BRADENTON, Fla. - Don’t let the freckle face fool you. Victoria Beaner will take you down on a race track.
Doubt it? This nine year old is ready to prove you wrong.
Just ask her about drag racing and you get a math lesson.
“Right now I’m in my 11.91 but in November when I turn 10, I change over,” she said.
A lot of this sport comes down to numbers. How about these numbers? When Victoria makes it the finals of a race, she wins 80 percent of the time.
“When we do get down for those losses, we pick ourselves up pretty quickly, don’t we?” her mother Lisa Beaner said. “Because we know tomorrow’s another day.”
Even when she loses, she wins. She’s winning by drawing attention to a sport traditionally run by boys. But with each race, Victoria sends a message that girls can do this too.
The racetrack feels like home to Victoria. Maybe that’s because this is a family affair. Mom. Lisa, and Dad, Darin, help keep the wheels spinning. Her dad, sort of a mad scientist, has a lab set up to break down all aspects of a race. He does it because he sees what his daughter gets out of drag racing.
“The confidence and the learning lessons, thats the biggest thing that she is taking away,” Darin Beaner said. “There is one winner and one loser, take lessons away from you loss and enjoy your wins.”
Victoria must wait seven more years before she can legally get a driver’s license. But that hasn’t stopped her from learning everything she can about cars. This pint size racer can change the oil. She can break down a motor. And she can go on and on about her newest dragster.
“I like the design of it, how it’s graffitied and how it’s rustic and one of the most things I like about my new one, is on the powder coating, it’s smooth,” Victoria said.
But of course, the most important thing…
“It’s much cooler than my other one,” she said, “and it goes a lot faster.”