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VALLEY TOYOTA |
Valley Toyota |
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Toll Free Phone 866-700-TOYOTA |
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Main Phone 559.587.3500 |
Valley Toyota
Stella Weikle of Valley Toyota is a soft-spoken parts specialist who just happens to drive very, very fast.
The 28-year-old first sat behind the wheel of a racecar when she was six years old, and she has been scorching rubber on local tracks ever since.
"My dad used to race cars and I wasn't allowed to go into the pits because I was too young," Stella remembered about her father, Mark Weikle. "Then he bought me a midget and put me in the driver's seat."
That day turned out to be a fortuitous turn of events. Stella placed first in the quarter midget championship, and her dream of racing in the big leagues was hatched.
Stella moved up to junior sprints and placed first three years in a row. At 13, she was competing with adult riders in mutli-class.
"Mom didn't like it because she was always afraid of my getting hurt," Stella said.
Give mom, Donna, credit for a mother's gift of prescience. In the course of driving events Stella has flipped, crashed, slammed into walls and broken her ribs.
"I've gotten into a lot of accidents," Stella admitted sheepishly. "Dad says I'm fearless."
Her devil-may-care attitude launched Stella on a dual career path. Yes, she's an expert in a man's world of auto parts and can help any Valley Toyota customer find the right product. But she's also a fledgling stock car racer who wants to join the NASCAR circuit.
The Weikles are longtime residents of the southern San Joaquin Valley. Her great grandfather, Carl, was a German farmer and relocated the family from West Virginia during a drought in the early 1930s.
Stella grew up in a stone's throw from Lemoore Air Force Base, where she watched navy pilots speed across azure skies. She was an all-star softball player at Lemoore High School and attended Westfield Community College on a softball scholarship.
Yet, it was the racetrack that tugged at Stella's heartstrings. Her father owned a body shop business and Stella's need for speed became a natural affinity for cars.
"I love it," Stella said. "The speed, the competitiveness. I like to go fast."
Valley Toyota offers sales, parts, repair, and service for the southern San Joaquin Valley, Calif. including Hanford, Visalia, Fresno, Tulare, Delano, Bakersfield, Porterville, Reedley, Selma, Sanger, Lemoore and Kingsburg.
Content provided by Sensible DriverSM, the e-magazine for people who care about their cars.
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