Brittany was world champion in top fuel last season

women have traction in race against men

canada goose clearance Leah Pritchett, 29, of Redlands will be out to defend her top fuel title at the season opening National Hot Rod Assn. Winternationals at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona beginning Thursday and running through Sunday. Also racing will be Erica Enders, 34, of Houston, who won pro stock world titles in 2014 and 2015; and the Force sisters, Brittany, canada goose factory outlet 31, and Courtney, 29, of Yorba Linda. Brittany was world champion in top fuel last season, and Courtney finished third in the funny car standings. canada goose clearance

Canada Goose online “I’m not going to say women are absolutely dominating this sport; none of us would have the success we’re having without the males who believed in us,” Pritchett said. “But we knew we could do it if we had the opportunity.” Canada Goose online

Canada Goose Coats On Sale Top competitors display quick http://www.mycanadagoosejacket.org reflexes and exceptional hand eye coordination, vision, focus and courage in holding a 330 mph top fuel dragster or funny car straight down a 1,000 foot strip, or a 213 mph pro stock car along a quarter mile path. Canada Goose Coats On Sale

Most races are won at the start, where drivers must expertly time a descending lighting column called a Christmas tree to beat their opponent off canada goose outlet sale the line.

Though a certain amount of athleticism is required, drivers need not have the physique and strength of an NFL linebacker, the height and leaping ability of an NBA forward or the acrobatic versatility of a Premier League midfielder.

Canada Goose sale “Honestly, the car doesn’t know if you’re male or female,” said Brittany Force, the daughter of 16 time NHRA funny car world champion John Force. “That’s what it really comes down to.” Canada Goose sale

uk canada goose outlet Dr. Vernon Williams, a sports neurologist at the Kerlan Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, said studies suggest that men “in general” have slightly faster canada goose outlet online uk visual and auditory reaction canada goose outlet nyc times than women, but the differences are negligible and can canada goose outlet jackets be mitigated by other factors pertaining to the sport. uk canada goose outlet

“It’s not like football or basketball or soccer, where there is going to be significant physical advantage in most situations for men,” Williams said. “When you’re talking about neurological contributions to performance like concentration, vision, reaction time, speed of mental processing, you wouldn’t expect there to be as much of an canada goose black friday sale advantage as there is from physical contributions like strength or height or power.”

Women actually have a canada goose outlet store physical advantage in the top fuel class, where 33 foot long dragsters must weigh a minimum of 2,330 pounds, including the driver. Because women typically weigh 20 to 50 pounds less than men, they can move specialty weights around the car usually over the back wheels for better traction on hotter, slicker tracks and in the front to prevent wheelies that slow the car.

Canada Goose Outlet Pritchett, who is 5 feet 9, 130 pounds, said she has lost 15 pounds since the end of last season in hopes of maximizing that favor. Canada Goose Outlet

“If a 200 pound guy is driving, he doesn’t have any extra weight to move around the car, whereas we do,” she said. “We can canada goose outlet toronto factory add more traction and more horsepower. That gives you better performance.”

canada goose uk outlet Courtney Force and her crew prepare for a race. (John Force Racing) canada goose uk outlet

canada goose clearance sale There is no clutch in top fuel dragsters and funny cars. Drivers don’t shift. They hit the throttle to start, steer the car down the track and engage the parachute. canada goose clearance sale

Canada Goose Jackets A shorter wheelbase makes funny cars tougher to control than top fuel dragsters, but with three decades of engineering advances, the cars are virtually automated. Canada Goose Jackets

canada goose coats on sale “The truth is, the cars pretty much do it for you,” said Shirley Muldowney, 77, a trailblazer who canada goose jacket outlet won 18 NHRA national events. “You point it, steer it, gather it up, go through the motions, pull the chute when you’re supposed to, and if you can hold it together, you’re going to do OK. canada goose coats on sale

canadian goose jacket “You just have to be on time, keep it in the groove, and hope no one comes into your lane, of course. The canada goose outlet in usa cars are nothing like what we had to muscle.” canadian goose jacket

It took a memorable race against a female rival two years ago at Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park for Pritchett to realize just how far women had advanced at the track. Pritchett and Brittany Force were about to stage the first all female top canada goose outlet uk fuel final since 1982, when Muldowney defeated Lucille Lee in Columbus, Ohio.

canada goose black friday sale Engines revved and the cars’ fat back tires smoked and shrieked as Pritchett and Force edged their sleek dragsters to the starting line. But inside the cockpit Pritchett was just becoming aware that, as the track announcer put canada goose outlet it, history was being made. canada goose black friday sale

“I didn’t even realize I was running against Brittany until we were canada goose outlet online in the staging lane,” said Pritchett, who beat Force with a 323.12 mph pass to win her first NHRA event. “As cool as it was, I was canada goose outlet so much more in love with winning my first race than beating another female.

Canada Goose Parka “I think that’s a testament to how much the femaleness of the sport is geared toward the competition. It’s a novelty to everyone else out there, but it is not a novelty to us.” Canada Goose Parka

Pritchett, whose father was a land speed racer at Bonneville Salt Flats, began racing at age 8 and competed in seven amateur categories. She studied marketing and communications in an effort to cultivate investors and partners and spent several years on a funny car crew before getting her nitro license.

cheap Canada Goose She drove six different cars for three different teams in 2016 before linking up with Don Schumacher Racing and completing her first full top fuel season in 2017. cheap Canada Goose

Though they grew up in the sport and had access to the world class mechanics and canada goose outlet canada crew chiefs of their famous father’s teams, Brittany and Courtney Force spent official canada goose outlet six years as teenagers driving alcohol fuel and super comp dragsters before graduating in their early 20s to top fuel cars.

Enders fell in love with racing as a little girl and often hung around Muldowney’s pit area in hopes of talking goose outlet canada to or getting an autograph from the woman known as the First Lady of Drag Racing. She spent years on the junior dragster circuit before working her way up to the professional ranks.

canada goose factory sale “The reason you see females where they’re at canada goose outlet parka is because we’ve literally worked our tails off and climbed the ladder,” Enders said. “All of us have paid our dues. I was given no breaks because of my gender and would not expect to have been.” canada goose factory sale

canada goose uk shop Their persistence earned the respect of male drivers. canada goose uk shop

“Leah and Erica have been racing since they were practically walking,” said Antron Brown, 41, a three time top fuel champion from New Jersey. “These women eat, sleep and dream about it. They have canada goose outlet shop so much passion and drive. They come out here knowing they’ve put the work in, and they’re not intimidated.

The physical demands of her class provide a stiff challenge for Enders. Unlike top fuel dragsters and funny cars, her bulkier pro stock car has a clutch and five speed transmission that requires her to shift four times down the track.

“It takes a lot to drive these cars,” she said. “I’m steering with my left hand, shifting with my right hand, and pushing about 800 pounds of pressure in on that clutch pedal, so you have to have a canada goose outlet black friday leg on you. I’m right hand canada goose outlet uk sale dominant, so everything on my right side is bigger, except my left calf is huge compared to my right one, so canada goose outlet new york city it canada goose outlet store uk makes shopping for knee boots kind of hard.

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