Fri, 2 Jul 2010, 11:32 AM We're Young and Still Learning

By Bob Frey Photo copyright 2010 Barry Bergeron, Eagle Eye Photography

Christine Chambless

The world is full of young people who have great ambitions, goals and dreams. As a parent, it's great to know that your child is focused on something, anything, and you will do whatever you can to support them. These days, as the sport of drag racing continues to grow and mature, more and more we are seeing second and even third generation racers distinguishing themselves with their exploits on the track. For some, like Larry Dixon and Tony Schumacher, it almost seemed pre-destined that they would go into drag racing, after all, their fathers were pioneers in the sport. For others, like Kurt Johnson and Shane Gray, the road to being a professional driver began by working with their fathers on their cars, and they, too, knew from an early age that they would be drag racers when they grew up. The list goes on and on, but one thing appears certain, if your parent, father or mother, was a drag racer, there's a better than average chance that you will be, too. And that's the case with the newest member of the Top Alcohol Dragster class, Christine Chambless.

Christine is one of four children of Curtis and Tracy Chambless of Scott City, Kansas, and she made her Top Alcohol Dragster debut at the recent Division 5 race at Bandimere Speedway in Colorado. A product of the NHRA Jr. Dragster program, Christine may be the only driver in the alky ranks who is also pursuing a college degree in political science with an eye on a law degree. She may also be the only driver who is able to race because her brothers decided they would step aside so she could pursue her dream. "I ran Jr. Dragsters from the time I was eight years old until I was fifteen," she said. And when asked about her success in the class, she said modestly, "We did well, I have a roomful of trophies at home." She also said that she knew from the time she was three that she would be a drag racer. "I followed all of the women who raced, especially Shirley Muldowney. I loved drag racing and I knew from the time I was a little girl that that's what I wanted to do." What she didn't know was that the only way she could race was if her brothers, who also raced Jr. cars, would give up their fledgling careers. "My dad knew that racing an alky car was expensive and he told the family that we couldn't step up if everyone still wanted to run their cars, and that's when my brothers, Curtis Jr. and Thomas said that they'd give up their cars so I could race." Now that's a special relationship between two brothers and their sister and that has to make mom and dad very proud.

Christine Chambless in her Top Alcohol Dragster

Everyone in the Chambless family seems to have their priorities in order, and that's why Christine didn't go right from Jr. Dragsters to the alky class. "After I raced the Jr. car I stepped up to the Top Dragster class when they added it to the Division 5 schedule a few years ago." Driving a car that was formerly campaigned by Division 5 racer Larry Traugett, Christine went from racing in the eighth-mile, which the Jr. cars do, to running over 200 miles per hour in a supercharged, alcohol burning car. "I started running that car when I was sixteen and it was a real learning process. We ran that car for a few years, but all the time we knew that we would eventually run an alky dragster." That came to pass earlier this year when the nineteen year old college student made her license runs at the family's home track in Great Bend, Kansas. "After we ran the Top Dragster, and when we knew that we were going to run the alcohol car, we took some time off to get this car ready." After a rather lengthy, but necessary preparation period, Christine and her family made their debut at the Division 5 event. "We went there just to get some seat time and to learn about running the car. The crew consists of my mom and dad, my brothers and younger sister and a couple of other crew members, Zach Hampton and Charlie Drussel. Charlie works on the fuel system along with his wife who also helps out at the races. We're young and we're still learning." She went on to say that her team accomplished its goals at Denver and they intend to move on. "We just wanted to get used to the car and learn how to run it. It really is different from anything else that we've run and we need to take it slowly. We consider it a good weekend because we learned a lot, we got down the track, we ran in the five's and we didn't break anything."

Chambless in her Top Dragster.

As a lot of people know, racing is a family sport in more ways than one. "We raced Jim Whiteley in Denver and he beat us, but we expected that because he's got a very good car. What we didn't expect was that Jim and his team would be so nice. They came over and talked to us and actually gave us some clutch discs to use. That was really nice of them." She also received some help from another racer, former Division 5 champ, Richard Putz. "He was so nice," she said. "He stopped by and helped with the transmission, plus he talked to me and gave me a lot of good advice about how to drive the car. I really appreciated that. The people who race in the alcohol dragster class are a special group and we're proud to be part of that family."

With one race under her belt, Christine and her family will now focus on the future. "We plan on going to the division race in Cordova in a few weeks and maybe we'll make another race before the end of the year. We'd like to get everything set so we can run all the division races next year and maybe add a few national events." In the meantime she'll go back to class at the University of Kansas and try to work on another important part of racing, sponsorship. "I'd like to generate some sponsors, because these cars aren't cheap to run. I think I have a good story to tell and I hope to attract some partners in our team. My mom, my dad and my family have been so supportive and it would be great if we could get some partnership for the future." Speaking of the future, Christine has plans for that, too. "Of course I'd like to race Top Fuel. That's always been my goal." With the support of her family, and with the drive, literally and figuratively that she has, it almost looks like a certainty that in the not to distant future we'll have another second-generation racer. And who knows, she just may be competing with Tony and Larry before too long.

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