us at the racetrack
in Chicago, she was hit by a drunk driver who
was traveling at almost 100 mph. Chris was in
her beloved Mustang that we first saw her racing
at Atco. As of today, Chris remains in a coma,
and we can only pray that she will come back
to us one day soon.
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