NHRA Today: Sportsman racing ace Mia Tedesco

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 27) - NHRA reporter Lewis Bloom welcomes NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series racer Mia Tedesco to the Wally Parks NHRA Studio via Skype.

Tedesco, who will be racing in the Lucas Oil Series event at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway following the NHRA Toyota Nationals in Super Gas as well as the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, has been successful this season in both Top Alcohol Dragster and Super Gas. She currently leads the Super Gas points and is in the top 10 in Top Alcohol Dragster. Tedesco talks about what it is like driving two completely different race cars and how she got her start in drag racing.

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Sportsman star Mia Tedesco stays sharp by staying in shape

REYNOLDS, Ga. (Oct. 13) - As Sportsman racer Mia Tedesco prepares to race in this weekend's Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event at Silver Dollar Raceway, she can be confident her body and mind are in the right shape to compete.

Tedesco, the 22-year-old emerging NHRA star, includes a physical fitness routine as part of her preparation for drag racing. Not only do her workouts help her stay fit physically, they keep her mind sharp, too, as she races the CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Gas Chevrolet Cavalier and CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Comp dragster.

"I like being in shape and fit, especially for racing," Tedesco said. "I can see a big difference, the way I'm feeling, the way I can react, the way my mind works. If I take a few weeks off and then get back in the gym, that next week I'm thinking more clearly and everything is flowing a lot more. I definitely think fitness is a big part of success in this sport."

Tedesco trains as often as she can at the Tedesco Body Shop gymnasium in Murraysville, Pa., which happens to be owned and operated by her sister Natalie Tedesco.

"It's a really cool multi-functional gym," Tedesco said. "There's weights, a bunch of stuff outside, boxing. When we go, we're not necessarily just lifting weights. We might run one day, we might push a sled the next, we might box. There is a bunch of cool stuff we get into and the variety keeps it interesting."

Tedesco doesn't stick to a set routine, mainly because she simply can't. During the busy racing season, Tedesco is often gone from home more than she's there, and when she's at the race track, she's can be there for many hours at a time.

"I don't exactly have a work-out routine because it gets tough when I'm racing," Tedesco said. "After Reading, I had all that week and most of this week to go to the gym and work out and get into a rhythm, doing different body parts on different days, so there are times I can get a schedule going, but then we turn around and head out for three weeks. You have to do the best you can."

After racing this weekend, Tedesco returns home late Sunday but flies out again Wednesday. That's a typical turnaround between events.

"I'll have two days at home to get caught up," Tedesco said. "I try to get caught up on sleep also so I can be rested and relaxed. The fitness stuff will be harder to do in two days, but my sister has given me other ways to stay fit and I follow that program when I'm on the road."

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Mia Tedesco races to TAD semifinals at rain-plagued Reading national event

READING, Pa. (Oct. 3) -- A long, rain-plagued weekend turned into a frantic 24 hours of racing for Sportsman star Mia Tedesco.

After poor weather pushed the start of many Sportsman activities at the Dodge NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway to early Sunday, the race was concluded with quick turnarounds Monday. Tedesco raced to the semifinals with her CARS Protection Plus/Schepel Motors/NGK/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster and also drove her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Gas Chevrolet Cavalier to the third round.

"We kind of expected it to be the same as last year," Tedesco said of the rain delays. "We made the best of it and had a really good time last year. (Tedesco Racing teammate) Jason (Lynch) won Super Gas, and I runner-upped in Alcohol, so we were pretty confident coming in. We really like the track.

"We kind of expected a Monday finish, and that didn't bother us at all. It was a long weekend, sitting around, waiting, maybe going to get a run."

Tedesco didn't make her first pass in TAD until Sunday morning for qualifying. She then won her first round of eliminations Sunday afternoon over Karen Stalba and advanced to the semifinals after Tom Fox Jr. was a no-show for their second-round matchup later that night.

Monday morning Tedesco battled Chris Demke in the semifinals in what was a thrilling race. Both drivers left with nearly identical reaction times and then made nearly equal runs.

"When we did get to make a run, our cars ran well," Tedesco said. "We got lucky in the Alcohol car because I had to pedal every round, except the round I lost, and that one was a good race: I was .032 (on the Tree) and ran 5.28, and he was .029 and ran 5.27, so you can't really hang your head about that. It was a good, solid run, and we just came up a little short."

Super Gas, meanwhile, didn't start until late Sunday with one round of qualifying. Eliminations began Monday morning, when Tedesco ran dead on the 9.90 index with a first-round pass of 9.900 after a .004-second reaction time.

Tedesco ran unopposed in the second round, though she still had a terrific package of a .007 light and a 9.907-second pass. In the third round, Tedesco fell to Dale Koncen, whose package of .029-second was slightly better than her .050 effort.

Monday's eliminations were run quickly, with drivers getting back to the staging lanes after making a run in the previous round.

"Those races are fun, and I'm used to running around like that," Tedesco said. "It makes the racing a lot tighter because nothing really changed (between runs). Everybody knows where the 9.90 is at. It's going to be good, tight racing when the runs are that fast back-to-back. I liked it a lot."

Tedesco will next race at the Division 2 race on Oct. 14-16 at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, Ga.

Mia Tedesco raced to the semifinals with her CARS Protection Plus/Schepel Motors/NGK/Lucas Oil Top Alcohol Dragster and the third round of Super Gas with her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Chevrolet Cavalier in Reading.

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