Tresa Mitchell

Growing up, working on drag race cars was the norm in my family. It was the way of life. In fact, my very first memory is of my dad selling his Henry J race car. I was a very upset two-and-half-year-old, as I did not want my dad to sell the car. Fast forward a few years and I am heavily involved in our family drag racing team. I love everything about drag racing. The drive to go faster and make the car perform better is ingrained in my DNA. I love the challenge of figuring out what the race car needs to obtain optimum performance. Drag racing is really pretty interesting. It is a mixture of performance and show vehicle.

We started racing on the International Hot Rod Association tour out of need, as the local drag racing scene was moving away from class (performance-based) racing to bracket racing. We attended the first divisional race of the season and we were fortunate to win the race over the reigning Modified Eliminator World Champion. The success spurred us on, so we decided to attend the Winter Nationals in Darlington, South Carolina. There, we faced off again with the current champion and we were elated to get our first national event win at our very first national event. Success also led to big decisions. We had not planned on racing the full IHRA tour, but my mom told my dad that if he ever had any sights set on racing on the national level, this was his chance. After some serious contemplation, my dad decided to keep going as long as we were successful enough that racing completely paid for itself. We went on to win the IHRA Modified Eliminator and Overall Sportsman Championships in our first year on the IHRA tour.

A couple of seasons later I took over the crew chief duties for our race team. It was not something that I set out intentionally to do, it just happened naturally. Drag racing and problem solving are what I enjoy. I love the challenge of working on the cars and the new challenge of driving. I truly believe that everyone should follow their joy! Figure out what it is that you enjoy doing. Many people do not have that spark or passion. I think that is because they have not found it. Seek it out! If you do not know what that is go out and investigate! While it is very important to get involved early, it is also never too late to start something new. Do not let stereotypes determine your path. For me, it was normal to work on race cars. It did not matter that I was a girl. My parents never told me that I could not do something because I was a girl.

As luck would have it, I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama — the home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. My mom worked at NASA and she would keep our family up to date on what was going on there. My love of problem solving and working on race cars led me to mechanical engineering. I was so very fortunate to have the University of Alabama in Huntsville engineering school right in my back yard so that I could continue racing and have the opportunity to co-op work at NASA. Drag racing and my co-op experiences are what set the foundation for my career. I was given a lot of responsibility as a youngster, and I took that opportunity and ran with it.

I am also so very thankful to my mom and dad for instilling a work ethic in me. They are very hard-working people who figure out a way to make things happen. My recommendation for the next generation is to find your joy. Then challenge yourself! Find a mentor, set high expectations and figure out a way to achieve your goals. Be willing to work hard and start from the bottom. Look at things from the bosses’ and customers’ perspectives and this will help you find your way.