Shelley Pearson: The Queen Of Speed

Shelley Pearson is flying the flag for female drag racers everywhere as Britain’s quickest driver!

Racing in the Top Fuel class where the cars run on Nitro Methane and can reach speeds of up to 300mph accelerating from 0 - 100mph in under one second!

I caught up with her to talk about her love for speed and the upcoming Santa Pod Raceway.

- The Santa Pod Raceway is just around the corner so for anyone who has not been to the vent before what can we expect?

It’s fantastic and it is a brilliant day out for all the family. If nobody has been to a drag event before then I advise them to come to this because you have got top fuel dragsters reaching speeds of 300mph - which is crazy and it certainly makes the earth shake. (laughs).

- You won’t be action that weekend so why are you not racing?

It’s down to sponsorship and funding, obviously this sport is very very expensive and I need support and sponsorship to be able to complete the FIA rounds.

But this year has been great for me because I have raced at the Easter Thunderball in top fuel and I also raced in Germany last week in top fuel - so that’s a great baseline to go to sponsors and try to work with other companies.

- So how did you get into drag racing - it‘s perhaps not a sport that you would immediately think of?

My father has been around drag racing since he was very young so it has been a bit of a knock on effect as I was here with him a lot when I was young.

I was the boy that he never had and I started off riding motocross bikes and then doing oval track racing in stock cars before deciding that I wanted to go in a straight line and here I am today.

- You attended the Frank Hawley drag racing school so how was your time there?

Yeah that was fantastic! If anyone is thinking about taking up drag racing then I recommend that you go there.

The First day you have classroom tuition going across the car to learn what the controls do and what they are for - and the next day you but that into practice. It’s a really good way to get your foot into drag racing. 

- And what do you personally get for the sport?

I think I am totally an adrenaline junkie (laughs). It’s just amazing the adrenaline rush that you get it just incredible - when people ask me what it’s like it is so difficult to explain.

Previously I drove a two seater dragster as well and I really enjoyed doing that because spectators can go in the back of a car that’s running seven or eight seconds and people always say after ’oh I didn’t realise that it was that fast’. It really gives them an idea of how fast these cars can go.

-  You are very much flying the flag for women in this sport so how much pressure do you feel under to represent them well?

I obviously do feel a lot of pressure but I just try to stay focused and concentrate of the job in hand because I do want women to have the confidence and feel that they can have the confidence in this sport. 

A lot of women previously, from years ago, have been very successful in drag racing and earnt the respect of other drivers and I just want women, if it’s something that they are interested in doing, to just go for it and the respect of the other drivers from how they drive.

- You have touched on my next question slightly already what difficulties do you face as a woman in this sport - and what difficulties have you faced personally?

I think the difficulty for me personally is for me to be able to perform as well as a male, people say that it is a male dominated sport, yes it is but there are a lot of women that are coming into drag racing in all the different classes.

So it’s making sure that I perform properly and do my job properly, stay focused and be at the same level as the men and get treated the same - but that does happen all the guys do treat the females with the same respect as they do the others.

- Would you say that sponsors treat women as equally?

With me personally looking for sponsors I think that sometimes it can have a slight edge. But with me finding it difficult to currently get sponsorship I do think now women are treated on a par with men - it’s down to your driving ability rather than your gender.

- It would be great to see so many more women behind the seat of a drag car; I suppose you could say that of any motorsport, so what now needs to be done to make sure that that does happen?

I think that there are more and more women coming into the sport and, as I say, women do get treated the same as males  - and I think that women are beginning to see that and are taking the steps to get into a racing car. 

A friend of mine she has just got her license in super gas and she is hoping to come out and compete next year - so that’s great. Going to Frank Hawley has made her more confident within in the car and confident of getting out there on the track.

-  How much do think about the dangers - and what is your scariest moment on the track?

I think all forms of motorsport, or anything that is adrenaline fuelled, has risk factors and it’s how you deal with that - these cars are built to certification; your helmet, your safety gear and these are all the time being checked to make sure that it is safe.

I don’t get scared while I am in the car; I think that if you are scared when you get in the car then you shouldn’t be there.

- Do you have any plans to move away from drag racing and try another motorsport? Is there any that you would love to give a go?

No, at the moment I really do have my teeth in top fuel racing but that’s not to say that I wouldn’t try anything else.

I did do stock cars on an oval track and that I really enjoyed and did quite well. I am always open to new I ideas but at the moment drag racing is my thing.

- For any girls that want to follow in your footsteps and get into motorsport what advice would you give them?

I think that you should pick a specific motorsport that you enjoy and actually go for some races and speak to people that are already involved and take steps from there.

- And for any who may intimidated because it is seen as a male dominated sport what would you say to that?

I think if you are the sort of person that wants to do something and you really have y our heart set on it then you have to get over the barrier of feeling ‘oh I’m female and this is a male dominated sport’.

It’s about being positive and confident and thinking ‘this is what I want to do, and this is how I am going to do it’.

- Finally what’s coming up for you between now and the end of the year?

Well I will be at the European finals that we have spoken about from the 8th - 11th September and I will be in the pits with RS Motorsport, which I currently drive for. So I will be helping out around there and taking in the finals really - when I am at races I don’t always get the chance to see what’s going on around and Santa Pod always put on a fantastic show.

And with it being the FIA European Finals it’s the last race meeting that determines who will be the winner of the FIA round so it will be great for me to take in everything going on.

"The FIA European Drag Racing Finals are at Santa Pod Raceway from 8-11 September, for ticket information please visit www.santapod.co.uk"

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

Shelley Pearson is flying the flag for female drag racers everywhere as Britain’s quickest driver!

Racing in the Top Fuel class where the cars run on Nitro Methane and can reach speeds of up to 300mph accelerating from 0 - 100mph in under one second!

I caught up with her to talk about her love for speed and the upcoming Santa Pod Raceway.

- The Santa Pod Raceway is just around the corner so for anyone who has not been to the vent before what can we expect?

It’s fantastic and it is a brilliant day out for all the family. If nobody has been to a drag event before then I advise them to come to this because you have got top fuel dragsters reaching speeds of 300mph - which is crazy and it certainly makes the earth shake. (laughs).

- You won’t be action that weekend so why are you not racing?

It’s down to sponsorship and funding, obviously this sport is very very expensive and I need support and sponsorship to be able to complete the FIA rounds.

But this year has been great for me because I have raced at the Easter Thunderball in top fuel and I also raced in Germany last week in top fuel - so that’s a great baseline to go to sponsors and try to work with other companies.

- So how did you get into drag racing - it‘s perhaps not a sport that you would immediately think of?

My father has been around drag racing since he was very young so it has been a bit of a knock on effect as I was here with him a lot when I was young.

I was the boy that he never had and I started off riding motocross bikes and then doing oval track racing in stock cars before deciding that I wanted to go in a straight line and here I am today.

- You attended the Frank Hawley drag racing school so how was your time there?

Yeah that was fantastic! If anyone is thinking about taking up drag racing then I recommend that you go there.

The First day you have classroom tuition going across the car to learn what the controls do and what they are for - and the next day you but that into practice. It’s a really good way to get your foot into drag racing. 

- And what do you personally get for the sport?

I think I am totally an adrenaline junkie (laughs). It’s just amazing the adrenaline rush that you get it just incredible - when people ask me what it’s like it is so difficult to explain.

Previously I drove a two seater dragster as well and I really enjoyed doing that because spectators can go in the back of a car that’s running seven or eight seconds and people always say after ’oh I didn’t realise that it was that fast’. It really gives them an idea of how fast these cars can go.

-  You are very much flying the flag for women in this sport so how much pressure do you feel under to represent them well?

I obviously do feel a lot of pressure but I just try to stay focused and concentrate of the job in hand because I do want women to have the confidence and feel that they can have the confidence in this sport. 

A lot of women previously, from years ago, have been very successful in drag racing and earnt the respect of other drivers and I just want women, if it’s something that they are interested in doing, to just go for it and the respect of the other drivers from how they drive.

- You have touched on my next question slightly already what difficulties do you face as a woman in this sport - and what difficulties have you faced personally?

I think the difficulty for me personally is for me to be able to perform as well as a male, people say that it is a male dominated sport, yes it is but there are a lot of women that are coming into drag racing in all the different classes.

So it’s making sure that I perform properly and do my job properly, stay focused and be at the same level as the men and get treated the same - but that does happen all the guys do treat the females with the same respect as they do the others.

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