MADDI NOW DRIVES THE FAMILY FUNNY CAR WHILE DAD , LEFT , SUPPORTS HER FROM THE STARTING LINE . SISTER MACIE AND MOM CHRISTINA ARE ALWAYS BESIDE THEM .
So much has happened at that racetrack , so much drag racing history . Did you feel the impact of that ? Absolutely . Just pulling under the arch in Indy , it ’ s like , “ What is happening ? This is crazy .” It was also the Cleetus and Cars event , so the stands were packed . There were so many people there , and so many bigshots in drag racing . It wasn ’ t a national event , but it sure felt it . It was so special to have my first win at Indy . It wasn ’ t the Big Go , but it was still Indy and pretty cool to me .
You ’ ve raced Sean Bellemeur a few times now , and he ’ s been on the other side of many battles with your dad . You touched on this a bit , but what ’ s it like to be in that position now ? I ’ ll never get to race my dad , we ’ ll never be able to have two alcohol Funny Cars , but I ’ ve watched Sean and Shane Westerfield race my dad for my whole life . I remember waking up when we were at home to watch Dad and Sean race on the computer . It ’ s such an honor to race against him and the whole team . Our teams are such huge competitors , but we could not be better friends . When
I tried to get my license in Bakersfield , Sean and one of his daughters came to the racetrack a day early to just give me advice . It was so cool to be able to race him , and really just an honor .
You had some obstacles trying to get your license . Can you talk a little bit about that ? Yes , I tried to get my license in Bakersfield , but the track was 150 degrees , and we couldn ’ t get down . We tried seven times and gave up , and I ended up getting my license at another racetrack .
That had to be frustrating . I wasn ’ t that frustrated because I wasn ’ t really ready to go all the way down the racetrack yet . It sucked , but it gave me really good experience . The first seven passes , it was either smoking the tires or shaking , so I got to learn what that felt like . I knew what a bad run felt like , so when we went to Brainerd and made a good run , it was like , “ Whoa , this might be OK .” The first time down the racetrack , I had never felt tire shake before . It shook about 200 feet – it was carrying the front end and started shaking , and I let off the gas pedal thinking , “ What did I just get myself into ? If that was a good run , I don ’ t know that I can do this . This is bad .” But Dad got on the radio and he said , “ Great job , Maddi . That was tire shake .” Then it was like , “ OK , I can do this .”
Is it intimidating at all to follow your dad ’ s footsteps ? It was so intimidating . We ’ ve talked about it – I
100 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 189