Michele Abbate

3 x SCCA Road Racing Champion Michele Abbate is a prime example of hard work, perseverance and determination.  She began her racing career at the late age of 16 in her daily driven car and began driving it in regional autocross events.  Michele progressed her way up the ladder from driving around cones in a parking lot to track days and time attack.  In 2011 she signed with Scion (Toyota) as a factory backed driver and raced in NASA TT-E in 2011 taking 2nd place overall, and then went on to earn her racing license in 2012 where she made her debut in the MotoIQ Pacific Tuner Car Championship series where she won the championship, as a rookie, by just 1 point!  In 2014 the Grr Racing team was born as Michele and her now husband, Anthony Philleo, made their debut in professional road racing in their Scion FRS.  The team campaigned this car in the SCCA US Majors Tour series and won the 2015 STU Western Conference Division Championship as rookies in their debut year.  Following in 2017, Abbate moved up in to the GT-1 category for SCCA (the highest class) and came out on top as the Cal Club Region Champion.  In 2018, Michele Abbate made her debut in the SCCA National Run Offs Championship, the pinnacle of club road racing, and found herself with a podium finish while racing the fastest road racing drivers in North America.  For 2019, Abbate is pursuing her dream of racing Trans Am.  Now equipped with the tube chassis 2013 TA2 Chevy Camaro the team is excited to see if history will repeat itself as they make their debut in the professional Trans Am series!