[ Chasing More Perfection ]
ALLISON DOLL
W
HEN ALLISON DOLL was eight years old,
she definitely didn’t think she’d
be a world champion drag racer.
Her dad purchased her a Jr. Drag-
ster, but she wasn’t in love with
the idea. While she was already
a very competitive soccer player,
she was a bit overwhelmed and nervous about
driving a race car. After one race, she decided
it wasn’t for her.
So, a few years later her brother was old enough
to race, and he took over the driver’s seat. After
watching him race, and start winning, she decided
she wanted to try it again.
Fast forward 24 years later, and Doll has her
name in the history books as the first wom-
an to win an NHRA Stock Eliminator world
championship.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” she says about being
number one in the world. While she hasn’t been
on the track yet this year, she’s heading into the
2020 season with a clear mind and goals to rep-
licate last year’s success. “I’m just going to try to
do the same thing I did last year.”
Doll, a Division 1 racer based out of Massachu-
setts, had a more-than-impressive 2019 season
in her B/SA ‘98 Pontiac Firebird. Five divisional
wins (for a perfect divisional score and the 2019
Division 1 title) and two quarterfinal appear-
ances at national events landed her more than
50 points ahead of Joe Santangelo, the champi-
onship runner-up.
For Doll, racing is definitely a family affair. Her
brother, father, and husband all drag race. She ac-
April 2020
tually met her husband, 2016 NHRA Comp world
champion Doug Doll, at a race in Englishtown.
“I can’t imagine going [to the racetrack] with-
out Doug. We help each other, support each other,
we talk about racing together. It’s such a big part
of our relationship.”
Doll’s family owns Portatree Timing Systems.
So even when she isn’t at the track, she’s focused
on racing. Doll’s day job is a product design en-
gineer for Portatree, and she’s done everything
from programming software to designing circuit
boards. While her extensive background in timing
systems and Christmas trees gives her a lot of
insight into what’s going on at the starting line,
she says sometimes that isn’t always helpful.
“It can make you overthink things,” she says. “I
know everything that goes into the starting line
and the timing, and it can put a lot on your mind.
At the end of the day, I think it’s better to have a
clear mind when you’re racing.”
Knowing that the mental game is one of the
hardest parts of racing, Doll focuses on discon-
necting work from racing when she’s on the track.
Doll plans to defend her title this year in Stock
Eliminator, but would love to venture out to other
classes, like Super Stock, and is even planning
to get her Super Comp license this year in a car
that her husband is building. As far as stepping
up into a professional class, she says she would
welcome the chance.
“If someone were to give me that opportunity,
I would hop all over it,” she exclaims. “Pro Stock
would be so much fun, or even Factory Stock
Showdown.” – AL LYS O N J OH N S ON
DragIllustrated.com
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