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Sheila Howard, MIR's Director of
Fire and Rescue, celebrates her 30th
year at MIR. Both Sheila and MIR
have come a long way in those 30
years. Sheila started as a teenager
at MIR under the previous Directors,
Joe Vestraci and Mike Wills. She
learned a lot from both Joe and
Mike, and expanded her personal
medical knowledge and certifications
from and EMT to a paramedic. When
Mike Wills unexpectedly passed away
in 2019, Sheila was poised and ready
to step into the role as MIR's
Director of Fire and Rescue. Royce
Miller, owner of MIR stated, "The
MIR family is truly blessed to have
Sheila at the helm of our Fire and
Rescue operations here at MIR. Under
Sheila's guidance and dedication, we
are continually enhancing and adding
to our equipment and training. Both
Sheila and I share the commitment to
providing the safest and best care
for the racers and all that attend
events at MIR. Thank you, Sheila,
for your dedication and service for
the last 30 years".
Sheila's perspective of the last 30
years...
I happened to be sitting in the
stands at the beginning of the
season of 1995 when the announcer,
Joe Plug announced that they were
looking for some more EMT’s to work
at the track. I walked from the
stands all the way down to the ET
Shack and told that old guy (Joe
Vestraci) that I was in EMT class
and that I’d like to work there- to
which he said, “go get your card and
come back.” I passed class in May
and was hired while the ink was
still wet on my card.
The track was much different back
then… the entrance to the track
shared the return road with the
racers, so we shared a booth with
Mrs. Peacoe (Royce’s mom) while she
worked the gate to let everyone in.
There were only two staging lanes
that ran behind some wooden
bleachers after they passed tech in
the pits near the scoreboards. The
tower was small and made of plywood
and lexan- so the whole thing shook
when we had pro cars doing burnouts.
The waterbox was more like a ditch
over years and years of tires
digging in, so your car dropped down
into it and then you pulled out of
it to do your burnout. Among all of
these physical features was one
thing that never bothered me- there
were no woman racers, and the only
female staff outside of the Miller
family only worked in the tower. On
Friday nights during midnight
madness, there was an all-girl race
called the Powder Puff Race, which
was the opportunity for girls to get
in their boyfriends car to win a
trophy, but otherwise this was a
man’s sport.
Being in the fire service was
something that erased your
differences, whether it was age or
color, male or female because we
were ultimately there for a higher
calling. I can tell you one thing
though, at the track I worked with a
bunch of old guys that didn’t care
for a wild teenage girl. They
tolerated me though, and sometimes I
like to think it challenged them to
keep up. I also got sent to work the
first aid station on most of the
shows, which put me near the
starting line and I didn’t mind that
either. We staffed one “vanbulance”
that had a few rusty extinguishers
rolling around in the back but
rarely saw any emergencies.
Cars were slower and carburetors
were still in style. Fenders were
hand lettered by
skilled artists with gold leaf and
paint. Slowly without even noticing,
laptops began appearing in passenger
seats and carbon fiber was replacing
steel. Vinyl replaced craftmanship
on fenders and suddenly it was only
about GOING FAST.
In those early days, Royce used to
travel to other tracks to help run
their events and he would always
come back to MIR and make changes
based on the things he learned from
them. Most of those changes affected
the fire/rescue, and we saw the
addition of fire suppression
equipment. Water extinguishers were
now filled with foam and we built a
Compressed Air Fire Suppression (CAFS)
unit for the back of a pickup truck.
One fire truck turned into two, one
ambulance turned into two. Foam fire
extinguishers were strategically
placed along points on the track and
around the property. Now we had to
start hiring cross trained EMT’s
that also had firefighter classes.
As cars got faster, they also got
more complicated. Hood latches
weren’t just snap rings anymore but
needed special tools to get them
open. Different ways to unbuckle a
driver in distress and different
fuels to fight in a fire. These
changes didn’t come with
instructions so we had to learn from
the drivers. Each time a car stopped
next to us, we studied it and talked
about things with the drivers. THEY
taught us to be who we needed to be,
because there was no kind of
training to teach us to be
“racetrack fire/rescue.” We taught
each other and passed this knowledge
on to the new staff.
Today I lead a team of the best
racetrack fire/rescue personnel at
one of the most premier racing
 facilities
in the nation. I make sure they are
equipped with the latest knowledge
of what it takes to disable a race
car and rescue the driver, and that
they only have about ten seconds to
do it. I teach them to love racing
and trust each other, because those
are the two most important things in
this job. I had to learn off of the
back-office things, because a few
years ago we suddenly had to
restructure our leadership and none
of us knew how to do any of it. I
learned how to rebuild and fill the
fire extinguishers, which is all
done onsite. I learned how to place
all of the orders and manage a
certified EMS organization through
the state. Most of all, I learned
how to lead from behind and watch my
team be the heroes that I taught
them to be.
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