Sports
Local drag racer blazes trail
Mustang youth part of a growing national sport
Brendan Hoover
Like many girls her age, Hannah Wolter likes to make sure her clothes coordinate with her accessories.
The difference, her father said, is that the clothes she is matching are a fire resistant jacket, gloves and a racing helmet, and the accessories are a five-point harness and a dragster.
“She has a black jacket and gloves, so the harness has to be red, so there’s a contrast. The jacket matches the car, and her helmet matches the harness,” Rod Wolter said standing in the driveway of his family’s Mustang home next to his daughter’s ride of choice, a 14-foot-long, 400-pound drag racing car with a Blockzilla single-cylinder engine that is capable of speeds close to 100 miles per hour.
Wolter, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Mustang Middle School whose favorite subject is English, has taken up an sport that is growing in popularity in Oklahoma and all over the country—junior drag racing.
Wolter and her parents load up the dragster nearly every weekend and take it to Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Noble, where she competes in the National Hot Rod Association O’Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing League. The league, sanctioned by the NHRA, sports approximately 4,500 members ages 8-17 who race at 140 tracks all over the country.
According to the JDRL’s website, 35 percent of the league’s members are girls.
Not to mention the fact that many of these racers are too young for a driver’s license and have never driven a full-sized car before.
Wolter said she got interested in the sport last year during a family trip to Denton, Texas.
“We were visiting a family friend. He had a car and he let me drive it, and I loved it. Ever since then I’ve wanted to drive one. The very first time I drove the car it was scary, but now I want to go pro,” she said.
Junior drag racing is almost identical to adult drag racing, only on a smaller scale. The cars are one-half scale to the big dragsters; the stock engine is usually a five-horsepower Briggs and Stratton, and the racetrack is one-eighth of a mile instead of the quarter-mile track that adults race on.
Racers compete weekly over a season, accumulating points toward a track championship. At the end of the season, racers can compete in one of two Conference Finals, depending on where they race.
Wolter would compete at the JDRL Western Conference Finals in Denver in September. The Outdoor Channel will televise the event nationally. Prizes are normally awarded in the form of savings bonds or scholarships.
In her first two official JDRL events, Wolter won her first round races both times, but lost in the second round.
Being governed by the NHRA, the JDRL has many rules regarding speed and safety. Racers can go only so fast depending on their age. In Wolter’s age group, racers can go no faster than 8.90 seconds over one-eighth mile, for an average of 75 miles per hour.
Once she is 13, Wolter will be able to run a 7.90, or 85 miles per hour, which is the fastest any junior dragster is allowed to go.
Penalties for going faster than the allowed time include warnings and disqualification.
Racers are also required to wear helmets, neck collars, fire resistant clothing and arm restraints. The cars are equipped with harnesses and roll bars.
Her father said the souped-up engine in Wolter’s car, which engages the rear axle by way of a belt, with no transmission, can run about an 8.30 right now, reaching about 45 horsepower. The car is slowed by adding weight to it and Wolter letting off the gas near the end of a race.
Racers of all ages compete in bracket races, where each racer is dialed into an estimated time he or she tries to match. Races are evened by having the contestants leave the starting line at different times, the difference between their estimated times.
Racers leave the starting line when their respective tree, a tower of red, yellow and green bulbs, lights up.
The first car to cross the finish line wins the race.
Wolter’s mother, Debbie Wolter, said her daughter is new to the sport, but loves it.
“She’s hooked. She can’t wait to get to the track. Actually, she’s one of the rookies down at the track. Most of the other kids are older and have more experience, but she’s learning. It was nerve racking at first to watch her. It’s very hard to see your daughter going 75 miles per hour down the track. But now I’m confident in her. She’s very aware of her surroundings,” she said.
Thunder Valley track manager Marcia Crook said about 25 children come out to the track each week to compete in the JDRL.
“It’s a growing sport. It’s more expensive than buying shoulder pads or a uniform, but it’s fun, and everyone has a good time. It’s different from little league, because it can be fiercely competitive, but after the race everyone is friendly. We have some outstanding racers, national and divisional champions, who are tough to race against. The easiest way to get into is to just come to one race and talk to the people that do it,” Crook said.
Wolter said her goal is to become a professional drag racer, like her idol, Erica Enders.
Enders is a NHRA professional racer who got her start in the JDRL. She won the Super Gas class at the 2004 O’Reilly Nationals in Houston.
Wolter said she sees other girls at the track, but one of her favorites things is beating the boys.
“I like beating the boys. They get mad,” she said.
Local drag racer blazes trail
Mustang youth part of a growing national sport
Brendan Hoover
Like many girls her age, Hannah Wolter likes to make sure her clothes coordinate with her accessories.
The difference, her father said, is that the clothes she is matching are a fire resistant jacket, gloves and a racing helmet, and the accessories are a five-point harness and a dragster.
“She has a black jacket and gloves, so the harness has to be red, so there’s a contrast. The jacket matches the car, and her helmet matches the harness,” Rod Wolter said standing in the driveway of his family’s Mustang home next to his daughter’s ride of choice, a 14-foot-long, 400-pound drag racing car with a Blockzilla single-cylinder engine that is capable of speeds close to 100 miles per hour.
Wolter, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Mustang Middle School whose favorite subject is English, has taken up an sport that is growing in popularity in Oklahoma and all over the country—junior drag racing.
Wolter and her parents load up the dragster nearly every weekend and take it to Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Noble, where she competes in the National Hot Rod Association O’Reilly Auto Parts Jr. Drag Racing League. The league, sanctioned by the NHRA, sports approximately 4,500 members ages 8-17 who race at 140 tracks all over the country.
According to the JDRL’s website, 35 percent of the league’s members are girls.
Not to mention the fact that many of these racers are too young for a driver’s license and have never driven a full-sized car before.
Wolter said she got interested in the sport last year during a family trip to Denton, Texas.
“We were visiting a family friend. He had a car and he let me drive it, and I loved it. Ever since then I’ve wanted to drive one. The very first time I drove the car it was scary, but now I want to go pro,” she said.
Junior drag racing is almost identical to adult drag racing, only on a smaller scale. The cars are one-half scale to the big dragsters; the stock engine is usually a five-horsepower Briggs and Stratton, and the racetrack is one-eighth of a mile instead of the quarter-mile track that adults race on.
Racers compete weekly over a season, accumulating points toward a track championship. At the end of the season, racers can compete in one of two Conference Finals, depending on where they race.
Wolter would compete at the JDRL Western Conference Finals in Denver in September. The Outdoor Channel will televise the event nationally. Prizes are normally awarded in the form of savings bonds or scholarships.
In her first two official JDRL events, Wolter won her first round races both times, but lost in the second round.
Being governed by the NHRA, the JDRL has many rules regarding speed and safety. Racers can go only so fast depending on their age. In Wolter’s age group, racers can go no faster than 8.90 seconds over one-eighth mile, for an average of 75 miles per hour.
Once she is 13, Wolter will be able to run a 7.90, or 85 miles per hour, which is the fastest any junior dragster is allowed to go.
Penalties for going faster than the allowed time include warnings and disqualification.
Racers are also required to wear helmets, neck collars, fire resistant clothing and arm restraints. The cars are equipped with harnesses and roll bars.
Her father said the souped-up engine in Wolter’s car, which engages the rear axle by way of a belt, with no transmission, can run about an 8.30 right now, reaching about 45 horsepower. The car is slowed by adding weight to it and Wolter letting off the gas near the end of a race.
Racers of all ages compete in bracket races, where each racer is dialed into an estimated time he or she tries to match. Races are evened by having the contestants leave the starting line at different times, the difference between their estimated times.
Racers leave the starting line when their respective tree, a tower of red, yellow and green bulbs, lights up.
The first car to cross the finish line wins the race.
Wolter’s mother, Debbie Wolter, said her daughter is new to the sport, but loves it.
“She’s hooked. She can’t wait to get to the track. Actually, she’s one of the rookies down at the track. Most of the other kids are older and have more experience, but she’s learning. It was nerve racking at first to watch her. It’s very hard to see your daughter going 75 miles per hour down the track. But now I’m confident in her. She’s very aware of her surroundings,” she said.
Thunder Valley track manager Marcia Crook said about 25 children come out to the track each week to compete in the JDRL.
“It’s a growing sport. It’s more expensive than buying shoulder pads or a uniform, but it’s fun, and everyone has a good time. It’s different from little league, because it can be fiercely competitive, but after the race everyone is friendly. We have some outstanding racers, national and divisional champions, who are tough to race against. The easiest way to get into is to just come to one race and talk to the people that do it,” Crook said.
Wolter said her goal is to become a professional drag racer, like her idol, Erica Enders.
Enders is a NHRA professional racer who got her start in the JDRL. She won the Super Gas class at the 2004 O’Reilly Nationals in Houston.
Wolter said she sees other girls at the track, but one of her favorites things is beating the boys.
“I like beating the boys. They get mad,” she said.
1 comments
I think this is the best article of them all! you should consider maybe doing another interview just like this one, now that they all have al little more experience in the drag racing community.
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