It’s not just the drag racing world that Lisa Gregorini’s Scratch & Match Motorsport All-Girl Top Doorslammer team is influencing.
It’s outside the black top on a different quarter mile as well.
Rising Toowoomba USC Queensland Sprintcar Championship lady racer Tarhlea Apelt Racing is an admirer of what the third year Doorslammer racer is achieving and the opportunity to come out and be a part of the team for the huge Gulf Western Oil Pty Ltd Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway next month was too tempting to pass up.
“I know that Sprintcars and Doorslammers are worlds apart,” says Apelt. “But the discipline and the teamwork it takes to succeed in both forms of going fast on a quarter mile has got to be similar. I’ve never stood on the start line or been in a Doorslammer for a fire up and I’m so excited to be part of Lisa’s team at the Winters.”
“There’s a few things that Tarleah and I have in common,” says Lisa. “For one she races with her family team and she’s been racing less than five years. She knows what it’s like to race on a budget and she knows what it’s like to work all week in your real job to chase your dreams on the weekend. The girls and I can’t wait to meet her at the Winters and have her experience what we do first hand.”
Apelt has been around the Sprintcar game her entire life having been born into it with her parents’ passion for the sport in Queensland.
Apelt races sideways on high banked quarter mile Speedways in her 900hp Sprintcar.
Slightly different to a 3500hp Doorslammer on a black top quarter mile!
Now in her fourth year of racing Sprintcars the 24-year old dental nurse has a reputation for turning out a gorgeous race-car and for having a fierce determination to improve her speed and reputation in the ultra competitive Sprintcar industry.
Lisa Gregorini is in her third season racing Doorslammers and has been in the top five Championship wise in both her first two seasons. Her all-girl team has been attracting national headlines and inspiring women to dream big and achieve their own goals in various forms of sport and industry.
“I can tell without even having met Tarleah that she’s a competitive person and I know we’ll have a lot in common. I can’t wait to show her what we do and show the other way people go fast on quarter miles,” Gregorini smiles.
The Australian Top Doorslammer Championship heads to Willowbank Raceway on June 5-7 for the 2026 Gulf Western Oil Winternationals as part of the NDRC – National Drag Racing Championship.
One can only imagine the feels that Tarleah Apelt will experience at her first start line and fire up experience with the Gregorini Camaro “Slammer.”
