The first time Shawna Robinson came rolling through this area she was 19 years old and the star of her father's semi-truck racing series. Robinson headlined the show at New Smyrna Speedway and quickly became a crowd favorite because of her youth, innocence and aggressive driving style. In the days leading up to that race, she made a mini promotional tour of local media outlets, and after visiting The News-Journal her late, late, late model car up and died in the parking lot. With a mighty push from News-Journal staff, Robinson fired the car up and continued down the road. She wasn't talking about a clunker car from more than a decade and a half ago, but the Winston Cup entry she hopes to qualify this afternoon at California Speedway in Fontana.
Opportunities are so short.
Since giving up the big rig circuit in the mid-1980s, Robinson has tried to gain seat time in anything with four wheels. She's done stints in the Goody's Dash Series, ARCA and Busch with Winston Cup in her sights the whole time. It wasn't until Michael Kranefuss came along two years ago that the dream started to come into focus. Kranefuss managed Ford's racing program for years, then built his own Winston Cup team from scratch until selling it to Roger Penske last season. Now he's built another team around Robinson.