Other features include a 2-inch chassis-mounted rollbar, Moto-Lita steering wheel, wind wings, sun visors, tonneau, original style competition hood pins, authentic polished aluminum Aston roller gas cap, quick-jack competition bumpers, four-wheel disc brakes, and five-point racing harnesses. The paint is a custom-blended, two-stage DuPont Chroma Ferrari Blood-Red with white racing stripes and clear-coated urethane.
Jamie's success has gotten her a lot of attention. "The response has been pretty much all positive. People are happy to see it. She's young enough to have good reaction. When the light turns green, she goes. The older people sometimes are still sitting there," said Jeff, a tech inspector for RaceLegal.com.
What makes Jamie unique in the sport, being young and female, is exactly what gives her an edge. "When they first see her, the other racers think, 'What's this chick gonna know? She doesn't even have a license?'" said Chris Brown, an announcer for RaceLegal.com. "But this has become a growing sport for females. By nature, women have a better response time," he suggested.
Brown has been a big supporter of Jamie by calling the crowd's attention during the races to the fact that this "15-year-old girl with a permit will beat most of the other racers." The secret to Jamie's success, according to Brown, is patience: "Someone willing to learn in each round. Desire. She is not trying to show off, she is out there learning the sport."
Jamie, with parents Larry and Kelli and 11-year-old brother Jake in tow, accompany her to all of the races she attends. Despite the riskiness of her hobby, they are her biggest supporters. "It makes me nervous, but I still let her do it because she loves it so much," said Kelli Lessie.
"The Lessie family is a excellent example of why we remain optimistic that the goal of being free of illegal street racing as a community by 2005 is within grasp," said Lydi DeNecochea, program director for RaceLegal.com. "By getting young people involved in the safer and sanctioned alternative early in their driving career, we feel confident that they will have the courage and conviction to say 'no' to illegal street racing later on," she said.
Rudy Gutierrez, the racer who gave Jamie her first taste for winning, was a good sport about his loss. "It wasn't cool. It was ego blowing. The only reason I lost was because my car weighs a ton more and that's it," said Rudy. "I am going to race her again and I am not going to win. You win some, you lose some."
Willing to take another loss, Gutierrez and Jamie went head-to-head once more. Despite her small frame, Jamie is a tough contender, and her several wins throughout the night prove it, including a race against an '03 Mach 1. She covered the 1/8-mile in 9.035 seconds at 78.80 mph, with a response time of .541.
"To see the bond between Jamie and her dad, Larry, is heart warming," said Dr. Stephen Bender who serves as the principal investigator for RaceLegal.com. "The RaceLegal.com events held at San Diego's QualComm Stadium are designed to target the 16-26-year-olds who are at highest risk of death or injury from an illegal-street-racing-involved crash," he said. "To have an entire family involved is exactly where we want to be at this point in the program's evolution."
Later in the month, Jamie won a trophy for Best Reaction Time for High School Drivers. We think her future is bright...as a young woman, a dragstrip competitor, and a kit car enthusiast.
For more information about RaceLegal.com, visit their Web site at www.racelegal.com, or contact them at 6310 Alvarado Ct., Suite 220, Dept. KC, San Diego, CA 92120; (619) 265-8159.
Lotus 7-Inspired Roadster Is All-AmericanThe Lotus 7 may be the most popular kit car in the UK, but it has come to America big time. Another player in the Stars-and-Stripes "7" derby is Brunton Automotive, with its Stalker V-6.