Track Chic meets Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Alexis DeJoria, the daughter of John Paul DeJoria, of Paul Mitchell Systems, and Patrón Tequila. Her team, Stealth Motorsports, is one of very few female team owners in NHRA.
Thanks to Darr Hawthorne and the Drag Racing Online team who had a chance to sit down with Alexis at the Las Vegas race as this businesswoman and determined racer sets out to leave her mark in drag racing.
Interview by Darr Hawthorne
When and where did you first attend a drag race, and what was it about drag racing that remains in your memory?
AD: My first drag race was at the Pomona National event. I was sixteen years old and went with a high school friend of mine, with whom I had built hot rods and raced them back in those days. We watched those nitro funny cars go down the racetrack and everybody plugging their ears, and I am questioning, “What the hell are they doing?” I watched them going down the racetrack and I remember the feeling was captivating and I wanted to do it. I had always loved racing and wanted to race, but didn’t know exactly what kind and different kinds of stuff, but it was nitro funny cars that really grabbed my attention.
What kind of hot rods were you building at that time?
AD: Chevelles, Bel Airs, mostly Chevys.
How did you get involved in that?
AD: In high school, I always gravitated to the people that had the hot rods that were racing; it was just in my blood from my dad; he used to race when he was a kid. He loved it and it just stuck with me.
Does your dad have any interest in the sport of drag racing?
AD: When he has time. He made it to about five races last year. He loves it; it’s actually his favorite auto racing sport. He’s sponsored a few different types of racing too: Indy Car Racing, NASCAR and now the American Le Mans Series, but he thinks drag racing is the most exciting; it’s his kind of sport.
What’s the first car you ever drag raced?
AD: It was a GMC Typhoon... Oh wait, are you talking about on the street? OK, it’s not cool man, but we all got our start somewhere and I was a stupid kid!
When did you first go down a dragstrip?
AD: It was in Phoenix, Arizona in a ’63 Corvette roadster that I raced in Super/Gas. That was my first competition car. My first actual run down a dragstrip was in Frank Hawley’s Drag Racing School in Pomona. Jack Beckman was my teacher.
Who do you look up to in drag racing?
AD: Oh, John Force. (Laughing) I am sure everybody says that, but with everything that he’s been through, he didn’t come out and win races right away. He worked really hard at it. He’s got the kind of energy like my father and I can see the similarities between the two. I love it, I love his energy. I think he’s a great man and he’s great for the sport. He’s wild and I like that about his spirit; there should be more people out there like him.
Of course, Del Worsham. He’s been racing funny cars since he was eighteen and I always really respected him as a driver and a person, but I had a newfound respect for him after I worked with him in a nitro funny car and saw how hands-on he is. He’s a great teacher, he can tune and drive... kinda like a Mike Neff, but such an all around good guy. Those are my two favorites and I was really lucky to have both of them sign my new license.
What are your hobbies outside of drag racing?
AD: Snowboarding, I ride dirt bikes, I like going skydiving, and I like traveling all over the country and world with my family and my daughter. I love riding beach cruisers down to the beach with my kid and hanging out at the beach, going to music concerts, and enjoying life to the fullest!
Do your peers treat you any differently because you are a woman?
AD: I don’t really notice it. Sometimes, there are little things, but not really. I worked really hard to get where I am, I have respect for these guys and it is a mutual respect.
And they want to kick your ass... and you want to kick their asses!
AD: Yeah, yeah. We’re all buddy-buddy in the pits, but when you get up there, Nicky and I want to win (Nick Bastiao, the team’s crew chief and co-owner of Stealth Motorsports). But if either one of us don’t, we are still stoked for the other person. That’s what’s cool about sportsman racing, you are still buddy-buddy at the end of the day, somewhat. I love these guys, it’s a big family and I have a lot of respect for what they do.
Escalating costs, like travel, fuel, parts, and everything that is a part of racing in 2011, is that having on your racing at all?
AD: Yeah, fuel is huge, it is expensive. We almost didn’t go to the Gators because of how much the fuel prices have jumped, but I said that we’ve got to run Gainesville. We’ve always done really well there. We used to live there, we just moved back to California and there was no other race for us to make up, because basically the other ones would have been even further for us to attend. Costs have definitely taken a toll on everybody; when you have a tow vehicle that you drive to all the races and a big truck and trailer like this, it’s tons of fuel. But overall we’ve cut down and are just racing National events this year. What I am trying to do is win a National event this year. I have won a divisional, been to a couple of finals at a National and some semis, but I really want to focus on winning a National event. So we have pretty much cut out racing at all Divisionals, except last weekend here at Vegas, but that was really a test session for the National for us.
Do you feel that the NHRA media gives too much attention to the Force family, to the Force women, and not enough to you, Erica Enders, Melanie Troxell, and some of the other women racers out there?
AD: I think it is just natural because of who he is and what he has accomplished; of course anything associated with Force is going to gain that kind of recognition. That is understandable. I don’t have any animosity towards them. I think it is great; they bring a lot to the sport. Me personally, I want to be known for my ability to drive the racecar and I want to do well, that’s how I want to be remembered. But coming from a father who is also very prominent, I know how that works. I need to work extra hard, just to get away from that to prove and define myself out there. I don’t want to be known as his daughter, I want to be known for Alexis DeJoria, she’s a damn good driver and her car hauls ass. (laughing) That’s what I want to be known for.
Is there a point where you can see yourself stepping back, away from the driver’s seat and nurturing another woman into drag racing?
AD: I would love to. I want to own my own operation and have other female drivers; there are a few I would love to put in a car right now if I had the means to. There’s not enough but the ones who are out there are really good, and you really have to work a lot harder to prove yourself, because we are going to have that following us wherever we go. But it doesn’t bother me; I’m out here racing with these guys and at the end of the day, we are all trying to win!
Do you see women like Shirley Muldowney as a role model?
AD: Of course, she paved the way for all of us. If you don’t have respect for that woman, you are crazy. I mean really. As a female, she made it happen for all of us. I have never met her, I would love to. She’s tough - she had to be - and back in those days she really had to work it to get in there and never back down. I admire that and that is the same kind of mentality that I have: don’t ever give up, and follow what you believe in.
Do you have that same kind of toughness?
AD: Yes I do, but it’s a little bit easier. I don’t blow up at every little thing; I’ll just tuck it away in the back of my mind and remember it for next time. I learn from my mistakes or experiences, but (laughing) I am more like the stealth fighter: flying below the radar, but keeping tabs on everything.
Thanks to Darr Hawthorne and DragRacing Online Team!
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