A former stock car and open-wheel driver who used her racing profile to campaign on wildlife, the oceans and electric cars.
Leilani Munter is a former American stock car and open-wheel driver, born in 1974, who raced in NASCAR-sanctioned events, ARCA and the Indy Pro Series. She later became known for environmental and animal welfare campaigns and for her advocacy of electric and hydrogen cars.
Leilani Munter is an American former stock car and open-wheel driver who became known as an environmental and animal welfare campaigner. She last raced in the ARCA Menards Series and earlier competed in the Firestone Indy Lights, the feeder series for IndyCar. Her racing profile gave her a platform for campaigns on wildlife, oceans and electric cars.
Who is Leilani Munter?
Leilani Munter was born on 18 February 1974 in Rochester, Minnesota, where her father had moved for work at the Mayo Clinic. She earned a biology degree from the University of California, San Diego, specialising in ecology, behaviour and evolution. As a student she volunteered at a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre.
She later became known in motor sport for speaking about environmental issues. In 2008 she became the first ambassador for the National Wildlife Federation, a role that took her to Capitol Hill to lobby for climate legislation.
A stock car and Indy Pro driver who turned her track profile into campaigns for oceans, wildlife and electric cars.
How did Munter start in stock cars?
Munter's first races came in California in 2001 with the Allison Legacy Series, finishing seventh on debut. She moved to Mooresville, North Carolina, in 2002, widely regarded as the centre of NASCAR racing. Her first speedway start came in 2004 at Texas Motor Speedway, where she qualified fourth.
2006 brought her first full-time season behind the wheel. In her fifth race she finished fourth at Texas, a record for the highest finish by a female driver at the 1.5 mile track. Later that year she became the first woman to qualify for the Tony Bettenhausen Classic in its 45-year history. Across 43 stock car starts she scored nineteen top-ten finishes and nine top-five results.
What was her ARCA and open-wheel record?
Her ARCA rookie test at Daytona came in December 2006, where she was 24th quickest of 59 cars. In 2007 she became the fourth woman to compete in the Indy Pro Series, and she was fifth on the grid for her Kentucky Speedway debut on 11 August 2007.
After trouble on a restart she worked back to the front and turned the fifth-fastest lap of the race at 192.399 mph, before a multi-car accident ended her run. Four-time Indy 500 champion Rick Mears and the IndyCar driver Jaques Lazier were among those who spoke highly of her debut.
She returned to testing in December 2009, posting the seventh quickest lap of the final ARCA practice at 181.77 mph. In February 2010 she was among only three women to make the field on speed for the ARCA race at Daytona, alongside Danica Patrick and Alli Owens. She was caught in a ten-car accident and did not finish.
In 2014 she raced for Venturini Motorsports. A spinning car wrecked her on lap 28 at Daytona, where she finished 28th, and she came home 14th at Talladega and 12th on the lead lap at Chicagoland.
How did her racing link to environmental causes?
Munter used her race cars to raise awareness. In 2012 she tried to raise funds for a car with a 'The Cove' theme for the season-opening ARCA race at Daytona on 18 February, drawing attention to dolphin captivity and killing.
In February 2009 she climbed a wind turbine at Horse Hollow, the wind farm in Abilene, Texas, and signed one blade. NextEra Energy Resources, the turbine's owner, gave it the name Leilani. Later that year she signed a solar panel at NextEra's SEGS in the Mojave Desert.
What role did she play in the BP oil spill response?
She was among the first celebrities to reach the BP oil spill. Her arrival in Venice, Louisiana on 2 May 2010 came ten days after the Deepwater Horizon sank, and she spent a week documenting the disaster. She arrived the same day President Barack Obama did.
She returned on 13 July 2010 for a Sierra Club event with 10 current and former athletes, touring areas of Louisiana affected by the spill. The EPA recruited her for a 'Pick 5 for the Environment' spot that year.
What is her work on electric and hydrogen vehicles?
In May 2009 she travelled to Norway for the zero-emission Viking Rally in a hydrogen fuel cell Ford Focus. She placed second in the hill-climb, behind Henning Solberg. At the same event she drank water taken from the car's exhaust.
In 2013 she bought an electric Tesla Model S and became a vocal advocate for electric cars. She wrote a Huffington Post article titled 'Why We Need to Fight for Tesla' after state legislators in North Carolina proposed a ban on Tesla sales. She later addressed the TESLIVE meeting of owners in Milpitas, California, and was given a standing ovation.
Her documentary work included a specially equipped Tesla Model S in the 2015 film Racing Extinction, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2015. The car carried a 15,000 lumen projector and an infrared camera that could make carbon dioxide and methane visible.
How did she take on animal welfare campaigns?
Munter took up campaigns against dolphin hunting in Taiji, Japan, in 2010 and volunteered for Save Japan Dolphins. She returned to Taiji for two weeks that October and documented two hunts. She went back in September 2011 with Ric O'Barry, and on 7 September 2011 she recorded the first hunt of that season.
On 2 September 2010 she travelled to Tokyo with O'Barry to deliver a petition asking for the hunts to stop. A later trip gave her a deeper understanding of water stress around the world, which she reported on for the Huffington Post.
In 2014 she drove a race car modelled on an orca at Talladega, themed on the Blackfish documentary about SeaWorld. She raised $7,500 through crowd-funding for the car, and the rest of the cost was covered by Sam Simon, the animal rights activist and co-creator of The Simpsons.
How was her profile recognised?
Sports Illustrated counted her among the top ten female racers in the world. Glamour Magazine named her an Eco Hero, and she received ELLE Magazine's Genius Award in 2012. Discovery's Planet Green featured her in the Fast Forward series in 2010, and Oprah Winfrey ran a feature on her in 2012.
Career results snapshot
| Year | Series or event | Team or car | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Allison Legacy Series | Stock car | Seventh place on debut |
| 2003 | NASCAR Weekly Racing Series | South Boston Speedway | Ninth |
| 2004 | Texas Motor Speedway | Super late model | Qualified fourth, finished seventh |
| 2006 | Texas Motor Speedway | Stock car | Fourth, record for a female driver |
| 2007 | Indy Pro Series | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | Fifth-fastest lap at Kentucky |
| 2010 | ARCA, Daytona | Speed qualifier | Did not finish, ten-car accident |
| 2014 | ARCA, Daytona | Venturini Motorsports | 28th |
What did her NASCAR and Hostess work involve?
Munter spent three years as a special correspondent for NASCAR.com, and she was one of three Hostess Race Divas on boxes of Twinkies and Cupcakes. The campaign placed her alongside IndyCar's Danica Patrick and drag racer Melanie Troxel.
She also gave a live interview to NPR in 2008 about her environmental work in racing, and Oprah Winfrey's magazine and blog ran a feature on her in 2012. Those profiles reached audiences well beyond the grandstands.
How did Munter's wildlife work begin?
Munter began working for Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project after seeing The Cove, the film about dolphin captivity and killing. That early volunteering led to her work with the Oceanic Preservation Society and her later film appearance.
