Driver: Dale Levandier
Co-driver: Frances Markel
Vehicle: Not the ’05 Lotus Elise
County: USA

Targa Newfoundland has been a longtime dream for Dale Levandier and Frances Markel and this year it becomes reality for them. It’s a long drive from Massachusetts to Newfoundland but a love of racing and travel combined to attract them to make the trek this fall for the Targa Bambina event.

The couple, who call themselves Team Rumble Strip, shared an interest in motor racing from their earliest years together attending IMSA and NASCAR events at Watkins Glen, not far where they met in Rochester, New York. Later they ventured to Montreal for F1 races.

One of their favourite spectator events was the SCCA sports car races, which were F1 support races in the late ’90s.

“This looked like something we could do,” says Dale. “Some years later, while pondering a visit to Newfoundland, we discovered Targa Newfoundland and have wanted to participate, even once, ever since. We have finally managed to arrange a trip to Newfoundland, and by chance it overlaps with Targa Newfoundland!”

They settled in the Boston area in 1994, where they raised two daughters and pursued their careers. Frances, originally from Ohio, became a successful real estate agent after leaving a career in the semi-conductor industry, while Dale, originally from Nova Scotia, worked as a science researcher.

Dale and Frances are proud owners of a 2005 Lotus Elise, which would be perfect on Newfoundland’s challenging coastal roads, but sadly, it won’t be making the trip to Targa with them.

Team Rumble Strip will be doing a road trip through New England, the Maritimes and on to Newfoundland and Labrador this September on their way to Targa but, alas, the Lotus doesn’t have room for luggage. Instead, they will carve the twisty roads in their faithful Mazda 6.

Zoom zoom, Team Rumble Strip.