Sarah

About Me

Sarah Gurtis has lived in Central Florida most of her life. Raised in Winter Park, she now lives in the dream home she built on the Indian River in New Smyrna Beach. A career SunTrust banker, she left there in 1994 to take a two year hiatus to “travel and play.” She reentered the workforce with International Speedway Corporation as General Manager of DAYTONA USA, the racing themed attraction at Daytona International Speedway. Her involvement with Camp Boggy Creek, Paul Newman’s camp for seriously ill children in Florida, started in 1992 as she took on the role of volunteer head of communications & marketing. She frequently comments that “I now get paid to do what I did for free for 7 years.” She is an enthusiastic fan of Grand-Am sports car racing and Camp Boggy Creek is their official charity. Newman, as many will recall, was an avid sports car racer and spent much time at his Florida camp as well as Daytona Int’l Speedway. For fun, Sarah is known to land in Ireland (and recently Scotland) with no more plans than first and last night hotels and a rental car lined up. She promises to keep her Cadillac SRX in the “right” lane and donate the $500 “hit” money to Camp.

Leather gloves/ November 10, 2009- I part with my SRX later today and I think what I may miss most is the leather seats...seriously. Putting on that vehicle is like slipping on a well made pair of soft leather gloves. I KNOW I will think of the seats come next summer when I'm reminded that there are seats that actually cool and a car that starts before you get in it to run the air conditioner!  It has been a fun experience. Thanks to the good folks at Ritchey Cadillac in Daytona Beach, and to the team at Public Affairs who represented Cadillac and GM so well. Thanks to everyone who has voted...any money to charity these days is an important thing!READ MORE

Horses everywhere!/ November 09, 2009- SEDRA, the Southeastern Distance Riders Association had their horses out at Camp over the weekend. They do a LONG ride each day and get pledges for each mile to raise funds for Camp Boggy Creek. Thanks!    Speaking of horses, I haven't looked up in my owner's manual how many my SRX has...let's just say that my one hour drive to Camp seemed to go a bit faster this morning!READ MORE

Met a factory trainer!/ November 08, 2009- It is indeed a very small world. The SRX has been turning heads since I picked it up on Thursday. This morning I pulled up to the curb of Sacred Heart Catholic Church to drop off my Dad before parking the car. I got him up the stairs and as I turned around to return to the car, a lovely lady approached me and asked, "do you work for Cadillac?"  I smiled and asked her why she asked and she pointed to the Michigan plates on my SRX.  Well, turns out that Amy is a former Cadillac employee who was in their headquarters in Detroit. She was a "Cadillac & Hummer Trainer." She traveled all over the country training dealers and their employees about the various features of their cars. She went on to say that the SRX was her favorite because there were so many amazing features to talk about with the salespeople.  I told her about the Driving Force marketing campaign and she thought it was a fabulous idea...I agree.  I've already heard from an Orlando friend that she was thinking about buying an SRX and was now going to give it serious consideration. A sorority sister in Pittsburgh passed the site along and Camp Boggy Creek received a call from one of her New York relatives wanting to make a donation.  A car that can generate this much talk and excitement is a very fun thing. READ MORE

ROAD TRIP!/ November 07, 2009- This SRX just begs to hit the road. So, my father Joe and I are heading to Jacksonville so he can share a day of football watching with my equally crazed football loving sister.  I just might head over to the Beaches to take advantage of the sunroof and beautiful day...I feel a photo post in my future!READ MORE

Daytona/ November 06, 2009- Just back from visiting the Historic Sports Cars running this weekend at Daytona International Speedway. While my SRX doesn't qualify as "historic" just yet it looked spectacular at the track and turned quite a few heads among this design savvy crowd.  Have to admit that I took the long way home chosing to cross over to the beach side and take A1A south. Am already planning routes to cruise over the weekend!READ MORE