Yvette Gregg became the first woman to receive the Perth Motorplex Drag Racer of the Year Award recently, with the Super Sedan driver left speechless by the honour.
Gregg said she was overwhelmed to take the title, but was quick to acknowledge it had been a team effort.
“Having a good car makes it a lot easier to focus on your driving and my partner Aaron has built and set up a great car,” she said.
Well, make that two great cars. Gregg changed mid season between her two Superoo Falcon Spares-supported Ford Falcons, one an XE-model with street car roots while the other is a purpose built BA-model with an SCM Race Engines motor up front.
While it could be seen as a mental challenge, Gregg believes it had the opposite effect and made her more aware of her driving and what she was doing during the course of a run in each car. v“I think going between the two cars was a good thing, being in the newer car made me drive the other car better,” she said.
“The BA is very difficult to drive, it is almost 500kg lighter and it has more horsepower. It can be very unforgiving. I think I have learned more about driving over the short time being in that car than the previous ten years.”
The XE harks back to where Gregg began her racing, by taking her street car to a Wednesday night event back in 2002.
“It was never driven on the road, just parked in the shed. Aaron turned around and said because I wasn’t driving it he wanted to sell it. Instead we went down for a Wednesday night to try it out – I had one pass and I was hooked.”
Following a season Gregg described as the biggest highlight of her racing career, her plan is to consolidate with a better-sorted race car ready to back up the title come October.
“Mechanically there has not been an issue (with the BA Falcon), but every time I get in it, it likes to put me in my place. We will try and sort it out so we are 100% happy with it.”
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