Tedesco, only 22-years-old, already had been crowned the first female to win the ultra-competitive Super Gas world championship in her CARS Protection Plus/VP Racing Fuels Super Gas Chevrolet Cavalier, so the accompanying hardware she took home from Indy showed further proof the ever-humble native of Pittsburgh is one of the brightest young straight-line stars.
Those accomplishments by themselves are enough to be the envy of any racer, but Tedesco also was crowned as the Super Eliminator Driver of the Year, which encompasses Super Gas, Super Comp, Super Stock, and Stock classes, and she was awarded the highly-coveted Person of the Year hardware in front of a large crowd of her peers, family and friends.
"Getting the Person of the Year award was very cool," Tedesco said. "I wasn't expecting it so I was surprised and also very honored to win."
Fans of country music, like Tedesco, known as "Miss Mia" to her fans and friends, can liken winning the Person of the Year to winning the genre's Entertainer of the Year - It's the most prestigious award available.
"We had a big group of us there," Tedesco said. "It was nice to be able to win and to be able to share it with my family and crew members; none of it happens without their love, support and hard work.
"It's great to look back on the season now and see everything we accomplished, but you're not really thinking about it at the time. You just want to race one round at a time and hope it works out. It worked out pretty well for us this year."
Tedesco's extraordinary 2016 season was highlighted with Super Gas wins in Chicago, where she won the divisional race on June 5 and returned a month later to capture the national event victory on July 10.
She earned an eighth place finish in the national points in Top Alcohol Dragster, with three regional victories in Gainesville, Fla., St. Louis and Columbus, Ohio.
