Sierra Lister, just five days after her fifteenth birthday, became the very surprised recipient of the Whip City Speedway Rookie of the Year award for 2007.
“I didn’t even race a full season, ” said the excited teen racer, just hours after the award. “I wasn’t even expecting it. We just went there to get experience” when she wasn’t running at her regular track. In running the few races she entered at Whip City, Lister won the September 1 race for the 1200cc Mini Sprints, becoming the youngest female racer to take a checkered flag at the track. “Erin Crocker used to have the record as youngest female to win there but I have it now, because I was 14, ” she said.
The youthful racer’s plans for the winter racing season include the Bud Lite 12 Pack indoor series at MotoTown USA in Windsor, Conn. In her first practice session at the track, she had problems with both team cars. The primary car refused to start, thanks to a broken ignition wire. When Sierra and her crew chief stepfather Ray Drake tried to start the backup No. 10S car, a blocked fuel line kept that car from running. On the team’s return last week, she almost immediately ran “the second-fastest lap they’ve had there, ” reported Sierra. “I figured out that instead of letting off the gas, I could keep my foot in it, ” using the brake to drag the car down and make it rotate in the turns. “Eventually, they’d just wave me by, ” she added, describing the reactions of much older and more experienced drivers to having her pass them. “It’s just funny. ”
Another practice session is on the calendar for next Wednesday, followed by the series’ first race on the following Sunday. “I don’t know if we’ll make all of them, ” she said, admitting that family activities such as skiing will take precedence over the races sometimes.
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