Late in 2009,the Charlottean whom countless gearheads know for her accomplishments on NASCAR’s top race tracks had applied to be a contestant on the popular CBS reality television competition “The Amazing Race.” Together with her potential “Race” teammate, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Robinson had flown to Hollywood to participate in a weeklong series of interviews. Though they’d been recruited for the show, Robinson and Cobb still had to make a pitch to the show’s hosts, producers and directors.

Until that meeting, they were under lock and key. They had designated pool and gym opportunities, as well as windows of time during which they could eat. Otherwise, they were confined to their rooms.

“It was so weird,” said Robinson, 45. “You could not talk to any of the other people. You obviously knew the other (contestants). Like the two cowboys. … You knew they were cowboys because they even wore cowboy hats with their bathing suits on. And then there were two cops from (New England). I don’t know if you saw the latest season (of the show), but that was the one that we would have been on.”

Amazing as this sounds, Robinson’s mind wasn’t focused on “The Amazing Race,” despite the cramped living conditions. Her thoughts had drifted more than 3,000 miles away to her hometown of Charlotte, where NASCAR’s dignitaries were preparing to cut the ribbon on the sport’s anticipated Hall of Fame.

A stock car pioneer who had blazed a trail for female drivers, Robinson had been invited by Hall of Fame marketers to donate memorabilia to display in the hall. Yet she had neglected to send the materials to NASCAR’s marketing team before embarking on her California trip, and her ongoing participation in the “Race” audition meant she’d missed her window of opportunity to be part of the pomp and circumstance.

The hall opened to the public on May 11, 2010. Robinson’s memorabilia remains in her garage.

Family circus
Before Danica, there was Shawna.

Danica Patrick, the pretty brunette sitting behind the wheel of the No. 7 GoDaddy.com car, receives more than enough ink by competing in the IndyCar, ARCA and NASCAR racing series. But 20 years before Patrick became the first woman to win an IndyCar race in 2008, redheaded Robinson was burning rubber on top NASCAR tracks like Talladega, Darlington, and the Daytona International Speedway.

“In Daytona, during my first time racing that track, I finished third,” Robinson exclaimed. “In my sixth race (the AC Delco 100 in Asheville), I became the first woman ever to win a race in a stock car.”

You could argue that racing is in Robinson’s blood. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, as the youngest of five children, she always was around automobiles. Her father, who raced late-model cars, made sure the Robinson clan spent their weekends at Midwestern racetracks.

“I was the little girl playing in the infield with my sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins. It truly was a family ordeal,” Robinson said. “I knew how to ride a motorcycle at age 4. That’s just what we did.”

The Robinson family wasn’t wealthy. But they were known for inventing automotive routines to entertain crowds at stock car shows. Some of their creations even scored them national acclaim. One of Shawna’s brothers jumped so many trucks during a live race event in the early 1980s that the television variety program “That’s Incredible!” featured him in a segment.

“We always called my father the circus leader, because we were the circus, and he was our leader,” Robinson said. “It was very strange. But that was just my dad. He was so full of life.”

And full of ideas. Robinson said it was her father who first put her behind the wheel of a truck so she could warm up the track and introduce racers. He believed that truck racing – and the site of a female, teenage driver – would only increase fan appeal at stock car events.

Two days after graduating high school in 1983, 18-year-old Robinson drove her first truck around a short track in Toledo, Ohio. The love affair that would span three decades had begun.

A steady climb
One year later, Robinson launched her official racing career when she joined the GATR Truck Series.

“That’s when I came to realize that I was going to be a racer – when I came to terms with the fact that this is what I was going to be,” she recalled.

Not that her truck-driving competition wanted her there. “They hated me,” she said of the other racers. “They thought that a woman’s place was in the kitchen, not on the race track. … It was nasty, but it was fun. It was competitive. They didn’t intimidate me.”

On the racetrack is where Robinson consistently proved herself. Pocono, Atlanta and Bristol were just a few of the big-league tracks Robinson conquered in her debut year. She earned Rookie of the Year honors in 1984, moving from Iowa to Pennsylvania so she could continue to market her talents on Northeast truck tracks, in trade shows and at racing exhibits. Her owners also tolerated Robinson’s presence because a female driver in a male-dominated sport scored valuable media attention.

It only took four years for NASCAR to notice. Robinson made her stock car debut in 1988, racing in the now-defunct NASCAR Dash Series. She competed at the Daytona International Speedway that year with the Daytona Dash Cars, a series that previously had hosted Michael Waltrip and Kyle Petty, to name a few.

If there were obstacles to overcome in transitioning from trucks to stock cars, Robinson didn’t notice. She’d already familiarized herself with dirt and asphalt racing on short and long tracks in the truck series. Once she learned how to properly draft – or ride behind other vehicles – in her car, the difference in weight (trucks, obviously, are much heavier than cars) was negotiable. In her first two years on the NASCAR circuit, Robinson earned Most Popular Driver honors.

With each passing year came another climb up the NASCAR ladder. Robinson moved into the Busch Series in 1991. Highlights of her tenure included a second-place qualifying at Rockingham in 1994 and, two races later, her first career pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“My butt was always in a seat,” she said. “It was always driving, and always on a different type of race track. … I wasn’t consistently a frontrunner, but I was always near the Top 10.”

Her run, however, was short-lived.

We get hundreds of press releases every day, with the vast majority lasting just long enough for a finger to hit the “Delete” key. But this release caught my attention. It was from someone named Khobi Brooklyn and announced that a “Pure Electric Super Car” was coming to Charlotte. When I saw it I thought it better be the Tesla or someone’s press release was going to get an extra forcefully executed “Delete.” It was, and Brooklyn offered a test drive of the only all-electric (read: no gas at all) high-performance sports car on the market, the Tesla Roadster. The Tesla team was going to be in Charlotte in the next couple of days and wanted to know whether I’d be interested in driving it. Hell yeah.

The typical manufacturer that comes through town offering rides in their cars carries with them a large production of multiple sales reps, factory reps and press agents. Rolls Royce flew through town and brought along eight cars, set up shop in front of the Bobcats stadium, and had an NFL football team-sized entourage. With Tesla I thought it would be similar, so through e-mail I asked multiple times where they were going to camp out, and where we could meet up. They were a bit hesitant about disclosing their location and talked about their schedule being in flux, so we could decide on a location when we spoke over the phone the following week. OK?

Five days later I get an e-mail from Dan and his traveling partner, Shaun, about scheduling a time to meet to drive the car. The day after that I give Shaun a call and it sounds like Shaun is standing in the street somewhere in uptown and I ask whether I can schedule a time to drive the car. “Well”, he says, “I think the weather is supposed to be bad tomorrow, and we’re headed up to Lexington over the weekend anyway, so how about now?” Without hanging up, I grab my stuff, head out the door of the office, and get the location of where they have the car displayed to the public. He mentions a cross street near the Carillon Building and explains they are parked on the street. On the street? Entourage, fireworks, press agents? Nope.
Walking past the Carillon, I see a guy sitting near the park texting. And lo and behold, parked on the street, along with everything else, surrounded by nothing but the curb, is a $157,000 all-electric Tesla Roadster. Wow.

I capture a couple pics of the car and ask to see the “engine.” The Tesla is a mid-engine roadster and all you can see when popping the back hood is the top of its lithium ion (read: laptop) batteries. And of course a week’s worth of dirty clothes for Dan and Shaun. They are literally just driving the car around the East Coast, stopping in cities to talk with potential customers and the occasionally lucky media rep. Just a week’s worth of T-shirts, underwear and shampoo. It’s more like a college road trip than a press junket, except instead of Mom’s sedan, they are driving a car that does 0-60 in under four seconds without a single drop of gasoline.

I sign something I didn’t read, absolving Tesla of all responsibility for my driving, and Dan hands me the keys. Luckily I whitewater kayak and am used to folding my 6-foot-1 frame into tight spaces because the driver’s side seat is similar in size to the cockpit of my whitewater boat. Tiny.

What follows is hard to describe: The engine cranks but there is no sound, no gasoline fumes, and no power steering. The wheel is tiny in my hands, and is similar in size to the go-karts at Victory Lane. I pull out into traffic and jerk into my lane. “Instant on” is the term I would use. The accelerator feels like it’s tied directly to the rear wheels, and there is no lag whatsoever.

At the on-ramp to Independence, we are stuck behind a carbon fuel-based pickup truck from the ‘80s. But after the on-ramp we quickly join the flow of traffic. And I floor it. There is no tachometer, but instead a dial that displays wattage use. I redline that, and with the engine quietly whining in the background we are thrown back in our seats. I think Dan is trying to tell me something but I’m laughing too hard to hear him. Amazing.

~ Todd Trimakas

It’s called “A Better World.” And that’s what it is… and what it does… The program creates a better world for the kids who would otherwise be left at home alone as soon as the bus dropped them off from school.  Many of them are children of single mothers… working multiple jobs to make ends meet.  A Better World is amazing.  Pastor Ken Gilliard and Kisha Darden are the backbone of the program… and they think of everything.  The kids get a snack, tutoring, free computer access, sports training, Bible study, a hot meal for dinner before they go home… and get this… the kids even get to take home canned goods and toiletries.  Leaders believe if kids aren’t given the bare necessities they will find a way to get them- often through negative- even criminal activity.  So it is actually helping out you too… the taxpayer… lowering welfare and incarceration costs.

The other philosophy the group lives by is that consistency from mentors builds sincere relationships… and that fosters positive development… it also edges out the negative environment that often surrounds the youngsters ranging from elementary to high school students.

Ironically on the other side of town… the church I attend… mega-church Forest Hill lead by David Chadwick… helped plant a seed to start the program.  I didn’t even realize the connection when I started volunteering.  I had done a story at A Better World for Fox News Rising… and it inspired me to help…. But how?  I volunteered to help by using one of my gifts… a passion for fitness and nutrition.

Studies show us it’s very often minority kids from lower socioeconomic families that have some of the biggest waistlines… and as we all know as Americans… our waistlines are growing at an alarming rate and the obesity epidemic is out of control.

On Monday afternoons, the kids greet me with smiles and hugs… they are eager to take my TURBO/Hip Hop Hustle 30 minute exercise class that I teach them in the church’s quaint sanctuary.  But the sound system is off the hook… so we really rock it out!  The kids hoot and holler and dance like no one is watching… what’s REALLY cool… is that I learn from them every time I’m there. They have incredible spirits… they are thankful for everything they have.

For as much joy these kids bring me… I sure hope these amateur pictures and iphone video make you smile too!

ALSO… please join me for my next Bootcamp at Freedom Park…. It’s Saturday, May 29th  from 8:30am-10am.  It’s $15 a person. Email me below for details.  It’s for all fitness levels and sure to be tons of fun! See you there!

~ Anna Kooiman

15 lovely ladies are feeling a bit sore after the first ever Beach Body Bridal Bootcamp presented by GetFitCharlotte.com and Carolina Wedding Design.  We start with a run around the pond at the beautiful Freedom Park on one of the best weather days of the year yet. The Spring’s green grass, tulips, daffodills, weeping willows, and spouting fountains are sure signs… wedding season is upon us!  As the ladies are panting from their early morning start… a mother of a bride takes the lead and sets the tone… if the young ladies can’t catch her… their egos are shot… way to go Mom… thanks for raising the bar.  Wowza… look who ate her Wheaties this morning!

After a good stretch… we shake our booties to warm up a bit more… Lil Jon’s “KRAZY” and Sean Paul’s, “So Fine” get us groovin… Time to take it up a notch with Turbo Kick (a cross between kickboxing and hip hop dancing).  The brides are looking like they need a little high quality H20… so we take five and chill.  I hand out Shakeology samples and tell them it’s a product I swear by… a great mix of protein, vitamins, minerals… that keeps you trim since it’s low in calories and sugar.  The girls get the most excited about the Shakeology recipes that will let them eat chocolate covered strawberries and peanut butter cups with out the guilt!  Enough fantasizing about the finish… and getting to relax for the holiday weekend… it’s time for sprints ladies!  Whistle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These brides are gonna be lookin even hotter in no time!  Wind sprints, push ups, bicycles, burpees, high knees, squats…. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  Water break…. Pfeewwww.  Only 10 more minutes… A little more booty bouncin to cool us down… Beyonce’s, ‘Sweet Dreams’… and a special TURBO version of ‘Everybody on the Dance Floor.’  A few more prizes are handed out for who can do the most pushups in 60 seconds… and who brought the most bootcampers… Tell em’ what they’ve won Johnny! An elastic exercise resistance band and two Shakeology workout DVD’s. But the best part… everybody leaves with a smile and knowing they did something healthy for their minds and bodies.

I can’t wait for the next one ladies… you’re not tired are you!?!

~ Anna Kooiman

GetFitCharlotte.com

Yet at the end of our long interview about his role in the development of Uptown Charlotte, there came a moment when I unwittingly gave him a compliment that deeply resonated with the essential core of who Harvey Gantt is.

“So I guess it’s only fitting that this center should be named after you,” I said. “You have, after all, been a civil rights pioneer and a longtime leader in the African-American community.  But it’s also fitting, given that it’s located Uptown.  Because, after all is said and done, you are a ‘city guy.’”

Gantt, who had been in a reflective mood during our conversation, broke out in a wide grin that not only lit up his face, but seemingly his entire being as well.  It was a joyful look of pleasure that comes when an insightful “ah ha” moment about yourself is combined with an external recognition of what you are most proud of about yourself

“That’s right,” he said. “I’m a city guy. No one has ever called me that before. I have lived in uptown for 30 years, plus always had my business here. There aren’t many people who can say that.”

The moment ended the interview – focusing on Gantt’s role in the creation of modern uptown Charlotte – on just the right note.

Even those who have only lived in Charlotte for a short time recognize the name Harvey Gantt:  First black mayor of Charlotte (1983-1987).  A barrier-breaking candidate for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Jesse Helms in 1990 (and again in 1996).  And, before that, as the student who desegregated Clemson University when he attended its architecture program in 1963-1965.

But few people know Gantt as a distinguished architect and co-owner of Gantt Huberman Architects, which he founded with Jeff Huberman in 1971.  Fewer still – including myself, who has known him through the political arena for decades – realize that what he sees himself as is a city planner.

So, Dear Reader, come get to know Harvey Gantt, the City Guy, and learn about the history of modern Uptown Charlotte from one if its first advocates.

You were born and raised in Charleston. What brought you to Charlotte?
When I moved here in 1965, I was a young fellow looking for a place to raise my family and get certified as an architect. I wanted to stay in the South – two years of college in Iowa taught me that.  I had two choices – Atlanta and Charlotte. Although I graduated third in my class, I did not get a single job offer in South Carolina – no one wanted the notoriety of hiring the person who desegregated Clemson.

The size of the town appealed to me. It was a smaller pond than Atlanta. Odell Associates were nice and accommodating and made the case that the place was going to grow. Yet Charlotte was never originally on my radar; I wasn’t enamored with it. If you were going to go to North Carolina you thought about Raleigh or Greensboro.

What were those first years like?
For the first three years, I focused on getting my architecture license and was not involved in anything besides that and my church, Friendship Baptist.

Gouldie Odell (firm founder, Arthur Gould) allowed me to work on the first master plan for Uptown Charlotte. This was before the Civic Center, and the first office tower had not been built. There was no Fourth Ward, and Brooklyn (an old black neighborhood located near the intersection of McDowell and Stonewall streets) was being erased.

I watched from the sidelines as all the business leaders came to Odell to see the plan and saw how he sold it to them. I was in the room and saw all those people serious about the plan. It always stayed with me.  From that experience, I realized I wanted to study city planning, what made some cities great and some not.  So I got my masters in city planning from MIT, then worked as a planner at Soul City and taught city planning at UNC-Chapel Hill. For me, it was all about cities, not architecture.

Why did you come back to Charlotte?
I saw the city moving. There was another center city plan that called for using public infrastructure to promote private investment to create a place where white-table restaurants and greasy spoons were next door to each other and where housing made sense. Charlotte was a great urban laboratory, and there was a dynamism in the air. Jeff Huberman and I had met at Odell, and we had talked about forming an integrated architectural firm in Charlotte. There were few black architects anyway. He asked me to come back, and in October 1971, we opened our firm in the Johnson Building. We have always been located Uptown. A suburban location did not fit with our mission of what we wanted to be – and we felt we should be in the center of things.

Then what happened?
We did mostly institutional work, and we got our first city commission – the Belmont Regional Center — just before I was appointed to city council. That project made me more familiar with planning and how city departments worked. I realized how the city could, if they did it right, encourage housing and retail and make an exciting city. I decided I wanted to be a part of it.  Fred Alexander was my mentor, and he knew Charlotte’s history. He respected my growing knowledge about cities, and he listened to me. When he left city council for the state legislature, a lot of people wanted his seat. Out of the blue, he asked me to fill it because I was a neutral candidate. It was then that I saw how I could use my knowledge in a direct and effective way — the city needed to leverage the aspects it had control over to shape development where it needed to go. It was when I began to see Uptown as the livingroom of the region.

I remember you using that phrase in the early 1980s during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Uptown transit mall. It’s a forgotten term now. But the mall served its purpose.  It laid the groundwork for today’s Uptown.

We tore up Tryon Street, and it was nothing but clay and holes for months. I think now how remarkable it was that we convinced the retailers and financial institutions to let us close Tryon Street and transform the way it looked. We buried the utility cables, spread bus stations along the length of Tryon and built a civic realm on the street. It was the start of a new way of thinking about Uptown.

Now I look at and see the beautiful trees and bus shelters. There were some who argued for cheap little enclosed shelters, but we wanted something that would last. They were well worth the investment — they still look good after more than 20 years.

What other developments helped transform Uptown?
This place has always believed in what it planned. We saw second-floor retail in Minneapolis, and we followed through on it by building the Overstreet Mall. It fulfilled its purpose, but it had consequences we did not anticipate. We’re still working on getting retail on the street. We had a cultural plan that called for transforming a church into an arts center (Spirit Square) and for building a science museum (Discovery Place). It keeps going on and on.

The Junior League restored the Berryhill House in Fourth Ward, and some of us on council got enamored with it.  It wasn’t high-rise housing, but it was the beginning of residential development in the soft underbelly of high-rises. It was a romantic idea that made sense.

You almost got the Coliseum built uptown during the 1980s.  But it ended up off of Billy Graham.
The bond to build the coliseum passed while I was mayor, and we considered  two Uptown sites. One was where the Civic Center was (now the site of the EpiCentre), but it was too tight. Then we considered the site of the Arnold Palmer Cadillac dealership (where the Convention Center now sits).  But the council voted it down for the suburban site. I took a lot of heat for it, but I still think I had the right idea.

Progress kept being made, though.

Uptown has evolved over generations, in fits and starts, with successes and failures. But everyone had the notion that we could eventually build something very good at the city’s center.  The Charlotte Uptown Development Corporation (precursor to Charlotte Center City Partners) got business leaders involved who knew we were serious.

You made a personal commitment to Uptown as well as a business one.
I felt it was important to make a personal investment and so moved into Fourth
Ward.  Now I walk to Tryon Street from there and show it off to visitors, who are fascinated by the level of activity.  At 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, the streets are filled with people. My guests always ask me, “Where are these people going? How on earth did you get this place to look like this?”

What about the future?
I’m happy where the center city is today. It was part of a movement of people – the city manager, city council and business leaders – with the right ideas.  In 20 years, it can look even better. But we still need to work on retail, residential, and parking. We need to continue to make it a destination for the region. And I hope we don’t lose our energy and vision for public transportation. We need to extend the light rail line all the way to the university and add commuter lines to the towns, even if we have to add another quarter-percent tax.

Are you concerned that the Wells Fargo Cultural Campus (which the Gantt Center is part of) is opening during a severe economic downturn?
No. Of course there are going to be dips in the economy if you look long term. The value of my house in Fourth Ward has gone up, gone down, flattened, gone up again – we didn’t choose it for the short term. The Cultural Campus will still be great 50 years from now. It is opening at a time when people have less money for entertainment, but in the big scheme of things, it is something very special. We are being applauded that a city of this size could open so many venues in such a short period of time. It is one more thing that will make Uptown a destination in the center of the region.

The campus – and the Gantt Center – are examples of how the public sector can leverage its resources to spur development.

I remember when the Afro-Am Center – I’ll be calling the organization that for a long time – was started at UNC-Charlotte and when it was based in one room at Spirit Square. I served on its board in the 1970s. Then, when I was mayor pro tem, the Little Rock AME Church was slated for destruction to widen Seventh Street. But the road was moved to save it – I wonder how many people know that’s why the street curves like that?  The city purchased it and leased it to the Afro-Am Center once they raised a certain amount of money. Then the Center grew enough and had enough presence that when the new Cultural Campus was planned, it was right in the heart of it.

I know everyone asks this question, but I can’t resist. How does it feel to have this center named after you?
I’ve always had strong feelings that you shouldn’t name buildings after people who are living.  So I gave it a lot of thought after I was asked.  But it was thinking about children that moved me the most. The black and white kids who go there might ask, “Why is it named the Gantt Center? Who is this fellow?” And my story might be uplifting and inspiring to some of them.

The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts and Culture is the new name for the Afro-American Cultural Center that was founded 35 years.  The new four-story building at Stonewall and Tryon streets is a combination art/history museum and cultural center. It will feature 7,000 square feet of gallery space in its three main exhibit halls. The opening exhibits feature works by Belmont native Juan Logan and Atlanta-based Radcliffe Bailey, as well as the entire 58 pieces of the nationally known Hewitt Collection, part of the center’s permanent collection. Purchased in 1998 by Bank of America and donated to the Center, it features paintings by such artists as Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, Romare Bearden, Jonathan Green and Ann Tanksley.

~ Bea Quirk