BY NATE VAN WAGNEN PHOTOGRAPH BY TARA BOWKER

ROWING UP in England , Debbie O ’ Rourke didn ’ t necessarily dream of a career in high-level drag racing . But through a course of twists , turns , and moves of thousands of miles , the daughter of a British rally racer has competed in a 5-second Top Alcohol Funny Car in Australia and now serves in a variety of roles in professional-level doorslammer drag racing here in the United States .

When O ’ Rourke was in her early 20s , she went to Australia on a backpacking trip and ended up immigrating there . She met her now-husband , Grant , who was into cars and took Debbie to Sydney Dragway to check out the scene . The young couple felt drag racing was something they could do , so Grant started racing a 16-second street car and gradually improving it . Debbie gave it a try , and by that point it was an 11-second car competing in Super Sedan . With some guidance from their friends in Pro Mod , the O ’ Rourkes started building a Pro Mod in the late ‘ 90s . Again , Grant drove it for a while before Debbie asked , “ Can I give it a go ?”

“ I got in and my first quarter-mile pass in a PSI-supercharged , small-block car was a 7.30 down the quarter mile ,” O ’ Rourke says . “ The funny thing about it now is that I didn ’ t realize the speed that I would be doing , which was over 234 MPH straight up and with a short shutdown area . I pulled the ‘ chutes too late and tried to then go around the corner and then put it on its lid – very gently . That was my first altercation with a wreck . But from there we just developed it more and more and we became more successful .”

The couple then built a second car for Grant to drive . One of the cars even had a passenger seat that was used to give rides down the track . Then , there was a shift in the Australian drag racing politics at the time , and the O ’ Rourkes decided to build an alcohol Funny Car for Debbie to drive . At that point , she was the only woman in the class in Australia . She admits her short stature at first made it a challenge to drive the clutch-equipped Funny Car , but with some R & D and seat time , she made it work and ran the pro circuit for about 10 years . For the last few years of their Australian racing careers , Grant also ran a Pro Mod while Debbie raced the Funny Car ,

but the grind became too much after a while .

“ Having two cars and doing the pro circuit in Australia , because the tracks are so far apart , is too expensive ,” O ’ Rourke says . “ At the same time , I was in the corporate world as a strategic consultant and I had a team of people in Australia and New Zealand . I was away from home a lot and it was a little stressful at the time , so we decided that we needed a change and that ’ s why I ’ m here .”

The O ’ Rourkes came to the U . S . in 2017 and quickly found places to utilize their skills , with Debbie leveraging her corporate strategy background and Grant showcasing his abilities as a crew member .

“ I ’ m a bit of a hybrid , but now I throw in the U . S . as well to the U . K ./ Australian / U . S . breed ,” O ’ Rourke says . “ We have not regretted the move . It ’ s been great for us because of our passion for drag racing . I felt that with my career background I was able to bring something to it . Since then , I ’ ve just been paving a bit of a way wearing many hats .”

Debbie initially helped the drag racing industry by completing a number of small projects before being engaged by Pro Line Racing to work on media and marketing initiatives . That led to working with Pro Line co-owner Eric Dillard and race promoter Donald Long to launch the FuelTech Radial Outlaws Racing Series in 2022 . She also works with Dillard and several key Pro

Mod advocates within Finish Line Consultants , the group that manages the relationship between NHRA and the NHRA Pro Mod racers and teams . O ’ Rourke has used her experience to develop partnerships to fuel the series that has battled participation struggles in the recent past .

“ We ’ ve formed a body of people together to try to overcome some of those issues ,” O ’ Rourke says , “ and from that we ’ ve been able to build some blocks and steadily grow it back with the intention of increasing car count , increasing the exposure and the sponsorship side of it , and really creating a real B2B mechanism presented by the foundations that we ’ ve managed to lay down .”

O ’ Rourke stays connected to her roots as a racer by working with Pro Line Racing drivers like PDRA Pro Boost competitors Randy Weatherford , Scott Lang , and Travis Harvey to provide a variety of video angles that help both drivers and tuners learn about what happened in a pass and how to improve .

“ I love being part of the race team because that ’ s my background , and if I could get in there and turn a few spanners , or wrenches , I would . I ’ m not sure they trust me enough to do that ,” O ’ Rourke laughs . “ It makes me feel part of the race team . It ’ s good .”

The desire to drive again is still there for O ’ Rourke , who says she ’ d like to try driving an automatic transmission-equipped car after years of running a clutch . But she realizes driving opportunities come with a hefty price tag , so she ’ s content with her other roles in the sport that keep her plenty busy . With 10 NHRA Pro Mod events , eight PDRA races , eight Radial Outlaws races , a handful of standalone outlaw races , and various test sessions , O ’ Rourke spends around half the weekends of the year on the road .

It all sounds like a lot for someone who came to the U . S . to get away from stress , but O ’ Rourke is driven by her passion for the sport . Plus , she enjoys seeing the results of her efforts , especially when they involve improving the community she loves .

“ I try to be as professional as I possibly can , and I ’ ve turned into an implementer – a doer – whereas before I was more of the strategist ,” O ’ Rourke says . “ My world has completely changed from Australia to here , and adapting is probably my biggest challenge .” DI

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