Susan Collins, a driver competing in the high-risk drag racing, describes this sport by saying: "It feels like being shot out of a cannon." She has been the European champion in the "Top Fuel" competitions twice; a discipline recognized as the fastest sport on earth.
Unbelievable Acceleration
The races begin with the thunderous roar of the cars; vehicles that reach speeds of over 483 kilometers per hour. The gravitational force that drivers endure during this time is greater than the force experienced by astronauts during launch into space. This is the only high-level category of motorsport where women regularly defeat men and earn significant titles.
Women have become champions in seven of the last nine European Championship events. Until recently, Brittany Force, an American driver, held the world speed record in this discipline. In comparison, it has been 50 years since a woman participated in a Formula One Grand Prix.
Women's Leadership in Drag Racing
According to the group "More Than Equality," women make up about 10 percent of participants in motorsport disciplines and only four percent of high-level drivers in these fields. However, in this season's Top Fuel competitions in America and Europe, the share of women among participating drivers reached 20 percent. The group "More Than Equality" considers this discipline to be "the most gender-equal motorsport in the world."
The races are held on a straight track only 305 meters long, and a strong gravitational force is exerted on drivers in the first second. Collins, a 43-year-old Swedish driver, says that the adrenaline rush from this sport is "very addictive" and concerns about the dangers "are always present" but "safety measures are really effective."
In September, at the Santa Pod drag strip near Northampton, Collins became the European champion in Top Fuel for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, Brittany Force won the American championships in 2017 and 2022. Fern Langstaff, Chief Innovation Officer of the "More Than Equality" group, says that witnessing the competition and victory of women in this sport has "become normal" and is no longer considered an exceptional event.
Collins also points out that she has never felt that her abilities were underestimated because she is a woman. This contrasts with the experiences of women who want to enter Formula One, where greater challenges await them.
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