Local drag racer at the top of her game

Emma Pinylo recently competed in the World Drag Racing Alliance championship in Montgomery, Alabama in October. Although she didn’t win there, the Elgin County resident did win two events in Ontario. Her father Lee is a mechanic at My Motors in Tillsonburg. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Area drag racer Emma Pinylo just returned from the world championships in Alabama after a season of wins in Ontario.

Emma, 17, has been driving alcohol-fueled dragsters since she was four years old. She takes after her father, Lee, who is a mechanic at My Motors in Tillsonburg and built the motor in her car.

The races put two cars side by side on a one-eighth-mile straight track.

“You’re dialing in and guessing what you’re going to run,” Emma said. “The person who is closest to their dial wins.”

For instance, Emma may dial in 7.50 seconds for the time it will take her to run the course. Typically, she hits 86 miles per hour in that distance.

The races are in St. Thomas, Grand Bend, Toronto, and in the United States. Winning the track championship in the junior division in Grand Bend and St. Thomas this season, Emma qualified to compete in the World Drag Racing Alliance championship in Montgomery, Alabama.

Although she has been racing for 13 years, everything started to come together this year, and she began to win. Asked about the secret to her success, Emma said it was practice and a good teacher, which she credited to her father. Lee raced since he was 16 and also qualified for the worlds, although Emma said classification was different then.

Lee recounted how his daughter started racing, saying, “I would take her with me to entertain her, to give her something to do while I was racing. It didn’t turn out that way, it turned out the opposite.”

At the world's, Emma raced three races, winning the first race, but not the following two.

“It was a tough, tough race for sure,” Lee said. “It was a great experience.”

This will be Emma's last year racing in the junior category. Turning 18 next year, she will race in full-size cars. This will mean she will be driving the Camaro her father turned into a drag car, and the same one he drives.