” Girls Rock” adorned on the side Girls rock.
It says so right on the side of the blue and silver 23-foot long open-wheel dragster Christine Scollard rode to rookie-of-the-year honours at Shannonville Motorsport Park last year.
With her pink helmet and of her car, it’s not hard to tell the 19-year-old Scollard, who started racing at 10, is a woman in a male-dominated sport.
“I’ve been racing with (the boys) for years so they’re used to me,” said Scollard, 19, a St. Peter’s Secondary School graduate who picked up her pro division rookie-of-the-year award at a Feb. 14 banquet in Belleville.
Only once did a boy give her a hard time, she said.
“I had a problem with one of the boys saying because I was a girl he could beat me. I smoked him. It was kind of fun,” she chuckled. “You’re don’t usually see girls in a race car. I want to prove you can be as good as the boys.”
She’s now driving a much faster car purchased by her father and chief mechanic Joe Scollard.
The vehicle is a fuel-injected 350 Chevy with 350-horsepower motor and 400-pounds of torque, a two-speed power-glide transmission on a Spitzer chassis made of chrome-molly steel. The body is carbon fibre with a Mark Williams rear-end and a 12-coat custom paint job.
“We’re still nervous every time she gets to the line, but she’s in a pretty safe car. She has a five-point harness, special helmet, safety gear, a certified cage and special chassis. It’s all chromemolly steel. She’s in a cocoon,” her father said.
Christine said she’s not scared.
“People tell me I’m a risk-taker and I say ‘Yep, I’m proud,’” she said. “You can’t think about how fast you’re going. You can’t have that fear or you won’t do it.”
Scollard would like to pursue the racing to its highest level in the International Hot Rod Association (IHRA), but the cost can be prohibitive. Joe said the top racers require a budget up to $200,000.
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