Cat Racer

We found out today that Cat Whitehill is an excellent driver. During training camps, the U.S. team has about a 25-30 minute drive from the team hotel to training at The Home Depot Center every day. Sometimes, when the team has split practices, the players take vans instead of the team bus and cutting precious minutes off the commute is of great value. Doing so involves an intimate knowledge of the timing of stoplights, a bit of weaving in and out of traffic and a feel for Southern California traffic patterns. All these skills were learned by Whitehill during the several Residency Training Camps and she has put those talents on display this week. Of course, she also drives safely and abides by all California vehicle laws and codes, but darn if her van doesn’t get to places just a bit fast than everyone else’s van, earning her Top Driver Award for the WNT. This should not be a surprise as Whitehill does hail from the Alabama, which of course is NASCAR country. Back in 2004 after the USA won the Olympic gold medal, Whitehill was approached to be the official starter at the Talladega 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway (we love writing Talladega) about 40 miles east of her hometown of Birmingham. At the last moment, Kiefer Sutherland committed, denying Whitehill what she admitted would have been a highlight of her life. But hey, when Jack Bauer wants to the starter, Jack Bauer gets to be the starter.