Apr 28, 2002 5 min read

Jessica Donato pulls back her auburn hair, slips on her purple helmet and adjusts her gloves. Watching the “Christmas tree” light up, she reacts with catlike quickness. Eight-and-a-half seconds later, she and her opponent are an eighth of a mile down the asphalt; the race is already over. The 14-year-old Donato has a need for speed: She’s a drag racer.

The Carmichaels Area High School ninth-grader began racing dragsters at age 8. She and her parents, Mark and Diane, went to Fairmont Dragway to watch the races, and Jessica was intrigued by the junior class of dragsters. After the event, Mark took Jessica down to the pits.

“We just went for it,” said Mark, a contractor in the Carmichaels area.

Jessica talked to the drivers and looked at the cars.

“It just looked like a lot of fun,” she said.

Jessica’s curiosity six years ago has escalated into a family passion. She now races twice a month in the local circuit at Keystone Raceway in New Alexandria, Westmoreland County. She and her family also travel to three national events each year, her younger sister, Jennifer, and brother, Dominic, helping in the pits.

Last year at Keystone, Jessica finished third in the circuits points race out of a field of 27. Mark’s office gleams with the gold of Jessica’s 50 trophies, and recently, Dominic, 8, raced for the first time, in Georgia.

For Mark and Diane, it’s the chance to do something as a family that makes racing special.

“It’s a good time with the kids and a good time away from pounding nails,” said Mark, who acts as Jessica’s crew chief at the races.

Dominic, who has helped Mark tinker with the cars for years, also helps in the pits, and Jennifer, 13, who prefers ballet to racing, even helps to push the car to the start line.

Race days can last 10 to 14 hours, so Diane keeps her “crew” well fed. She echoes her husband’s sentiments about the sport.

“It is a chance for the family to go out and do something as a group, like a big picnic,” she said.

However, the family fun is not free. Mark bought Jessica’s first car, used, for $2,000. Her new car, a 2002 dragster with a Briggs and Stratton engine that runs on methanol alcohol, cost $11,000.

“I have to work a lot of hours to pay for it and put in a lot of time working on the cars,” said Mark, who admitted that the rewards are worth it.

Drag racing is a straight-line acceleration contest between two vehicles over a distance of an eighth of a mile or a quarter-mile. Cars are divided into a variety of classes, including the junior top fuel dragsters, the category in which Jessica races. A device called the “Christmas tree,” similar to a stop light, keys the start of the race.

But drag racing is not simply a first-across-the-line competition. During elimination rounds, drivers must make elapsed time performance predictions, or “dial-ins.” The cars are then given the appropriate head start to allow for the estimated speed differences. Usually, the first to cross the finish line is the winner, but in some cases, if the driver ran faster than his prediction, the race was considered a “breakout” and the racer is disqualified.

Jessica cannot just get in and go. She must be aware of these complex rules to be competitive, and she is.

“Nothing can compare to drag racing, ” she said. “It is very exciting.”

The Donatos are members of the National Hot Rod Association, the International Hot Rod Association and the Racers for Christ program. Jessica races on the junior circuit with age brackets ranging from 8 to 17. Her long, lightweight, one-cylinder dragster can reach speeds of 80 mph on the eighth-mile track, faster than any street car can obtain the same speed.

Laughing, Jessica admits that people are a little “shocked and stunned” by her hobby.

Mark agrees: “Most people are surprised and most people think it’s too dangerous, but I think she is safer in the car than she is in our truck on the way to the races.”

Last year in Indianapolis, Jessica and her parents witnessed the danger of the sport. As Jessica raced down the track, wind swept under her car and propelled it into the air. The dragster flipped and rolled, skidding down the track. Jessica, with a few minor bruises, walked away unharmed, and her parents walked away with their belief about the sport’s safety reaffirmed.

“It’s safe. It’s a controlled environment,” Mark said.

All racers must wear a fireproof suit, helmet and gloves, as well as a neck brace. The drivers also have arm restraints and wear a five-point harness. Each car and driver is inspected before the races to ensure all safety measures have been met.

The dangers don’t concern Jessica too much. She is much more interested in the rewards. For each victory she wins trophies to add to her collection and earns investments in her future. Winners at Keystone Raceway win $100 savings bonds, and when the family travels to NHRA competitions, winners there take home $5,000 savings bonds.

Jessica also has fun beating the boys. One of four female drivers at Keystone, she gives the boys fits when she defeats them.

But in the end, it is the family fun and the adrenaline rush that keep her and her family racing, and keeps Mark content and working hard.