WORM INCHES CLOSER TO FINDING TOP FUEL SUCCESS

by Ian Tocher    Wed, 2019-05-08 10:01

After beginning her drag racing career at age 16 in her father's nostalgia front-engine dragster, Audrey Worm raced in the nostalgia ranks for about eight years before earning her Top Fuel license within a month of making her official NHRA Top Fuel debut. That came in September 2017 at Reading, PA, where she qualified 15th before falling in the first round to Doug Kalitta. 

Last year, the now-27 year old from Grantville, PA, qualified her Leverich Racing Top Fueler at six of nine NHRA national events entered and finished the year with career-best numbers of 4.004 seconds and 297.61 mph.

After opening her 2019 campaign last week at the 4-Wides in Charlotte, Worm was back at it this weekend in the 39th annual Arby's NHRA Southernationals at Atlanta Dragway. This time out she qualified 13th with a 4.005-seconds pass while exactly matching her career-best speed.

That set up a first-round pairing against Leah Pritchett, with Worm going another 4.00 at 289.88 in a losing effort. Still, she was left feeling encouraged by just getting down the track under power.

 

 

 

"We're excited about this year; we're getting there," Worm said. "I really want to get that first three-second run, but really we want to run 3.90s or even high 3.80s and get to 300 miles an hour, hopefully go some rounds. Of course I'd love to win a race, but realistically I hope to at least win a round or two at a couple of races."

Her next opportunity will come in two weeks during the NHRA Virginia Nationals in Richmond. Worm says that dependant on funding, she and her Leverich crewmates plan to attend up to eight NHRA events this season.

"Our team is all volunteer right now, independently funded with family and friends and race fans," she said. "We're running the RACEFAN Program on the car right now, where fans can text 'RACEFAN' to 555888 and get behind-the-scenes access with videos and pictures of our race team at work.

"We want to take fan interaction to a new level," Worm explained. "We want fans to see how we do it, from working on the car during the week, to traveling to the race and setting up in the pits, all the way 'til we put the car back in the trailer. There's a lot going on during the day and we want to give race fans a glimpse of what it is that drivers, crew chiefs, and crew have to deal with.

"The ultimate goal, though, is to get a sponsor onboard and be able to run the full season and go for race wins and a championship," she concluded.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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