Leilani Munter Gets Behind Climate Security Act
By Linton Weeks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Race-car driver Leilani Munter was on Capitol Hill yesterday telling members of Congress how to combat global warming.
Wait, what?
Race cars are notorious polluters. NASCAR only switched to unleaded gasoline recently. How could anyone take her seriously?
But there she was, in tan business suit and boots, talking cars with Sens. Richard Lugar and Elizabeth Dole. Lugar, a Republican who used to be mayor of Indianapolis, recalled the "awesome problems" of streakers in the raceway infield. He told her he drives a Prius. Dole (R-N.C.) said Munter is a woman "on a mission."
We promise to explain how a race driver can be an environmentalist. But first we want to point out that Munter, 32, was once named the Hottest Woman in NASCAR by FHM magazine. She started racing stock cars in 2001. She tried out a car on the test track and an instructor told her she was good enough to go pro. "It was such a magical feeling," she recalls.
She was competing to rise in the ranks of NASCAR when she decided last year to race open-wheel cars instead. Now she competes in the Indy Pro Series. A couple of years ago she placed fourth in the Konica Minolta 100 at Texas Motor Speedway. At the time, it was the highest finish ever for a female driver at that level.
But, like many female drivers, she has trouble getting sponsors.
Other ways in which she is an unusual race-car driver:
¿ She did stunts in the movie "The Scorpion King" and was a photo double for Catherine Zeta-Jones in "America's Sweethearts" and "Traffic."
¿ She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in biology.
It's that science background that led her into activism. "We are not an eco-friendly sport," she says. She hopes to convince racing bigwigs to develop more fuel-efficient engines and environment-friendly venues.
"A lot of NASCAR tracks don't even have recycling programs," she says, adding that race fans tend to drink beverages from cans in large quantities.
The chief topic yesterday, though, was the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which would significantly reduce greenhouse emissions by rewarding companies for polluting less and would promote the protection of wildlife. Munter was lobbying in favor of it, along with representatives of the National Wildlife Federation.
She has found that persuading the professional racing world to change its ways is no Sunday drive. "I am a female, a vegetarian. I already didn't fit in," she says. Her sister, Natascha, is married to Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. She oversees two Web sites: an eponymous racing-oriented site and the green-leaning CarbonFreeGirl.com. Her fiance, Craig Davidson, is a New Zealander whom she describes as an eco-geek.
She has not hit the big time yet. "I'm just sort of making my rent," she says. "I'm like a starving artist." She spends about $120 to put an acre of rain forest into a trust every time she enters a race, she adds.
Off-track, she drives a 1997 Volkswagen Golf.
When told of Munter's trip to Capitol Hill, Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Watch -- a group that has been critical of professional auto racing -- says, "I think it's a fantastic thing."
Munter's outspokenness, he notes, "shows the breadth and depth of those who want to do something about global warming."
Having a race car driver warn of global warming "is a little bit of a person-bites-dog story," he says. "It shows that it's not just climate scientists or greenie-weenies, it's bread-and-butter Americans who are saying we have got to get on the stick."
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