 Aspen
Paschall
NHRA Divisional
Racer
As a young girl
Aspen enjoyed going to the races with her
father, Max, and sister, Jennifer. "Going
to the drag races a couple times a year was
something we did as a family that I really
looked forward to. Jennifer and I never could
sleep the night before and we would sit up and
talk about all the sights, sounds and smells
that we were going to see the next day."
Unlike Jennifer, Aspen wasn't as interested in
the way the cars operated. She was just
interested in the result: "SPEED".
"I just couldn't believe how fast the top
fuel cars were, and when they would reach a
speed that I thought couldn't be topped, then
they would just go faster. I just kept thinking
what a rush it would be to go from 0 to 300mph
in less than 5 seconds."
At the age of 17,
Aspen, along with Jennifer, assisted Max in some
SCCA sportscar racing. Although they were just
helping some friends race their cars, it was
there that they started to learn to work as a
team. During this time Aspen was featured on 8
Country Reporters Generation X while assisting
her friends in the SCCA
 Spec
Racer Ford Series. It was during this interview
that she dropped the bomb on Max and stated that
she wanted to drive a top fuel dragster for a
living. "Racing is like a drug, I am
addicted to the speed, and I don't ever want to
find the cure."
Giving herself some
time to think about her future, Aspen went off
to college for a year. "I was at that point
where I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do
with my life, but the one thing I did know is
that I still wanted to go racing." Upon her
return from school, for the summer, she told Max
that she had made the decision not to return in
the fall and that she just wanted to go drag
racing. That decision started the ball rolling
towards what is now Family Style Racing. Max was
thrilled, and after some discussion they decided
to start out in Super Comp to allow Aspen and
her family time to develop their skills. Max
found an older model super comp dragster, ready
to race, and the price was right so he bought it
and they were on their way.
The next step was
sending Aspen to driving school. Many of the
racers on the track today have taught themselves
how to drive just by getting on the track and
running. Aspen, however, wanted some formal
training from someone who knew what they were
doing. In the spring of 1998, Aspen flew to
Pomona, California to attend Frank Hawley's Drag
Racing School. With Jennifer in tow, Aspen went
through several days of intense training.
"When I saw the look on her face after her
first short pass in that car I just knew that
she was hooked and would do what ever it took to
be the best"- Jennifer. Showing a lot of
determination and talent, not unlike her idol
Shirley Muldowney, Aspen believes that she can
and will be a champion some day.
Having competed
for two years now and going through all the
highs and lows of being the new kid on the
track, Aspen is more comfortable with her
abilities and that of her team. "We have
gone through our share of problems, both with
the car and me, but I really think that we are
going to be a force to recon with this year and
I can't wait to get started."
Aspen Paschall is the July 2001 Driver of the Month in
Distant Thunder,
the online newsletter of Thunder Valley Racing. Thunder Valley creates opportunities for women race car drivers
and their fans. This article is re-printed with permission.
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