A British 13-year old is taking on the world's best junior drag racers as she sets the sport alight with her racing skills.
Aptly named Paige Wheeler is not content with the usual school holiday activities of going shopping with friends or chilling out on the beach. Instead, the 13-year old will be blasting her drag racer down a 1/8th of a mile strip of tarmac at Tennessee's Thunder Valley Raceway.
Paige Wheeler blasts off Image: Alamo |
In her first season Paige, from Wellingborough in the South of England, won the Junior Dragster title in the FIA European Finals held at the UK's famous Santa Pod drag track and this year is currently lying fourth in the UK national Championships.
Now, she is set to test her skills in the NHRA Junior Drag Racing League Eastern Conference Finals against 800 North American rivals.
Her racer is a half-scale version of a full-blown, 300mph (482kph) Top Fuel dragster. But her Alamo Car Rental-sponsored car is no slouch, with a top speed of more than 80mph (128kph) and blistering acceleration of 0-60mph (96kph) in just three seconds.
The US finals, based in Bristol Tennessee, are a major even in the world drag racing calendar and will raise Paige's profile still higher in the discipline. However, not only does she have some of the best racers in the US hot on her heels, but there's family pressure too, with her eight-year-old sister, Belle, already developing her drag racing skills at tracks in the UK.