Drag Illustrated Issue 129, January / February 2018 | Page 59

she didn’t even begin racing until age 14. “I think
Camryn mainly started racing because Hailey was
doing it,” Angie laughs. After she started, however,
Camryn caught the fever. “I don’t really know
what changed, I just became real interested in
racing,” Camryn admits.
Camryn and Hailey both compete in PDRA’s
Pro Junior Dragster category, a 7.90 index class,
with Protect The Harvest on board as their major
sponsor for both cars. Additional support comes
from Lucas Oil, Chris and Donna King, Chezum
Farms, Frank Valerio Motorsports and Carbon
Fiber Manufacturing.
The girls had a memorable first-round meet-
ing in eliminations at the PDRA Mid-America
Indy Showdown this past July, with Hailey nar-
rowly edging out her younger sibling with a .049
reaction time to Camryn’s .053 light. It was high
drama for the opening round, and neither sister
was thrilled about having to race each other. They
ran their race cars full throttle, never once patted
the gas and neither driver broke out. Hailey’s
reaction time was the deciding factor. “I was
disappointed with the outcome, but not mad,”
Camryn says. “If I’m going to lose to somebody
I’d rather it be Hailey, so that our team advances
and at least one Protect The Harvest car is still in
eliminations.” Hailey ended up having a strong
outing in Indy and went to the finals with the
eventual world champion, Amber Franklin.
Both Hailey and Camryn are big supporters of
the PDRA series and will continue their careers
there after they graduate to full-size race cars in
the near future. Hailey already has a 2006 Tim
Sloan-built mono shock dragster that she will be
piloting in 2018. “It’s a 245-inch-wheelbase car
that we will outfit with a 602 ci motor,” Hailey
says. “It should run 4.60s, and I’ll race the car
in PDRA’s Bracket Bash next year.”
Camryn will likely follow the same path after
she ages out of the Jr. Dragster ranks next sea-
son. While Wayne and Angie are understandably
anxious about the transition, they place great
confidence in the safety and integrity of the PDRA
series. “Given my situation with my crash, safety
is of the utmost importance and we’ll only race
at tracks that are adequately staffed with safety
equipment,” Wayne asserts.
As the sisters have grown older, entered the
workforce and even enrolled in college, it’s still
the sport of drag racing that keeps this family
collectively entertained, inspired and growing
closer with each passing year.
of the back-half race, which even offers a points
fund just as the main event field does.
Pitts has always been in favor of keeping things
simple, which is why this group doesn’t even fol-
low an eliminations ladder after qualifying. When
the call goes out for Top Sportsman cars to report
to the lanes, whoever you roll up beside in the stag-
ing l