It’s 95 degrees at Atlanta Dragway as thousands of fans arrive to kick start their July 4th Celebration with the
NIGHT OF FIRE presented by Powerade.  It’s a spectacular evening packed with Ken Nelson's Cool Bus Wheelstander, flame-throwing jet cars, the World's Fastest Wheel Standing Funny Car, and more including North Georgia’s largest aerial fireworks show.

      The jet dragster class is an elite group of exhibition vehicles in the world of drag racing. Elaine, one of only two females driving jet dragsters today, is the only woman driver to also own and manage a jet dragster exhibition team.  Her team includes the Embry-Riddle Jet Dragster, Miss Ta Fire Jet Dragster and the 1941 Willy’s Jet Pro Mod.  Larsen Motorsports is a tight family team, with her husband and high school sweetheart, Chris, as Crew Chief. Their eleven year old son, Andrew,  also known as “Sparky” (and now “Igniter”), and the family dog, “Nitro”, travel together to the tracks.  

     The talents of the Larsen Motorsports crew team, Everett Lowe, Chuck Foster, Chris Foster, Mike Mathes and John “Dr. Torch” Frazer, ensure that they are a 100% self contained jet racing team. Regarded as the nation’s leaders in turbine-powered race vehicles, Larsen Motorsports is the number-one-booked exhibition jet dragster in North America.

    The first question that comes to mind is obvious,  “Is she crazy?!”  Racing a jet-dragster would seem “extreme”, “absurd", or even “nuts” to most.  But to the Larsen family, it is a perfectly natural combination of Elaine’s “need for speed” and Chris’ two decades in the Aerospace Industry and 31+ years in high performance automotive racing. After racing six years in NHRA Division 2, Elaine stepped up to Super Comp where she competed successfully for two years, but she wanted to “go faster”!

    Track Chic talks with Elaine and learns more about how she made the choice to make her next car jet powered.  What seems crazy to most of us seems 100% normal to Elaine, who is as passionate as she is genuine.

• Tell us about that dinner conversation.  Given Chris' experience in aviation and expertise working on Cessna Aircraft Company's Citation jets, did he just come home one day and say “How about it honey?  You want to go faster, what if I build you a jet dragster?”

Actually, it was a natural choice for us.  We've been married for 22 years.  I started racing 15 years ago at Chris' suggestion as a way to make friends.  The minute I drove my Big Block Chevy down the track I was addicted, I loved it!  I competed for 15 yeas and won a championship my very first year.  Because of Chris' love of aviation and my "little need for speed", developing a jet dragster was the natural direction for us to go.  I've been driving the jet car now for 6 years and it's thrilling.

 The Embry-Riddle Jet Dragster is powered by a Pratt & Whitney J-60 and goes from 0 mph-100 mph in one second and from 0 mph-300 mph in 5 seconds. How do you prepare your body, mentally and physically, to overcome the G-force stresses your body suffers?

Physically, I work out. I do cardio, I run, I do Pilates and free weights.  I endure 5 G-forces when accelerating and 7 G-forces when I deploy the parachutes, so it’s pretty demanding on my body. This is twice the G-forces experienced by the Space Shuttle team so it’s important to protect my body.  I trained with aerobatic pilots to learn how to best position myself and how to properly hold my body to prevent injury.

Mental preparation is different. You have to get yourself psyched up to strap yourself in to this 6000 horsepower beast and muscle her down the track.  The fastest I have gone is 326 mph.  I had to train my body to accept the speed by going a little faster each time and then a little faster the next time until your brain and your eyes can catch up with the speed. Basically, it’s a 5 second run from when I hit the throttle and send the fuel to the after-burner to when I shut the car off and deploy the parachute.  It’s such an adrenaline rush! I just hang on and hope for the best.

 Elaine’s enthusiasm is contagious. Her love for the sport is 100% obvious and 100% genuine. Never taking no for an answer, she invested all their savings and worked several jobs to pursue her goals. Elaine’s 120% dedication to building her race team taught her that when one door closes to go knock on another.  Inspired by racing legend Janet Guthrie, Elaine tells Track Chic that little did her husband know when he gave her Janet’s book, “A Life at Full Throttle” as a gift, that he would change her life forever.

I’ve read that book 20 times – with a highlighter!  Janet Guthrie is such an inspiration; she never took “no” for an answer. Janet Guthrie not only knocked on doors, she blasted through them.  She’s amazing; she built her own engines; she wrenched, she welded, she did whatever was necessary to be able to race.  It never occurred to her that she couldn’t – or shouldn’t.  She inspired me.  I didn’t get this by sitting back and waiting for doors to open, I worked hard for this.  It’s important for me to now serve as a role model to others out there. If I can do it, they can, too. 

• Elaine lights up when she talks about her son, Andrew a.k.a. ‘”Sparkey” or “Igniter".  When asked if he will follow in her footsteps she responds proudly.

Andrew is a builder.  He enjoys making things with Legos and Construx, he is a lot like his Dad in that regard.  He has the mind of an engineer.  I can see him working on engines and building faster and safer jet cars for his mom to drive.  That would make his mama very proud.  

• When not at the racetracks or air-show circuits, Elaine and Chris work closely with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace. They are instrumental in funding and supporting a student run project to engineer and build a new jet-powered race car.

 It’s great; the girls on the team don’t take a back seat to anybody.  It’s wonderful to see the faces of so many women in aviation and help inspire career choices.

•  Elaine sums up her transition from dental assistant to day care owner to Driver and Team owner Embry-Riddle Jet Dragster: Unbelievable!

This has been a dream come true to see the little girls' eyes light up when I get out of the car to show them that you can be anything with hard work and determination.  It’s important to me to be a positive role model. I love seeing little girls and little boys come up to me after I’ve blasted down the track.  The look in the eyes says it all – it doesn’t get any better than this!

Elaine’s story of passion, hard work, enthusiasm and commitment will undoubtedly be a well-read book soon
with it's own passages of motivation highlighted by the many individuals she inspires as she follows her dream.
One word says it all, Elaine Larsen is "Phenomenal!"

Click here to view TRACK CHIC's complete VIDEO INTERVIEW with Elaine
and her amazing run in the Embry-Riddle Jet Dragster!

 For more information on Elaine Larsen and Larsen Motorsports, please visit her website:  http://www.lmsjets.com

To learn more about Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University click here.

  Linda Cantrell 
  Track Chic Crew Chief - Southern Chics 
  Demorest, GA

  Atlanta Dragway
  Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
  Larsen Motorsports, Inc.