At the outset of the 2015 season, Mia Tedesco’s well-documented goals for her first full season of NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster competition included a national event victory and a top ten finish in the national points chase.  She checked off the national event triumph in Charlotte back in the spring, earning the first NHRA national event trophy of her already accomplished driving career.  The second leg of her goal, finishing in the national top ten, is almost a foregone conclusion as Tedesco and the Hirata Motorsports team she drives for find themselves near the top of the national rankings and in competition for a regional and possibly even a national championship in 2015.

“It’s been very successful,” Tedesco said of her team’s A/Fuel campaign to date.  “We knew coming into the season that we could be really fast when everything came together.  As the year has gone on, I think we’ve made great strides in terms of consistency.  We’re not just a team that can rattle the earth once a weekend; we’ve made solid, consistent runs for the most part.  When you do that every round, it adds up.”

In the process of getting consistent, the C.A.R.S. Protection Plus / WeFindParts.com team doesn’t appear to have sacrificed performance.  At the Central Region event in Chicago, IL (which was actually finished in Norwalk, OH due to weather), Tedesco and her team ran the table with a dominating wire-to-wire performance; qualifying atop the field, and then posting consecutive 5.3-second elapsed times throughout the event.  The performance culminated with a final round defeat of reigning NHRA national champion and current points leader Chris Demke. 

Tedesco followed up that performance with a semifinal finish at the NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals in Norwalk, where she was once again the number one qualifier.  That brought the team back to Chicago, for the NHRA Lucas Oil Route 66 Nationals.  There, for the third consecutive event, Tedesco qualified the Hirata Motorsports machine on the pole with a strong 5.259 ET.  She advanced through eliminations to a final round rematch alongside Demke, only to fall short. Tedesco posted a competitive 5.37 ET, but trailed the 5.32 of the defending champ.

“We knew Chicago would be a tough race,” said Tedesco. “In addition to the national event, Route 66 also hosts the JEGS All-Stars, so obviously all of the top competitors from across the country converge on that race.  We really embraced the challenge.  To qualify atop that field and advance to the final round is a feat in itself.  My hat’s off to our entire team:    Josh, Kenny, Dave Hirata, Grayson, Chiyo, Molly, LouLou, Jason and Krusty.  They make me look good, and they do a great job.”

Following her recent performances, Tedesco finds herself at the top of the North Central Division standings in Top Alcohol Dragster, and ranked third in the national points chase trailing only Demke and Joey Severance.  She will be back on the track this weekend, competing in the NHRA Central Region event in Columbus, OH.