The Princess of Horsepower
Stephanie DiMino adds to her collection of crowns
Story and photos by Brian Wood

As she coasted to a stop in the shutdown area at the end of National Trail Raceway’s quarter-mile, Stephanie DiMino nervously loosened her belts and removed her helmet, wondering just how much longer her nerve-wracking weekend would have to go on. She had just removed Gary Richmond from the list of challengers for the NSCA’s 2004 Mr. Gasket Nostalgia Super Stock crown in the first round of eliminations, and now only Joe Cochran stood between the determined young woman and her dream of winning her first championship.

Suddenly, through the PA system she heard the announcer say that Cochran had red-lit, and she knew the title was hers. Back at the starting line, her family and friends already had the victory celebration in high gear, relieved that the long year was finally, and successfully, over.

In just her fourth full season of competition, the 22-year-old accountant from Collegeville, Pennsylvania had conquered one of the NSCA’s toughest index classes, racing against and beating some true veterans of the sport of drag racing. Her talent and resolve are impressive in someone so young, but "Steph" has developed a love of competition and racing far beyond her years, thanks to a solid family background based on all things automotive.

"My brother started racing Quarter Midgets when he was five, and at the time my dad wanted to build me a car, too," Stephanie recalled. "I was seven at the time, and he wanted me to get involved, but it just didn’t interest me. He even offered to paint the car pink, but I was more interested in playing with my Barbie dolls and my She-Ra, Princess of Power stuff.

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"By the time I turned 15, though, I was really starting to get the urge to drive, but when my dad reminded me that I had to wait until I was 18 to get my license, I decided to give Quarter Midget racing a try, just so I could grab a steering wheel and go fast. Dad built me a car, which I ended up racing for just one season, but I set a record in the Novice class, and ended up being named Rookie of the Year and Driver of the Year. After that, I decided that I wanted to keep racing, but since I was getting near the age limit of 16 for Quarter Midgets, we started looking at some other venue for me, including sprint cars and dirt cars, but I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.

"Around that same time, my father took me to my first-ever drag race in Englishtown, New Jersey, and that’s where I met Fred Henderson, who drives a Nostalgia Super Stock car as part of the 422 Motorsports team. He let me sit in his "Dyno Don" Mercury Comet, and took me for a ride in it, which I really loved. I must have asked him a million and one questions that day, and on the way home I told my dad that I thought I would like to get involved in drag racing; that was all he needed to hear.

"Dad never said too much about it for a while, but on the morning of my 16th birthday, he started hollering about something going on in the back yard," Stephanie continued. "I ran around to see what all the commotion was, and there sat a bright yellow 1966 Chevy Impala. I was totally excited, but my friends all thought I was crazy. ‘Is THAT what you got for your birthday?’ they asked. I said ‘you don’t understand – give it a year and it’ll be awesome! It was really hard to explain to my friends why I wanted to race, and what it was all about. Even though they didn’t always understand it, though, they have always supported me and been in my corner."

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Now, of course this wasn’t her first "road" car, as you would expect to almost certainly be on any teenager’s 16^th birthday wish list. No, this immaculate car was soon driven down to the family-owned Black Horse Auto Body shop in the DiMino’s hometown of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and cut up, destined to become the beautiful, and quick, A/FX machine that was now coasting back towards the family team’s pit area in Columbus, Ohio, the new champion "hyperventilating" all the way.

But back to the original story. During the following year, while the "Imp" was being converted to a quarter-mile warrior, Stephanie went to Roy Hill’s Drag Racing School, obtaining her Super Gas license after running a best elapsed time of 9.10 in one of the school cars just five days after earning her Pennsylvania drivers license. She vividly remembers the thrill of driving 150 miles an hour on the track when she was barely allowed to drive around the neighborhood at home.

Early the year after that, once the Impala was ready for the track, she went back to Hill’s school to get accustomed to her new ride. Once she had a good feel for the big car, Stephanie and the DiMino family spent much of the season at tracks such as Atco, Maple Grove and Cecil County, where she put the Impala through its paces time and time again, logging valuable seat time in preparation for her competitive debut, scheduled for the 1999 season.

Just as she had done in her rookie season in Quarter Midget racing, Stephanie made an immediate impact on the drag racing world, winning her very first time out at an East Coast Nostalgia Super Stock Association event at Atco Dragway. The following spring she attended her first National Muscle Car Association ( now National Street Car Association) event at Moroso Motorsports Park in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she "red lit in front of everybody, which was so, so embarrassing." The real lessons had now officially begun.

As Stephanie was gaining experience in the Nostalgia Super Stock ranks of the NSCA, however, she added another very important jewel to her crown during the NHRA’s 50^th anniversary year of 2001. "They were having a special race at Atco for the 50^th anniversary, so we went down there just to see what it was all about and to try our luck," she said. "I started going rounds, and the next thing I knew I was in the final, which I eventually won. I walked out of there with a "Wally" from the NHRA, which I thought was pretty cool, for sure, but I think my dad and Fred were a lot more pumped up about it than I was, at least at the time. I know now how special it is to win a "Wally," but I can remember Fred telling me it was a once in a lifetime thing to just get the opportunity to race for such an honor, much less win the trophy, because it was the fiftieth anniversary of the NHRA and all. It was a very exciting time for all of us."

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Now four seasons later, the fiercely determined young lady from Pennsylvania stands at the top of the Mr. Gasket Nostalgia Super Stock Association mountain, having out-gunned dozens of grizzled veterans in the NSCA’s most populated class to take home the biggest prize of the year. In 2004, no less than 52 competitors took their best shot at NSS glory, and although many tried, none could sustain a prolonged attack on the "Princess."

About that nickname - over the course of the years between her first victory and today, a number of Stephanie’s competitors have seen the words "Princess of Horsepower" emblazoned on the tail of her Chevy as she pulls away. She laughed as she explained what that was all about. "Remember I said that I was too busy playing with my dolls and toys to race when I was seven?" Well, that’s about the time I got the nickname - I always went around saying I was a princess, and of course one of my favorite TV shows was She-Ra, Princess of Power. After I started racing I started calling myself the Princess of Horsepower, just as a joke, but the name stuck. I’ll never forget my dad saying ‘I can’t believe I’m painting this on your car – what if I drive it sometime?’ I thought it was cool, and I liked driving everybody a little crazy. What really got them was when I showed up at a race wearing a tiara!"

Drive them crazy she has, and in more ways than one. Always a tough competitor, Stephanie and the entire DiMino team, including brother John, Jr., who had his pristine ’64 Ford Thunderbolt in competition as well this season, stepped up in a big way in 2004. Despite mechanical problems that plagued her all weekend long, Stephanie wheeled her trusty Chevy into the winner’s circle at the NSCA season opener at No Problem Raceway Park in Louisiana last March, and she never really looked back.

She continued to qualify well at the remaining six events on the schedule, finishing strong every time out with a third and two top fives, and proving just how determined she was to win a championship by forsaking her graduation party at Villanova University so that she could attend the race in Cecil County, Maryland. Eventually she put the points chase nearly out of reach by taking her second win of the year in Budds Creek, Maryland, but there were still a couple of competitors close enough to make it very interesting when the troops gathered at Ohio’s National Trail Raceway for the Corteco NSCA World Finals in September.

Gary Richmond and Joe Cochran were both mathematically still in the chase, so needless to say it was a nerve-wracking two weeks for Stephanie between the second-to-last event in Stanton, Michigan and the World Finals. Come race weekend, the tension levels in the DiMino camp were extremely high, although everyone did their best to keep it light for Stephanie’s sake. Fortunately, after all the days and weeks of anticipation, Stephanie put everyone, especially dad John, out of their misery in what was literally the blink on an eye. In the first round of eliminations, she lined up against rival No. 1 Richmond, and took a clean win to advance to the second round. In the next pair of cars to the line, however, was rival No. 2 Cochran, who uncharacteristically left too soon, lighting the red bulb and placing the 2004 Mr. Gasket Nostalgia Super Stock crown squarely on the head of the "Princess of Horsepower."

Proud dad John leaped in the air, and then with a gasp he leaned forward and put his hands on his knees, releasing all the pent-up emotions of the season. As he regained his composure, he looked at wife Dottie and said "I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!" As for Stephanie, the relief of finally achieving her goal was overwhelming. "I was definitely not myself all weekend – I really had some serious anxiety before the eliminations started, but everyone tried their best to keep me grounded," she recalled. "After three days of waiting and worrying, I couldn’t believe it was all over in five minutes! I didn’t even know I’d won until I parked the car at the top end and heard [NSCA announcer Al] Tucci screaming over the PA system.

"I have to admit that right after it was over I thought to myself that I never wanted to go through that again, but now I think about what a great experience it was. It was just unbelievable to do something like that just four years into racing."

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Capping off a great year of competition, Stephanie recently garnered a runner-up finish at an East Coast Nostalgia Super Stock Association event at Atco Raceway.

Stephanie’s 16^th birthday present deserves some credit here as well, proving itself to be a consistent and reliable campaigner, to which Stephanie readily attests. "The Impala has really been a great car," she said. "It’s very consistent, and now that I have some experience behind the wheel I can give my dad the kind of feedback that he needs to make the right tuning calls. It took me a couple of seasons to be able to do that, but now I can monitor the gauges and tell him what the fuel pressure and temperature readings were at the eighth-mile, for example. Now if asks me for specific information, I can give it to him, and it’s pretty accurate. To me, being able to cut a light, watch the guy next to me and still be aware of everything that’s going on with the car at 150 miles an hour is pretty cool.

As for the Impala’s more technical aspects, it’s powered by a 572-inch big block built on a Chevrolet marine block with Siamese cylinders. Fuel is fed to the healthy "rat" through two Holley 1,000-cfm Holley HP carbs. On the dyno the engine put out 930 horsepower and 850 foot-pounds of torque. All this power is sent to the back wheels through a Turbo 400 transmission and a 9" Ford rear-end stuffed with 4:56 gears. The car, which weighs 3,220-lbs. empty, sits on a ladder bar suspension set-up. To date the best performance Stephanie has been able to wring out of the car has been 9.07-seconds at 148.50 mph. Doug Myers did the engine, with help from Stephanie’s dad John, while the transmission and rear-end were prepared by "Uncle" Richard Brandi. John and the crew at Black Horse Auto Body did all the body work and sprayed the DuPont Chrome Illusion paint.

With her first championship now in hand, Stephanie is looking forward to the future in both racing and her personal life. Soon to turn 23, the native of Norristown, Pennsylvania graduated from Villanova in May with a degree in accounting, and as mentioned, she skipped her graduation party to go racing. She recently moved to Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and works at the accounting firm of Lutz & Travers, where she is currently working on her CPA license.

Stephanie would like to stay in the accounting field, but also has plans to take some courses in automotive mechanics in the near future so that she can do more of the work that her race car requires. "I definitely want to do something mechanical, and eventually I would like to go into business with my brother and possibly take over the family business down the road. Who knows where I’m going to end up for real, but that’s kind of the little plan that I see for my future right now.

"I would love to carry on the family business, Black Horse Auto Body, which my grandfather started over fifty years ago," Stephanie added. "My father John and my mother Dottie own the business now, of course, and my brother goes down to the shop a lot after school, so he’s been learning a lot about the business the last couple of years. He’s now taking courses in auto body repair at Automotive Training Center in Exton, Pa., so I think he’s going to focus on that aspect of the business.

"Speaking of John, I have to say that it was great having him out racing with me this season – I have really enjoyed it! His big thing that year was just to beat me to the end of the track – to heck with red lights or anything else. At the East Coast Nostalgia Supper Stock Association race in Atco last month, he had me covered by two car lengths at the top end, but he wouldn’t get out of it, so he ended up breaking out.

"He was so excited about beating me heads-up that I don’t even think he cared that he actually threw the race away. My dad cared, though, and he told Johnny that he should have taken his foot off the throttle, but I know how hard that is to learn – it took me a long time before I could make myself let off before the finish line. He did real well this year in the NSCA, though, even qualifying number one at the finals in Columbus, which is a very tough thing to do. It looks like our childhood rivalry is now going to move on to the race track, and I think it’ll inspire us both to try even harder."

As far as her future racing plans go, Stephanie admitted that she’s looking ahead to doing some heads-to-head racing down the road. "My dad has been looking at some of the heads-up classes for us to run in sometime in the future," she elaborated. "Hot Street, Nostalgia Pro Street and Pro Nostalgia are all possibilities, so we have to decide whether we’ll build a new car from the ground up or make some changes to the Impala. Right now there are a couple of classes where it would fit with some minor modifications. In the short term, though, with dad building a hemi-powered ’66 Dodge Coronet Nostalgia Super Stock car for next season, he, my brother and I are going to run together for the next little while. The bottom line is that I’m hoping there’s a parachute handle in my future – I think it would be awesome to go fast and pop the ‘chute!"

Naturally, as all racers are aware, it takes lots of support, both financial and emotional, to field a winning race car, and Stephanie is anxious to let some special people in her life how much they’re appreciated. "Most of all I have to say thanks to my grandparents, my aunts Carol and Maria, my cousin Ruben, my mother and father and my brother John," she said. "Also, many thanks to Black Horse Auto Body, which is my main sponsor. I also want to thank my newest crew member and security specialist/body guard Joey. There’s also Caparo Jewellers, Pizza Mia, Romano Buses, Lou’s Steak Shop, Schiele’s Service Center, J&J Texaco, Doug Myers, Richard Brandi, the Torrnetta family, Nick Miro, Phoenixville Quarter Midget Track, Corteco, Mr. Gasket and Tony DePillo. Also, thanks to the guys at 422, especially Fred Henderson, for their support through the years."