Since the premiere episode of The Great Food Truck Race aired Sunday evening on the Food Network, three local women are better known coast-to-coast today for their culinary talents and selling skills.

Chris Paciora of Scottsdale, owner of Spice It Up food truck, and her two assistants, Nicole Mellor and Keri Frazier, both from Fountain Hills, are among seven competitors vying for a $50,000 cash prize in the sixth season of the reality TV series. The program was broadcast at 9 p.m.

The three mothers were motivated to show that it’s never too late to follow your dreams, or in their case, take a 2,500-mile journey on a stretch of one of the nation’s most famous highways, Route 66.

“These skilled food truck entrepreneurs and our viewers are in for the road trip of their lives,” said Bob Tuschman, general manager and senior vice president of Food Network.Tyler Florence hosts the program.

“Their journey across historic Route 66 reflects food culture itself: fast, intense, creative and delicious,” said Tuschman.

Videotaping the six episodes has been completed; the Spice It Up Team could not say when the programs were taped. All competitors were sworn to secrecy about the out-come.

The women said they have not viewed any of the filmed episodes and will watch the weekly programs along with fans of the show.

The first road battle began in Santa Monica, Calif., where competitors sold their signature dish-es on the Santa Monica Pier The Spice It Up team was the first among the competitors to sell $200 of their food, giving them a slight advantage.

They then traveled to Lake Havasu City for their first cooking challenge, where the first team to sell 20 orders of their twist on fish and chips earned them a bonus.

The first team to be eliminated was The Guava Tree Truck from Dallas. Other competitors are Diso’s Italian Sandwich Society (Brooklyn, N.Y.), GD Bro Truck (O-ange County, Calif.,), Pho Nomenal Dumplings (Raleigh, N.C.), Postcards (Los Angeles), and Waffle Love (Provo, Utah).

In this week’s episode, the race continued along Route 66 to Flagstaff and Sedona, where the teams create a dish incorporating the local delicacy, rattlesnake/rabbit sausage, and leave the comfort of their trucks to sell from touring Pink Jeeps among the Red Rocks.

Their travels then took them to Santa Fe, N.M.; Amarillo, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; St. Louis; Spring-field, Ill.; and ending in Chicago.

Host Florence described food trucks as this generation’s answers to American fast food: “We’ve done it. We’ve created a whole other business model that a lot of young people are…getting into, and it’s cool, it’s fashionable, it’s edgy.”

Local competitors

Chris Paciora waited until her children headed off to college to start her food business in 2011.

When the time came to find employees to assist her food truck, she hired two younger moms, Nicole Mellor and Keri Frazier.

They have known each other since they were eight years old, attended Fountain Hills schools together, moved on to higher education, married and each gave birth to two children.

Paciora met Mellor through their husbands’ place of employment.

“She would come over to get leftovers. I fell in love with her personality. She was excited and that’s the type of person I wanted for my business,” said Paciora.

Spice It Up caters par-ties and participates in food truck gatherings. The team regularly at-tends the Phoenix Food Market Friday mornings.

Mellor studied to be-come a teacher at Northern Arizona University. After graduating, she traveled abroad on and off before moving back to the United States five years ago.

Mellor interacts with customers at large gatherings where she explains the menu. Spice It Up’s selections are “a bit more complex” than most restaurants’ offerings.

“My job is to describe the dish to them and wrangle them into trying something new and exciting,” she said. She also drives the 28-foot long truck.

Frazier initially at-tended Arizona State University and finished her studies at the University of Hawaii. Her resume includes being at restaurant manager for 14 years. She met Paciora in 2013.

With two sons, ages 7 and 5, the bored mother wanted a job outside the home.

“I found my passion in the food truck industry. The chemistry I get from it is like a dream come true,” said Frazier.

In her mind, operating a food truck business re-quires an individual to be adaptable and possess a creative mind.

“You never know what to expect,” said Frazier, “You have to work well in small spaces and be aware of food quality going out the window. Your reputation causes people to find us.”

Success depends upon team coordination, abilities and recipes.

“Absolutely, as a team, we are dynamic and work well together,” she added.

Future episodes

Upcoming shows, locales and story lines:

Sept. 13, “High Steaks in Texas,” the final four teams are in for a steak-filled day by adding a steak dish to their menu.

Sept. 20, “Roadside Attractions,” the top three teams in Tulsa have their electronic devices taken away from them and they must research, outreach, market and navigate the old-fashioned way. Tyler challenges them to build roadside attractions where drivers can stop and sample their food.

Sept. 27, “Showdown in Chi-Town,” the two remaining teams arrive in St. Louis, ready for their final big sell. The teams are challenged to create three different dishes in 30 minutes to serve to two of the most renowned grill chefs in St. Louis.

Once in Chicago, the teams have to hit three different ethnic neighbor-hoods with three different ethnic dishes. The team that first sells 50 dishes in each location is crowned the champion of the Great Food Truck Race and drives away $50,000 richer.