The Independent Tribune, Concord, NC - WKA Champ Jody Folice Ready For Bigger Things by Bill Kiser.

WKA Champ Jody Folice Ready For Bigger Things

For the last six or seven years, Jody Folice has played havoc with the competition in the World arting Association's spnnt-kart racing divisions.

But a lot of first-time competitors and spectators get a bigger shock when the crash helmets come off after a race Jody Folice isn't a "he," Folice is a "she," a rarity in the male-dominated racing world. "I don't consider myself needing any special privileges," Folice said. "When I'm on the track, I'm just one of the guys.... But I have surprised a few people"

But Folice is unique in one other area she's a championsip-winning go kart racer, a racer who, wants to make the move up to the bigger and heavier stock cars.

Folice a 22-year old Connecticut native now living in Mt. Pleasant - spends her weekdays managing the T&J Deli on Church Street S E. in Concord.

Weekends from March to September, Folice can be found at gokart tracks up and down the East Coast, competing in WKA-sanctioned events.

Folice's competitive resume attests to her racing abilities - last year alone, she won the WKAGold Cup Series' limited modified light division overall championship and finished fourth in the series' stock light division points.

The Jody Folice who races now is a completely different person from the one who first sat in a racing go-kart more than 15 years ago. "The first go-kart track I went to was set up in a school parking lot," said Folice. "It had rained the night before ... and there was really no one there.

"I'll never forget this - I came in after one lap complaining that my hair was in my eyes, then went out another lap and came in complaining that I had to go to the bathroom.

"It was so hilarious - I was acting, well, like a little girl. I figured that my father (Joe Folice) would have said 'Forget this' because I'm acting so scared. But the next thing you know, I'm whipping that cart around the track."

Soon after, Folice started whipping her fellow go-kart racers on the track, many of those now well-known names in auto racing circles, such as short-track veteran Jason Keller, who Folice beat for the WKA juior light division national title in 1986; and road racers Scott Pruett and Scott Sharp.

There were times where Folice faced the chauvinism of her fellow male competitors, and even times where that chauvinism turned into intimidation

"I was racing this kid pretty hard at Darlington and I kinda banged into him a few times, to get by him. He was holding me up.

"Well, this guy's father comes up to my father and said, 'You tell your son to keep his bumper off the back of my kid's cart" Well, my fathers tell him, 'I'll be sure to tell my daughter that.' Well the guy's jaw just dropped

"Then there was the time I raced on a dirt track in Salisbury. Everybody knows my name in go- kart racing... but I don't run dirt all that much."

"It was like the second time I raced on this track, and I've got guys banging into me during practice. Then, when I'm in the garage area talking to a track official, one kid comes up, puts his shoulder into me and walks off, just trying to intimidate me."

Folice has put up with the intimidation the best way possible - winning - and now she's ready to make the move to the bigger, heavier stock cars. "I've raced against some guys who are now racing the bigger cars, and I figure if they can do it, so can I," Folice said. "But I figure I can do it better."