Drag Illustrated Issue 155, April 2020 | Page 71

“MY DAD ASKED ME WHAT I WANTED FOR A CAR, A STREET CAR,” SHE SAYS, “AND I WAS LIKE, ‘DAD, I DON’T WANT A NEW CAR. I JUST WANT YOU TO BUILD ME A RACE CAR.’ SO HE PUT TOGETHER WHAT WE NOW CALL THE ‘GOLDEN PANDA.’” Four years as an A student paid off last May when Mills earned her bachelor’s degree in strate- gic communication from the University of Central Oklahoma, opening up her schedule for even more racing. She plans to continue racing in X275 this sea- son, chasing her first victory in the class at events like Duck X Productions’ South Georgia Motor- sports Park races, as well as Mid-West Pro Mod April 2020 Series races. She’s looking to improve on three runner-up finishes in MWPMS X275 competition. In fact, Mills considers her first runner-up fin- ish to be the highlight of her young racing career so far, but not for the obvious reason. She lost in the final round of the PSCA’s 2018 Heads-Up Hootenanny at Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis, but so did her father, who fell in the Radial vs. the World final. They didn’t return home to Tulsa with a trophy, but since they were able to share the final-round experience in two highly competitive classes, Mills chalked it up as a victory. “I want to win – I’m a winner and I’m very competitive, but most of the highs of my racing career aren’t winning,” Mills begins. “And it’s crazy because we win a lot. I mean, my dad wins a lot and I’ve been to multiple finals, but it’s just that I like the camaraderie and the family aspect of racing, and going and hanging out with our family friends that we don’t get to see as often as we’d like because they live halfway across the country.” T HE MILLS RACING crew was testing at Orlan- do Speed World Dragway in February last year, preparing for Lights Out 10 at South Georgia, when Kallee dropped the big ques- tion: “What’s it going to take for me to drive ‘Kong’?” she asked DeWayne. DragIllustrated.com | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | 71