27 year old Shelley Pearson doesn’t spend her weekends like most of her friends. While they’re off hitting the malls and getting ready for a big night out, she’s busy preparing her two seater drag car for another 200 mph pass!
The Northamptonshire lass has been brought up in the high-octane world of Drag racing and these days uses her considerable skill to pilot customers down Santa Pod’s hallowed quarter mile in two seater ‘experience’ drives, clearing the 440 yards in a shade over 7 seconds.
‘Blame it on Dad,’ she laughs! ‘My father has been around drag racing all of his life whether it be driving or crewing for teams. As a result I spent most of my youth around the sport and loved it. In 2008 I went to Frank Hawley’s drag racing school in Gainesville Florida and earned my NHRA super comp competition license – ever since then I’ve been trying to get faster every time I run.’
Since starting her race career in oval racing at the age of just 16, Shelley has become a familiar face at Santa Pod – and she’s quite happy to run head-to-head against the men on equal terms. ‘My hero is Shirley Muldowny. (a famous female Drag racer) She has had such great success in her career and how she proved that women in the sport can be taken as seriously as men. I plan to do the same!’
Shelley will be running at her next event, Santa Pod’s Main Event, from the 28th to the 31st of May, alongside over 250 of the quickest teams in Europe. With four other ladies in the line-up, each able to hit over 300 mph, don’t expect any jokes about ‘Women Drivers’…
For more details please visit www.santapod.com or call the team on 01234 782828