Drag Illustrated Issue 139, December 2018 | Page 109

30 UNDER 30 · 2018
CAMRIE
CARUSO
■ AFTER A SEMIFINAL appearance and runner-up finish in the first three
races of the eight-race 2018 PDRA schedule, Camrie Caruso, 20, was
well on her way to a podium finish in Elite Top Dragster points. While
mechanical gremlins at two later races dashed her championship hopes
by the end of the season, the cheery Rochester, New York, native held
her head high as she capped off her breakout season with the fastest pass
in PDRA Top Dragster history: a 201.91 mph blast in 3.682 seconds – a
far cry from the 7.9-second eighth-mile passes she was making in Jr.
Dragsters just five years ago.
“Top Dragster – especially going this fast – is definitely a lot more
challenging than Jr. Dragsters,” Caruso admits. “I always joke that I was
good in Jr. Dragsters – I won in Jr. Dragsters. What happened? I did
well and won in my first big car, but moving up past that was a really big
jump, even just from 4.50s to 4.00. Then you take it from 4.00 to 3.70s
and it’s really hard to judge the stripe. And you can’t really get on and
off these cars. You have to dial it mostly honest, but you obviously still
watch. It’s a lot more challenging than most would think.”
Caruso has held her own behind the wheel of her Noonan-powered,
Billes-supercharged, Danny Nelson-built dragster, going head to head
with Top Dragster veterans in PDRA competition. She progressed quickly
in just a couple seasons in a blown car, but the ambitious college stu-
dent has even bigger plans for the near future. She hints at a move to
Pro Outlaw 632 or maybe even NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster, with later
ambitions to follow in the footsteps of her father, Marc Caruso, who
himself experienced a breakout season in PDRA Pro Boost and made a
splash in his NHRA Pro Mod debut. – N AT E VA N WAG N DI
E N DI DI
RACHEL
MEYER
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
■ ON ANY GIVEN WEEKEND, you may find Rachel Meyer driving a Top
Alcohol Dragster, like the weekend she took it to the winner’s circle at
Topeka this season.
Or you may find her bracket racing at her local track in her Super
Comp dragster. Or perhaps spending the weekend performing clutch
duties on one of the family A/Fuel dragsters. Or maybe racing her GMC
Canyon daily driver. Or even driving a Pontiac GTO she borrowed late
this season after she broke her motor in the bracket dragster.
“I like to change it up,” Meyer says. “For me, I want to drive everything
possible at least once. I like the experience and getting to know different
cars and how the driving differs for each car. I’m more of a hands-on
person and I like to know how everything works. That’s my passion.”
It’s something Meyer does very well, as evidenced by her myriad of
skills. The 25-year-old Meyer works as a product/machine design en-
gineer at Leggett & Platt, but her weekends are usually spent at a track
in some form.
Meyer gets just as much joy working on a clutch as she does racing a
Top Alcohol Dragster or her bracket dragster, but she’s enjoyed success
in all of it. Meyer finished seventh in points at her local track, while she
was third in points in the NHRA Central Region in Top Alcohol Dragster,
capped off by her victory in Topeka.
“That was pretty awesome,” Meyer fondly remembers. “It was definitely
a fun day and a pretty good moment from the year.”
She became interested in the clutch duties early in her career, quickly learn-
ing from her dad, Randy Meyer. But the transition from one car to another
doesn’t seem to bother her and, in fact, is the thrill Meyer is always after.
“It definitely gives you an adrenaline rush,” Meyer adds. “It’s all a
rush to me and it’s a lot more fun doing a bunch of different things.”
– J O S H H AC H DI
AT DI
DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
December 2018
DragIllustrated.com
| D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 109