Racer Profiles: Beat the Heat

L-R : Lauren SCHILLING of Wimmera Off Street Drag Racing Club, Senior Constable Sharlene BALDOCK of Warracknabeal Police and Senior Constable Dani RICHARDSON of Ararat Police

Lauren SCHILLING

Lauren SCHILLING is a mum from Warracknabeal. She has just commenced her dream of being a drag racing driver, after purchasing this XR6. Although this car is also Laurens every day drive complete with a baby seat, she will be entering this car in the Wimmera Eighth Mile Championships at Warracknabeal on 7/10/17. As we have a community that encourages positive interactions with police, Lauren has decided to vanity plate her car as 'Bandit' for events, to go with the Smokey and the Bandit theme since all of the Beat the heat cars are plated as Smokey! Go Lauren, we hope you do beat the heat!

Dani RICHARDSON 

Dani RICHARDSON is a Senior Constable at Ararat Police Station in the uniform section. She is also part of the Beat The Heat off-duty police youth motorsport mentoring program.

"When I was 15 years old I knew that I wanted to be a police officer. I had dreamed of joining the mounted branch as I have had horses all of my life. I still have horses now but my current career aspirations are to join the Highway Patrol."

She thinks that country policing is a great career. "You get to work with the community a lot more and make a difference. We are starting a program called Project Right Path Youth Shed in collaboration with Wimmera Off Street Drag Racing Club and other community stakeholders. There are some really exciting times ahead with that!"

Irene Guest

Irene Guest is the Station Commander and Officer in Charge at Speed Police Station. Yes... there really is a town in Victoria called Speed! Irene was inspired to become a police officer to help people, this is still her reason for her job today. Rural policing is great because of the great people and the community is really pro-police.Irene feels accepted by the community. She has always had a love for cars, and always loved the sound of V8's "Dads fault!" she says "as I grew up with V8 Valiants! Irene owns 2 v8 Holden SS Commodores, 1 - 2008 VE SS Commodore and a 2016 VF SSV Redline Commodore, as well as 2 -253 utes (HX and HZ) that are being restored. Irenes advice for young women is "Learn to drive as soon as you can. learn in a manual vehicle. Watch everyone else on the road including yourself!! Dont take risks, life is too short 🙂

Senior Constable Sharlene BALDOCK

Senior Constable Sharlene BALDOCK is a Senior Constable in uniform at the Warracknabeal Police Station.She joined the police to help the community in a way that no other job can, and loves rural policing because it brings you closer to your community. And besides, walking down the street to post your mail can sometimes take 2 hours because everyone wants to have a chat.

In smaller communities people come together and help one another out and want to help the younger generation with skills and knowledge, hence the Warracknabeal drags.

Sharlene's advice for young women is "Never say I can’t, can’t does not exist, you can do whatever you put your mind to, focus and you will achieve."

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Girls Torque would like to thank the ladies in blue for their contribution to our blog, and we'd also like to wish them (and their bandit) all the best in their races.
If you'd like to follow Beat the Heat Victoria, drop by their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Beat-the-Heat-Victoria-597613530330309/