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Top Eliminator Drag Racer Timing was everything for Michele Leo when she was starting out. "I had to wait until I was 16 to drive, so the year when I was 15 went by so slow. I was so excited to race. My race car was all built and ready to go and the race season was in April. The only problem was the driver's test that I had to pass to get my driver's license in March. It was no problem. In April I had to pass a few tests so I could race and after that I was ready to roll. I was the High School Champion that year." Michele started in NHRA's Super Eliminator class at her home track, New England Dragway in Epping, NH. The track is now IHRA, so she has been mostly racing Top Eliminator. She also races at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, PA, Lebanon Valley Dragway in West Lebanon, NY and Oxford Plains Dragway in Oxford, ME. She was runner-up at a Division 3 Divisional race in 1998, and in 2000, she made it to the quarterfinals of the IHRA North American Nationals.
For motivation, Michele looks up to Angelle Seeling, recent winner of the Pro Stock Bike Championship, who Michele sees as breaking new ground for future women racers. Her goal is to put together a professional racing team focusing on drug-free fitness. Plans for 2001 include running in both Top Eliminator and Super Rod series in the Corvette, and possibly adding a dragster. "I have yet to win a championship, I was runner-up in 1998. If I win I will be the first woman at our track to win a championship!"
The Distant Thunder Driver of the Month is also
published as a feature article in
Racerchicks and in the racing channel of Sandra's Stuff.com and Liberal Arts and Crafts.net.
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Michele Leo
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