Leilani Maaja Münter
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Leilani Münter was born in Rochester, Minnesota
to Doris and Manfred Münter, a nurse from Hawaii
and a doctor from Germany. It seems as if her
future was destined from the start. Her middle
name, in Greek spelled Maia, in mythology is the
mother of the god of speed. Although she was a
straight A student in high school, Leilani had
trouble obeying the rules of the road. She
almost lost her drivers license due to (you
guessed it) "an excessive number of speeding
tickets." So Leilani slowed down... temporarily.
She continued her education at the University of
California in San Diego and earned a degree in
Biology. During her studies, she spent her free
time volunteering for a wildlife rehabilitation
center and working as a model. She had no idea
what her future held beyond graduation. Had she
been told, well... more than likely, she would
have dropped out of college.
 With
her previous experience in front of the
camera, upon graduation Leilani made the
natural progression towards film. On the set
of Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" it was
brought to her attention that she resembled a
certain up and coming actress. Soon after,
casting directors hired her to stand in and
photo double for Hollywood starlet Catherine
Zeta-Jones in the movies "Traffic" and
"America's Sweethearts." As if this was not
enough excitement, she started driving
racecars on the weekends. Continuing her work
in Hollywood to fund her increasing racing
habit, she did precision driving and on days
off she polished her skills by doing laps at
local racetracks. Then she made a decision.
She decided to take her driving abilities a
little more seriously...
She withdrew
her life savings, packed her bags, and jumped
on a flight to Sebring International Raceway
in Florida where she trained with Panoz Racing
School. She left with an empty wallet but a
pocket full of credentials. She earned her
competition license with Professional
 Sports
Car Racing (PSR), the Sports Car Club of
America (SCCA), and the National Association
for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Her plans
for 2001 are to get as much seat time as
possible. She will compete in the Allison
Legacy Series and run a limited schedule in
the Panoz GT Series. Next year she is strongly
considering a full season in the NASCAR
Southwest Tour. She's driving road courses and
ovals, from short tracks to super speedways-
anything to gain valuable seat time and
prepare herself to get out there and run with
the boys...
And if she had
to choose between being in front of the camera
or behind the wheel? "The film industry has
been kind and I am grateful. But I belong at
the track. There's a purity, a simplicity to
racing that attracts me. When I'm driving,
nothing else in the world matters. I can't
explain..." she grins, "All I want to do is
drive."
For more
information - check out
www.seejanedrive.com
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