The Ladies take Center Stage at NHRA Division 3 LODRS "Burndown at Sundown"

Written and Photographed by Bill Swanson

The NHRA’S Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series made it’s annual stop at Route 66 Raceway on June 3-5 for the North Central Regional/Division 3 Burndown at Sundown. This event is known for three things. An entertaining show for the fans. Ultra competitive racing across every class. And a large contingent of women that have what it takes to win.
Let’s start with the top class of the series, Top Alcohol Dragster. Here in Joliet, Mia Tedesco, the 2015 North Central Region TAD Champion qualified Number 1 in the CARS sponsored Hirata Racing A/Fuel dragster. Mia & tuner Dave Hirata held that spot through all three rounds of qualifying. However come eliminations on Sunday, good fortune shone upon another young lady, Krista Baldwin, who qualified Number 8.
A California native in her rookie season, Krista drives the Anthony Dicero Racing A/Fuel dragster. In that opening round, Tedesco’s car smoking the tires by 60′, while Baldwin’s stayed hooked and took the win. In the semi-final round, Baldwin faced eventual winner Brandon Booher and ran an impressive 5.397 ET to Booher’s 5.510, but a tardy reaction time spelled defeat for the newcomer.
Currently Mia Tedesco is 3rd in points in the North Central Region, and 6th nationally. Krista Baldwin is 5th in the North Central Region points. Both will be returning to Joliet for the Route 66 Nationals in the NHRA Mello Yello series July 7-10.

Top Alcohol Funny Car did not feature any ladies in the driver’s seat of race cars, but that’s not to say they didn’t have a huge impact in the class this weekend. Jay Payne won this event with his wife Shelly Payne calling all the shots on the Peak Camaro. The ultra-competitive Shelly tuned Jay to the number 2 qualifying spot, and in the final round went past number 1 qualifier John Lombardo Jr.

Stock Eliminator and Super Stock featured many women in competition. Among them, Brina Splingaire, drove in both classes. Qualified 17 in Super Stock with her GT/BA “Chi Town Shaker” Cobalt, in Round 1 Splingaire went red against Dan Jacobs, who happened to break out quicker than his dial-in. That misfortune didn’t deter Brina, as she had her E/SA’67 Camaro qualified 34th out of 84. Advancing through six rounds to reach the seventh and final round against the formidable Kyle Riley, Splingaire lost a heartbreaker when she broke out by .004 seconds. All in all, an impressive weekend of driving for the Kronnenwetter, WI resident.

As demonstrated by Splingaire, drivers have the ability to compete in two classes with the NHRA.  Mia Tedesco is another driver that did so, and her effort in Super Gas was highly successful where she earned the class win. Wading through the first 6 rounds where she faced extremely tough competition including 2015 National Champion Luke Bogacki , Tedesco & her CARS Cavalier prevailed over Jacob Elrod in the seventh and Final Round where she hit the class index with near perfection as Elrod fell off slightly.

Top Dragster enjoyed a respectable level of participation by women, with Shanna Snyder, Ohio’s Kathy Fisher, and Kristina Lawyer all racing. It was Lawyer who made the most impact of the three, going to the final in her supercharged Ford Boss 429 dragster. Lawyer gave class winner JB Strassweg a heck of a race with .008 reaction time, but fell just .006 seconds short at the stripe. The classy “DragstersForSale.com” team of Strassweg invited the hard working Kristina and the Lawyer family to share in Winner’s Circle festivities.

The Harley Davidson Drag Racing Series is part of this program, and in Pro Fuel Harley it was North Carolina’s Janette Thornley that prevailed on her nitromethane fueled motorcycle. Thornley faced Dennis Fisher in the final round. The huge holeshot that Thornley put on Fisher assured victory despite his 7.391 ET being the best of the weekend.
The women that we chronicled above just happened to be the most high profile of this event. We would be remiss in not paying tribute to many more that strapped into the driver’s seat, managed their teams, tuned the cars, built the engines, and drove the tow rigs. Well done Women of Motorsports! Route 66 Raceway’s staff also includes several women and they impressed as well. Some were instrumental in promoting the event and others worked in race control doing their part in contributing to a well run event. Thank you for your effort, CarChix salutes you.

Kathy Fischer is a racer, television show host and The Voice of CompetitionPlus.com. She and husband Kevin brought their ProCharged Top Dragster to Joliet where they qualified #12 and advanced to Round 2.

Judi Bureski of Dixon, IL has campaigned this strikingly beautiful 1970 Olds 442 in Stock Eliminator with her husband Bill and Son Daryl since 1979. Despite being one of the most consistent drivers in the division, Bureski’s weekend ended in Round 1.

Shanna Snyder is always a threat to win in Top Dragster.  Qualifying in the Number 3 position with a 6.026 ET at 234.94 MPH in the blown HEMI powered Vintage Trailers machine, Snyder advanced to Round 3 where Mark Harmon went across the stripe .001 seconds sooner.