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“I get quite a few crazy looks when I pull up to the staging lane in my pink glitter helmet ready to run at 110+ miles per hour,” says Lacie Sharp, a manicurist at Mystique Salon in Bakersfield, Calif., and weekend drag racer. “The drag racing that I participate in is a 1/4-mile race starting at a light. Your time starts as soon as your car moves and ends when it reaches the quarter mile mark. Most of the time I race for low ETs (elapsed time).”

Her vehicle of choice at the moment is a 2007 Chevy Trailblazer SS. “It’s an SUV so I get lots of funny looks,” she says. “It’s got a 400 horsepower Corvette engine with a 125 horsepower shot of nitrous oxide. It’s not the fastest car I’ve ever had (I’ve had six others), but it is the most fun and gets the most attention.”

Her fastest time, so far, in the SS has been 12.65 seconds at 110 mph. “To put it in simpler terms, it’s zero to 118 mph in less than 12 seconds,” says Sharp, who limits her racing to a controlled environment and does everything in her power to be as safe as possible.

An addict since she began racing her Ford Mustang at age 16, Sharp can barely contain her enthusiasm: “I love everything about drag racing. I love the rush of excitement and nervousness when lined up against someone. I love the gripes from the boys when they lose to a girl in an SUV. I love the smell of VHT and burning tires. And I love the yummy little corn dogs you can only get at the race track!”

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