HEN KAYLEIGH Hill-Beakley was 11 years old , her parents had a little extra cash after selling a car and gave their daughter a choice : Disneyland or race car .

“ I said race car pretty quick ,” says Hill-Beakley , whose parents , Lisa and Steve , have both raced off-and-on throughout her life . “ We would always go up to the racetrack , and the people you

meet there become family . I was always pretty comfortable in that environment , loved cars and being around them , and I would listen to my parents talk about racing . It always sounded fun , and when I finally went down the racetrack for the first time in my little 50 mph Jr . Dragster , I was so excited . I wanted to turn around and do it again immediately .”

As a Jr . racer , the young woman enjoyed a fair amount of success , including winning the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod at Bandimere Speedway in Jr . Dragster on the same day her mom won in the King Street class .

“ That was a dream come true ,” she says . “ It was always something we had talked about as a family , how cool would it be to pull together a win on the same day . It ’ s hard enough for just one driver to win , but for us to be able to do it together was huge .”

Hill-Beakley called Bandimere Speedway home , and she came up from Jr . Dragsters to race in the local Pro E . T . series . She found enjoyment in all aspects of racing , but something was tugging on her heart .

“ The more I thought about it , the more I wanted to be in the NHRA world and be a professional drag racer ,” she says . “ It was my goal for a long time , and there was a 1988 Mustang online that I looked at all the time , but we already had a race car . I wasn ’ t going to ask my parents to sell that one and buy another , but we all fell in love with it . We ended up buying it , and that started my NHRA journey .”

Hill-Beakley raced Stock Eliminator amongst some of the best in the country , and as her dreams grew larger , so did her opportunities . She learned about the JCM Racing driver development program – created by Joe and Cathi Maynard – that offers young drivers the opportunity to grow their driving skills and get a firm grasp on the inner workings of the industry while working toward a career competing in NHRA ’ s professional ranks . She decided to reach out and was selected , along with Wyatt Wagner in Super Stock and Waylon Bennett in the Jr . Drag Racing League , to round out the program this past year .

“ It ’ s been a life-changing opportunity ,” says Hill-Beakley , who now races Super Comp with her vision set on Top Fuel . She also received her Advanced E . T . license this season . “ The program has given me access to all of these super-smart people – Joe Maynard on the business side of things ; Tony Schumacher , who I was able to call and chat with in my rookie season in Super Comp ; Tim Wilkerson took one of my broken motors to his shop and rebuilt it .

“ There is a whole lot to this program , so much support and so many contacts and resources ,” she continues . “ The best part of the JCM program is how excited people are about sportsman racing . You don ’ t usually see people this big working with sportsman drivers , and to see so many people get excited for a little Super Comp racer has been really nice .” – KELLY WADE DI

138 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 185