Racing Sisters to Challenge Each Other at Riverside

Auto-racing sisters Kathy and Stacy Fay will face each other Friday through Sunday in the 15th annual Stroh’s Score Off Road World Championship at Riverside International Raceway.

Both will race identical modified Volkswagen sedans powered by 1600-cc engines.

Kathy, 29, of Northridge and Stacy, 24, of Santa Monica get racing advice from their father, Robert, who built his daughters’ first cars and now serves as their mechanic.

The sisters began racing in their teens, co-driving a dune buggy for their father at Ascot park before graduating to their own cars for powder-puff races. Now, each drives a two-seat buggy with a co-driver who watches for other cars and obstacles.

Competition between the two sisters is healthy.

“Kathy has taught me a lot,” Stacy said. “We used to compare notes. But now that I’m getting better, we’re more competitive. I’m curious to see how we compare at Riverside.”

Stacy left Cal State Northridge to work in the national marketing division of Maxi-Care, but she intends to return to school. Kathy has a degree in theater arts and works as a software engineer for Hughes.

Both look forward to racing at Riverside where their father and Kathy once won $10,000 in a handicap race. “There is going to be a lot of cars out there,” Kathy said, “but I grew up driving wheel-to-wheel. So I love it.”

The championship features racing for all types of off-road vehicles, including open-wheel race cars, sedans, pickups, mini-pickups, four-wheel-drives, motorcycles and three- and four-wheel all-terrain vehicles.