Top Alcoholic beverages Dragster ace Julie Nataas, 24, was not like her friends in Norway, not even the kinds who happened to be racers.
“Over there, it is just a interest. It is extra for the pleasurable section more than there,” Nataas claimed. She even had to convince her father, European/FIA and NHRA Prime Gas racer Thomas Nataas, that she was significant.
Following several hours of observe three to four occasions a week soon after school and on weekends, she was wrapped up in karting as a youngster, then stepped into Method Standard for two years. But her coronary heart, she reported, normally was in drag racing. So she moved to the U.S., to Santa Barbara, California, where by she gained a diploma in company and marketing and advertising from Antioch University.
Her hidden “major” although at faculty was searching her talent to the earth of elite drag racing. She said she arrived “here for faculty, but in the again of my thoughts, I was like, ‘Well, if I’m in excess of below, there’s a larger likelihood of me receiving to go racing below.’” Her prepare worked. Swedish Funny Auto racer Jonnie Lindberg assisted her, introducing her to decorated sportsman workforce proprietor Randy Meyer.
She concluded ninth in her initially time, steadily improved to fourth, then third, and through mid-August was 2nd in this year’s standings at the rear of teammate Rachel Meyer.
“My father, when I explained to him, ‘I want to be a race-vehicle driver, and I’m heading to attempt to do it,’ he was like, ‘No, you’re not heading to be a race-auto driver’—like ‘just recognize it’s too really hard. You’re not likely to get there,’” she mentioned. “I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to get my advertising and business degree, and I’ll go do it.’ I believe I’ve had him understand I want this by now. So now he’s like, ‘Okay. If you can get sponsors, you’ll make it. You will be fantastic.’”