Bell Family Racing & Amber Bell Have Stellar Junior Dragster Race Season at Maple Grove Raceway
- Jan 21, 2011
Back in 2003 Heather and Allison watched the Disney movie titled "Right on Track" it's a true story about two drag racing sisters, and life has been imitating art ever since. Rick figures the family spends roughly 22 weeks a year on the road living the dream. Over the years the two sisters have collected enough wins and storied racing material to back their own movie, and in 2010 the Bell Family Racing Team plot thickened just a tad. "This year had a couple of really important events," said Rick "it was Amber's first year of junior drag racing and it was Allison's last year of junior drag racing." "Heather raced our normal points season, as well as several special events [at Maple Grove Raceway] with the front engine dragster (Geezers at the Grove in two different classes).
Allison had another amazing year too, as she had several runner-up and semi-final finishes in their regular points season, finishing the season sixth overall. She was able to represent the family's home track (Maple Grove Raceway in Mohnton, Pennsylvania) at the Eastern Conference Finals in Bristol, Tennessee. Allison's efforts helped her team to win their record setting fourth National Championship. This is the second time she was part of that championship team (she and Heather were both part of the 2008 championship team).
"She was also closest to her dial-in for her age group in the first round of eliminations and won a special award," adds a justifiably proud dad. "The following weekend she raced the North East Division race and took second place. Her finish there also pushed her team to within three points of a divisional team championship." In October of last year Allison went on to win her first IHRA Iron Man. She won her age group and the overall championship at Maple Grove Raceway. She wrapped up her Junior Drag Racing career with two NHRA Wally Trophies and an IHRA Iron Man, in addition to all of her regular trophies.
"Amber's first year of racing hints that she is following in the footsteps of her winning sisters," observed Rick. "It didn't take her long to win a couple of rounds and her first trophy. This is quite an accomplishment at her age, racing against all age groups at our track. By the end of the season she was doing quite well. She went to the finals taking second place at the Pennsylvania State Junior Dragster Championships at Maple Grove Raceway. The last three races of the year, she was top qualifier. She even had a perfect reaction time which earned her a first round bye run." Another exciting turn of events for the Bell Family team in 2010 came when they were approached by Barcroft Media. Since working with them there have been numerous online articles about the racing family and Amber was just featured in the January 17th issue of "In Touch Weekly Magazine." Barcroft Media also shot a good bit of footage for possible television use. "You may be seeing us a lot in the future," adds Rick. "Our team is definitely evolving." "We just recently added a 1968 Camaro to our racing line up. Over the next few weeks, we will be freshening motors and getting everything ready for our season which will probably start mid April. We also plan to attend a couple of car shows including Motorama (February 19th and 20th in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania). We are proud to run K&N products on all of our race cars." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
