LOVELAND, Colo.—Seventeen-year-old Erika Jackson said she lives her life a quarter-mile at a time. And she does it going pretty darn fast.
As a drag racer, the Loveland High School senior has been speeding muscle cars and dragsters down the track at Denver’s Bandimere Speedway since she was about 10 years old.
It’s a need for speed she credits to guts and heart—and maybe a little DNA.
With help and encouragement from her father, a fellow racer, the teen is proving that age and gender can’t hold you back from driving really, really fast.
“It’s the biggest adrenaline rush you could ever imagine,” she said. “Nothing else matters. You’re there to race and have fun.”
Growing up with a family of drag racers, Erika had always wanted to follow in her dad and brother’s footsteps and get behind the wheel.
Dave Jackson, her father, has been racing for about 10 years, traveling around the country to compete. And Erika has been by his side at every track along the way.
“She took a real interest to it right away,” he said.
When Erika was in sixth grade, she received a present that jump-started her involvement in the sport: a junior dragster.
A half-scaled version of the real thing, the junior dragster races down an eighth-mile track, rather than the quarter-mile track of full-sized racers.
It was perfect for the sixth-grade girl—for a few years.
Yet soon, she realized the junior dragster’s 85 mph top speed simply wasn’t fast enough.
“I was tired of going slow,” she said. “I needed to go faster.”
So she began racing the family’s ’71 Chevy Nova on a quarter-mile track, later moving to a souped up ’72 Camaro, which she races today.
With each car she drives, the sport continues to bring a rush she can’t shake.
Before every race, as she waits for the blinking lights to switch from yellow to green, Erika said she gets a few butterflies in her stomach.
“At first, it’s nerve-racking,” she said. “But then your adrenaline kicks in and you focus on what you have to do.”
When the light turns green, Erika hits the gas, sending the car rocketing forward and herself slamming back in the seat. For a quarter-mile, she races one car down the track, trying to beat the other driver as well as her own time.
It’s a thrill that lasts about 9 seconds—the time it takes from the start until she crosses the finish line.
“It’s so quick,” she said. “It’s crazy how quick it all happens.”
Watching from the sidelines, her mom, Dennise Jackson, cheers her on each race.
While other parents might worry about their teen in such a high-speed sport, Dennise said she supports her daughter.
“Just go for it,” she said.
Dave admitted he has worried about Erika, but said that safety is always a top priority for the family.
And besides, he understands that once you’ve tried it, it’s not an easy hobby to forget.
“It’s one of those sports, it gets in your blood, and you just can’t seem to get enough of it,” he said. “She has a real love for it.”
The speed, competition and adrenaline rush are a few of the main reasons Erika hopes to drag race “forever.”
But most of all, she loves doing it all with her dad by her side.
“It’s helped me and my dad’s relationship,” she said.
“It’s so much fun to watch my dad do so well. It gets me excited about what I could do in the future.”
While the family’s drag racing season is over until next spring, Erika and Dave continue to work on their cars together almost every night.
Erika said she’s learning as much as she can so that someday, when she has a family of her own, she can take her children racing down the track—just like she and her dad did.
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