Feedback, Friendly Notes, & Hate Mail

The Hottest 2017

Very honored to be featured in this years hottest female issue along side so many other talented females in the sport! Thank you Nate Van Wagnen, Wes Buck, and everyone at Drag Illustrated.

Cassie Simonton, via the Internet

There may no one more deserving – man or woman – for a feature story in Drag Illustrated than Megan Meyer. Congratulations on getting it right, and putting someone on the cover your magazine, specifically the female-dominant issue, who is a shining example of what it should mean to be a young woman in drag racing. Megan is naturally beautiful, but doesn’ t flaunt it, yet also doesn’ t dismiss her femininity. It’ s a special thing, in my humble opinion, and I am thrilled to see a young lady such as her rewarded for making the tough choices that she has and put herself in a position to be very successful in the sport of drag racing without sacrificing her integrity.

Jim Flores, via the Internet

While I’ m sure it would have been hard to stick Leah Pritchett on the cover of yet another issue of Drag Illustrated, I simply had to shoot over a message and let you know that I think she deserves the honor. She’ s had a couple of considerable breakout moments in both Pro Mod and Top Fuel, and I suppose Nostalgia Funny Car before that, but I believe she has cemented herself as the“ next big thing” in nitro racing, and it feels like the sport of drag racing needs to push this notion. Setting records, winning races( back-to-back to start the season), securing major nonautomotive sponsors and introducing the global rally racing audience to drag racing by way of a partnership with Internet super-brand Hoonigan Industries, amongst

A / Fuel Dragster’ s Girl Next Door Can’ t Be Stopped

many other notable achievements in recent months, Pritchett is the“ realest deal” in top-tier drag racing right now. She has the passion, dedication and charisma to carry this sport into the future and, again, everyone needs to get on board. As a sport, we simply cannot continue to expect John Force to carry our collective water. Papa John’ s sees it. Dodge gets it. The rest of us need to start pushing this agenda, too.

Sean Crabill, via the Internet

[ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WES BUCK REPLIES: Wow! I love when we get these in-depth letters. Thank you! To be honest, I’ ve got little-to-no argument for you. We thought long and hard about sticking Leah out front yet again, but it’ d have been a third time, and second in right about a year’ s time. Just couldn’ t do it, especially when we have young ladies like Megan Meyer who deserve their

dragillustrated. com

THE HOTTEST

DRAG RACING’ S FAST, FIERCE AND FORWARD- THINKING FEMALES

Leah Pritchett Mia Tedesco Alex Taylor Val Clements Jennifer Brooke Amanda Busick Cassie Simonton

AND MORE

moment in the sun as much as anyone – Leah included. Believe me when I say it, though, we’ re 100-percent behind Leah Pritchett, and we’ re 100-percent confident that she’ s exactly what the sport of drag racing needs right now. Stay tuned for more!]

Erica Enders is the best race car driver alive. Wes Buck touched on it in his column in DI # 118, but I don’ t believe he went quite far enough. NHRA Pro Stock tuners in 2017 ask a lot of drivers, oftentimes expecting them to hit shift points within 100 or less RPM, and from what I understand – Erica Enders is one of the few people who deliver on those demands, and do it consistently. She has a winning percentage( 60.2) that is on par with anyone in the class, and she’ s only had a legit top-tier car the last few years. Her ability on the starting line to knock down the Christmas Tree, even when the stakes are incredibly high, is massively above average. Props to Drag Illustrated for recognizing real talent and not getting lost in the fact her and the Elite Motorsports team had an off year in 2016. For what it’ s worth, Enders may be the best pure driver in professional drag racing right now( she’ s definitely in the mix), and it’ s probably not a stretch to label her the best female race car driver of all time.

Bradley Hawthorne, via the Internet

[ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WES BUCK REPLIES: Thanks for checking out my column, Bradley! Still stunned to hear that people read it, even after all these years! Anyone who speaks with me regularly knows that I’ m of the opinion that Erica Enders is the best driver in professional drag racing. Thanks for echoing the sentiment of everyone here at DI. Nice to feel our opinions validated!]

Speechless. I’ m not sure that I’ ve seen the team at Drag Illustrated hit a bigger home run than you have with your Hottest 2017. This is the most wide-ranging, interesting, and accomplished group of young ladies that I believe you could have possibly assembled on the pages of your magazine and it’ s nice to see that it’ s not entirely eye-candy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for not making this as trashy as it more than likely could easily be. It’ s appreciated, and it’ s even more so respected – especially as a father.

Robert Aviles, via the Internet

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