JUPITER, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES--Evangeline (Angel) Porter and Stephanie Porter-Kelley are the only siblings in the VRR Straight Talk IndyCar Series, and they've been able to race all over the world, including here in Palm Beach. We sat them together to talk about their first race together here.
"Angel had been racing for about a year. We were racing junior formulas." Stephanie started.
"Steph had about 8 years more experience than I did? She had made it to Formula One and was winning against people like Kino****a and Tyler Branson, Rani Sirkovainen. To me that was a big deal. So for her to race where I was racing, at the time I thought it was unfair, but she made me work so hard. Especially here." Angel continued.
They talked about how in FP1 for that weekend, Stephanie had topped the time sheets with running just one lap, a lap Angel couldn't come close to.
"For me, I was pushing hard as it was just to top my championship competition. I was still getting smoked by Steph, which, to be honest, pissed me off. So I started asking for these small changes everywhere, like a psycho moment of briliance and went out for FP2."
Those changes brought Angel within 2 hundredths of Steph in FP2.
"When I saw Angel's time, I wasn't concerned. I figured she went banzai with the corners and just set a remarkable lap time she couldn't set again."
"My car actually was more stable than before. And it was faster in the corners where it mattered. I didn't push as hard because I didn't know what the car would do. FP3 came and I still wasn't sure. I focused on my race runs instead."
FP3 saw more of the same. Steph P1, Angel P2, and no one within 5 tenths of a second. Qualifying was up next, and rain had rolled into the area. This put the advantage in Angel's court, who had higher downforce.
"Rain was something of the unknown. I knew higher downforce would be helpful, but I didn't know what she was running."
Angel qualified on pole, Stephanie back in 12th place with a long climb ahead.
"P12 was devastating, but predicted. As soon as the rain fell, I was thinking 'this isn't what we needed' and just went through with it."
Race time arrived and the start wasn't clean at all.
"From past experience, I knew Palm Beach wasn't a great passing venue. It was the example of how to pick your way through the field by timing your runs for the long straights. So seeing three wide in front of me was scary and I knew Angel would get a nice gap at the start."
Indeed, she did. At the end of lap one, Angel had a 2 second gap over second place, and 7 seconds over Steph. Methodically, in Porter fashion, Steph began picking off drivers one by one, climbing to 2nd with 14 to go.
"I knew Angel hadn't been pushing. She never needed to. So her tires were fresher. I had to make a hard decision. Do I gun for her or just hold on to second?"
Choice made, Steph began setting consecutive fastest laps, erasing the once 10 second gap to under two seconds with 5 to go. The heat was on. Angel began to push, but Steph had more momentum. At the white flag, the sisters were nose to tail. Steph used veteran experience to stalk Angel until the long straight. Then made her move.
"Under perfect circumstances, I would have gotten the inside line and cleared her braking for the right hander at the end of the straight."
However, Angel blocked the inside, forcing Steph to the outside. They ran right up to each other, pushing each other from one side of the road to the other. The tire rubbing caused significant problems. As Angel broke for the corner, the tires failed, sending her sideways into her sister and sending both into barrel rolls to the wall.
"When I hit the brakes, I watched my front left tire drop, and felt my left rear do the same thing. My slight wheel turn to the right snapped it into a slide and once I hit Steph I was up in the air."
"I wasn't aware that Angel's tires were that much worse than mine. She pushed from green to then, which for it being a junior formula was impressive. Our touch made her tires deflate rapidly, and when she hit me, my car tipped. Hitting the grass just carried that momentum and rolled it a lot."
Angel's car came to a rest on the tire barriers resting upside down, while Steph's was right side up against the tire barriers. Race was over.
"I climbed out of my car and saw Angel's upside down and smoking. First instinct was to climb the tires and try to see her."
"Steph slid under the nose and looked me in the face. Upside down, blood rushing to my head, my head stuck between the cockpit and tires, I just smiled and said "I might not be good at the airplane business."
Both failed to finish, but both hold that as extremely memorable and important races in their careers.
"For me, the race was the first time I had led that much of a race. I led almost from wire to wire. And it told me I could mingle with the big guns. That was important."
"For me, to see my baby sis up front and so edgy and fighting, it was a proud day. And her shrugging off the flip was just icing on the cake. She's a Porter, and it shined through that day."
Six years later, they return to that very same venue, having raced together in Formula 1, stock cars, touring cars, and endurance racers.
We will go to 3 cars though if nobody else goes with the AMR power however. 
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Must have used too much curb the second session. 
