Blue Angel Racing - Tonya's Blog!

Tonya's Blog

Think it's easy being a race car driver?

How about a teenage race car driver?

How about a female teenage race car driver?

READ TONYA'S BLOG HERE
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This page represents the thoughts, goals and dreams of Tonya MacLeod. Tonya invites you to share in her life as she pursues her dream of being the best drag racer ever... and overcomes the stereotypes of age and sex.

You can email Tonya at tonya@blueangelracing.org She looks forward to hearing your comments and answering your questions.

Hi, my name is Tonya MacLeod and I started the Blue Angel Racing team with my father. It all started a few years ago as a dream when after I watched the movie, Right On Track . I became so interested and had a real desire to race that I showed the movie to my dad when he got back home from being on the road. He thought it was funny that I made him lunch, fixed him a drink and asked him if he would watch this movie with me. Twenty minutes into the movie he just looked at me and asked, " how much is this going to cost?"

So we all decided to go to the local track and talk to those people that were racing in the Jr. Drag racing program. After visiting several races and talking with racers and parents, we decided to purchase a used car from one of the local racers. We wanted to make sure I was going to stay in racing before investing in the new car. We painted the car blue and gold, put the words Blue Angel on the car because my brothers are in the Navy, I love the Blue Angels, there shows and they are the best of the best in the Navy and the Marines .

We struggled the first year with motors and problems but I won one race, finished second in another and was voted rookie of the year. We also raced at the eastern conference finals that year and went a few rounds in my first year.

The next year we struggled with the new car. It took awhile to get the gremlins out of the car, mainly because of it being new and much faster than the first car. We did get a lot of comments on the car and had lots people come and tell us what a beautiful paint job we have on the car. Although we did not win any races last year, some due to the shorten year from all the hurricanes and storms in the Florida area, we did finish in 9th place.

This year I plan to do a lot better, after investing in practice trees for reaction times, a special engine from a premier engine builder and coaching from some top local big car drivers I will be trying even harder to move up the ranks towards a pro career. I could not do this without the help from my team members and friends!