Michele Abbate takes a minute to explain what all the commotion is that can be found on the carbon viber hood on her Mazdaspeed Protégé:

I had wanted to put the decal on for months after I got my carbon fiber hood. I got this hood specifically for functionality (the vents for cooling); and to be  completely honest, I am not really into carbon fiber, or the “Evo” style look.

As soon as I received it I knew I wanted to do this. I wanted to make the hood into something I would love and I knew putting people that I owe a million thank you’s to on it would do just that. It took me a long while to finalize the list, and well, you’re looking at it…

Each and every one of these people have gone FAR out of their way to help me in some way with my racing. Everything from late night calls to long talks, these people showed me that I can do whatever I want and that I can succeed; but most
of all, they gave me help and support. Some gave me more generosity than I could fathom, and others poured advice and ideas into my soul to make me strong. The “05” and “10” on the top corners of it is to show the years in which all of these
people contributed to my racing success; which also happens to be the first 5 years of my racing career.

I want the people listed on my hood to know that I will never forget what things they individually did to help me out. That the big and the little actions really did go a long way; I do my best to take nothing for granted and this is just one way I
wanted to say thanks. I truly appreciate anything and everything you have done for me.

Some of the people on my hood are some of my best friends, and others I have only worked with for a short time, and I think that is one of the most unique characteristic about the whole idea. Everyone knows that your friends and family are always there, but for the certain number of people that supported me without question deserve just as much of a “thanks” than my closest buddies. The purpose of the hood was not to separate people with favoritism. It wasn’t to rank people and say some are better than others; I could cover my entire car with names and still not have enough room to thank everyone. But for these people I can name exact reason of why their named popped into my head while brainstorming the list (which actually makes for a fun conversation piece as well!).

My favorite part about this is that no one knew about it and no one expected it. I based it off of what I’ve been lucky enough to have between 2005 and 2010. So, thanks everyone, for everything. It has been an amazing 5 years of racing and
I can’t wait to see what the future brings. Though I do know that without the impact from each of you, I would not be who or where I am today.

This is my designated race hood, and it is only on my car when I am racing it. So, if you ever get a chance to just take a peek at it, it will only be on at race events. Otherwise my stock hood is used for my daily driving.

Here’s the List of Names:

Mom&Dad, Michael, Kellie Gascon, Britt Guerlian, Amanda Higgins, Brandon Lessing, Anthony Philleo, Jeff Abrams, Tom Godfrey, Brad Mark, Thomas Smith, Cory Huggins, Todd Waugh, Gene Rolfe, Chris Darquea, Alicia Doremus, Jay
Ronquillo, Zee Reid, Michael McGuinness, Greg Cava, Guy&TJ Clark, Quirt Crawford, Eladio Rodriguez, Ken Miller, Richard Petty, Dan Fultz, Clint Boisdeau, Gary Martin