Drag Illustrated Issue 153, February 2020 | Page 26

Dirt
Track
Mom
Jr. drag racing’s biggest
cheerleader retires
By Allyson Johnson
K
im Hall spends many weekends
traveling more than two hours from
her home in Nokesville, Virginia, to
her home-away-from-home, Virgin-
ia Motorsports Park (VMP) in Dinwiddie. Her
daughter, Katie, races Jr. Dragsters there, and
Hall proclaims that she eats, sleeps and breathes
Jr. drag racing. But, not just for her own kids
(her son Chad also races Comp Eliminator), but
for every driver at VMP. She’s become the “Team
Mom” for every Jr. driver at the track, which aver-
ages an impressive 60 kids at almost every race.
Hall really got immersed in the program at VMP
several years ago when she was appointed to plan
their annual trip to the Eastern Conference Finals
in Bristol, Tennessee. She wanted to step it up from
just matching team shirts. And step it up she did.
Now Hall spends most of the year preparing for the
event, including organizing raffles and getting spon-
sors to help kids pay for their entry fee at the race.
And once the team is there, the party is just
getting started. They decorate the stands, deco-
rate golf carts, get professional team photos, have
ice cream socials, team dinners and much more.
And there’s always a theme when they travel to
Bristol, like the “Wallywood” theme they had in
2018, based off the iconic Wally trophy. In addi-
tion to her involvement with the yearly event, she
also creates shadow boxes for every driver when
they age out of the class or move up to a big car,
helps to organize fundraisers, and takes tons of
photos and videos of all the racers.
Hall says she got her first taste of racing years
ago when her now-husband, Marc, asked her to
go to a drag race. He was a crew chief on a Top
Alcohol race team and one of their first dates was
at the national event in Atlanta.
“I thought it was the coolest thing in the world,”
Hall says. “My son was 3 when we started dating,
and my husband always said when he turned 8 we
would start racing Jrs., and that’s what we did.”
Hall says when she first started racing with her
son, Chad, she assumed it would be easy because
of her husband’s success in the Top Alcohol field.
She found out that the class was, in fact, not easy,
as it took Chad two and a half years to get his
first win. And that’s why she likes to celebrate
every driver’s win.
“It’s hard to get a win in Jr. Dragsters. The kids
work so hard to get in the Winner’s Circle. It’s
important to celebrate every one of those wins.”
And the Jr. drivers at VMP now have a tra-
dition to take a selfie with Hall after their win,
even creating a popular hashtag #WinnersCircle-
SelfieWithKim. Even former Jr. drivers who now
race big cars will often find her after a win to get a
selfie. She’s even had Winner’s Circle selfies with
NHRA champions like J.R. Todd.
But after years of giving her blood, sweat and
tears to the Jr. Dragster program at VMP, Hall
will be taking a step back in 2020, retiring as the
track’s team mom. Hall says it’s one of the hardest
decisions she’s ever had to make.
“I’ve been VMP’s team mom for a really long time
and have truly loved it,” Hall says. “My relationships
with the kids go on long after they stop racing Jrs.
I’ve gone to graduations, traveled to watch them
play basketball, watched them get married and have
kids. Knowing many of them will always be in my
life is the best thing I will take away with me. But, I
need to take some time to let my kids do what they
want to do with their own racing. That means not
being able to be at VMP all the time and giving the
Jr. drivers the attention they deserve.”
Judy Franklin, co-owner of PDRA and Vir-
ginia Motorsports Park, says as long as she can
remember, Hall has always been involved in the
program at the track.
“She does so much for our kids,” Franklin says.
“She really loves the sport, she loves our kids, and
she’s just a great person. She’s one of the first
people in the staging lanes on race day to greet
everyone. I speak for everyone at VMP when I
say that we will really miss her going above and
beyond for every one of our kids, and we are so
thankful for all the effort she’s put into the pro-
gram here.”
Hall says she hopes new families that enter
VMP’s Jr. drag racing world realize that this is the
best sport in the world, and how truly special the
Jr. Dragster family can be. This season, Hall will
still be at a racetrack most weekends supporting
her two children, Katie in Jr. Dragsters and Chad
in Comp Eliminator.
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I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
Issue 153