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By Robin Yasinsac-Gillespie
From an early age Terri Mohrman knew she wanted to be involved in safety and emergency services—she currently heads the prominent Teal Suit Safety Team at several NY tracks and carries a long list of good deeds, earning her this year’s Outstanding Woman in Racing Award from the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame.
The 34th annual induction ceremonies will take place on Thursday, August 13 at the Hall of Fame Museum, located on the grounds of NY’s Weedsport Speedway.
Raised by a single mom who loved racing, Mohrman was attending Fonda Speedway by the time she was four.
“I had to behave for the babysitter and take a nap on Saturday afternoons or I couldn’t go to the races,” recalled the die-hard Lou Lazzaro fan. “And I wasn’t going to miss a Saturday night!”
After high school, Mohrman earned her nursing degree, working all aspects of the medical field—surgery, physical therapy, wound and burn care. It was a natural progression from grandstand fan at the races to joining the Emergency Medical Team at Fonda Speedway in 1983.
“We sat next to the Smith family at the races and Penny Smith was working on the ambulance crew at that time. She kept telling me I should come and work with her,” Mohrman recounted. So Terri took the courses required and received her EMT certification on Memorial Day 1983. She joined Fonda’s first responder crew the next week.
The following year Mohrman took charge of the EMT squad and began reinforcing the program to address every contingency—fire suppression, driver extrication, medical assessment and stabilization, airway management and cardiac procedures. The team has serviced Glen Ridge, Afton, Brookfield and Utica-Rome speedways, in addition to Fonda, and also overseen Short Track Super Series events.
The 24-member squad is composed of firefighters and EMTs, all holding SFI certification, the gold standard in track incident response protocol. Mohrman, who’s always a step ahead, recently added tow vehicle workers to the safety training sessions—a benefit to all on-track first responders.
“I may be the one getting recognized but without this dedicated team alongside me, we would be nothing,” claimed Mohrman. “I don’t think people realize their dedication. To come every Saturday night and be away from their families, they give a lot of themselves.”
This is Terri’s 43rd year at Fonda Speedway—an impressive feat. She has served the “Track of Champions” through eight different promoters. And during those years she has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. One night, driver John Scarborough rolled his race car—an incident still too clear in Mohrman’s mind.
“The car was still rolling as we were moving towards it,” recalled Mohrman. “And just as we pulled up to the car it exploded in flames. The braided fuel line came away from the fuel system and 22 gallons of fuel went on top of him as he was upside down. I looked at my partner [Amy] and said, ‘My God, we are going to watch somebody burn to death!’ He was able to get himself out of the car but he was on fire. Dealing with his emotional situation and his burns and trying to keep everybody away so we could get him to the hospital—it was a lot.”
Doctors at Albany, NY Medical Center credit Mohrman’s experience and coolheaded demeanor when tending to racer Jamie Spalding, after a crash at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park in 2015.
“We did everything old-school, by-the-book with him. I had one of the firemen on top of the vehicle with his upper body in the car, holding his head as we rolled the car over because I was fearful of his neck,” recounted Mohrman.
If handled differently, Spalding could easily have died or been paralyzed—and he is well aware of that fact.
“Terri led her crew on the most critical task of extracting me safely and allowing me to be a father to my boys as they grow,” Spalding stated. “I have almost no lasting effects from an injury every doctor has told me should have ended my life.”
Tougher yet for Terri was administering to her longtime friend Lou Lazzaro, after he collapsed with a medical issue at Fonda in 2000.
“It came over the radio, ‘Mimi [Lazzaro] wants Terri at Lou’s car immediately,’” said Mohrman. “He wanted me to handle him—he was my hero! I put him in the ambulance for the very last time.”
Despite her personal distress, Mohrman kept her composure and got right back to the job at hand.
“Once they are in the ambulance, we are back on duty because the green flag is dropping in two minutes and we have to be ready to go again—you don’t have time to process what just happened.”
She continues to raise awareness and funding for rescue equipment and training needed to ensure safety for all participants.
After she and teammate Bonnie Reuss got soaked in gasoline extricating a driver from a bad wreck at Glen Ridge, they realized that needed safety equipment extended to them, too.
“Bonnie was sitting in gas and after that we knew jeans and T-shirts weren’t going to cut it anymore,” said Mohrman. “So we decided to get double-layer firesuits for the team.”
Her tireless fundraising effort allowed Mohrman to outfit the crew in bright turquoise double-layer firesuits in 2018—and the name “Teal Suit Safety Team” was coined.
Mohrman is a passionate woman who admits she is living her dream. She’s undergone two knee replacements in the past couple of years—and claims she is ready to go for another 100,000 miles. She is floored by the attention she’s received.
Terri’s commitment and dedication have been recognized by the NYS Stock Car Association, Fonda Speedway Hall of Fame and the North East Stock Car Old Timers association. She will now be honored as the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame’s 2026 Outstanding Woman in Racing.
“I don’t know who cried more—my husband Leo or me, when I got the call about being honored with this award,” admitted Mohrman. “I may be a strong woman outwardly but I’m going to be bawling like a baby [at the ceremonies]. It’s wild! The kindness that people have shown me: they come up to me and thank me for helping them or for helping somebody they know.”
She takes none of it lightly and is appreciative of the opportunity to serve others. “I get to see what I love—racing. And when I am needed, I get to do what I love doing best.”
Mohrman’s team goal speaks best.
“Everyone leaves in one piece at the end of the night—including us.”
