Foot Over Hand for Jay Robinson NASCAR Team

World’s top model in the pits, but don’t look at her face
(Hey! Get your mind out of the gutter)

FEBRUARY 26, 2005 - FONTANA, Calif. – Chalk up another first for Jay Robinson Racing, one of the most forward-thinking groups in NASCAR racing.

“I thought, ‘What we need around here is a couple of models. That should liven things up,’” said Robinson, who owns two NASCAR Busch Series cars.

Enter Nicole Pano, a Hollywood, Calif., resident who is with the Jay Robinson team during the race weekend at California Speedway. But it’s not her face that has taken her to the top of her chosen profession.

Ms. Pano is considered the world’s top female foot model, and she is also one of the top hand models in the country. Not only have her feet and hands appeared in movies, commercials and television shows, those parts of her body have “doubled” for actresses such as Michelle Pfieffer and for the entire female cast of the hit television series “Charmed.”

“My agent called me and said, ‘What do you think about stock car racing?’ Ms. Pano said. “I said, ‘I’m not sure. What is that?’

“But I’ve had a great time and the people are so nice. I broke a nail, which is like horrible in my profession and I still like it,” she added.

Said driver Derrike Cope, the 1990 Daytona 500 who drives Robinson’s #28 Busch Series car: “All I know is I walked up this morning and this girl (Pano) is there with a group of guys, and all of them are looking down. I’m thinking, ‘Prayer group?’ Then I find out who she is and that they are all trying to sneak a peek at her feet, but she is wearing shoes and hose.

“I feel pretty smart. They stared at her feet. I shook hands.”