Drag Illustrated Issue 151, December 2019 | Page 35

Special Section
to eventually go into occupational
therapy. It’s a career Messer is pas-
sionate about, one she hopes to pair
with a continuous racing career.
“It doesn’t really tie into drag racing,
but my main thing with going to
school and getting a job is to help
others,” Messer says. “The only
reason I want to be an OT is to help
children with disabilities and just
make their lives better.”
Looking ahead at 2020, Messer is set
to defend her world championship.
She’ll stick with her current combina-
tion for the most part, though she
plans to hook up her car’s new
Switzer Dynamics nitrous system.
“Competition is always tough with
Top Dragster,” Messer says. “We were
just taking it round by round. I just
kept my cool. My car rolled [in the
final round] and I didn’t think I was
going to have it. I raced my raced,
though, and I kept cool. I did a little
driving on the top end and somehow
my win light came on. It was a great
time for all of us. That was my first
win in a big car, and for it to be PDRA,
it meant so much more.” The other constant will be Messer’s
mindset and passion for going to the
races to have fun and make memo-
ries with family and friends in the
PDRA series.
Messer then went to her second con-
secutive final round – and third of the
season – at the Northern Nationals.
She didn’t win that final, though the
loss didn’t sting as bad, as she lost to
her boyfriend, Noah Johnson. A number of supporters helped Messer
make the move up to Top Dragster,
including Lucas Oil, which signed on
during Messer’s final Jr. Dragster
season; Les Trafford, a family friend
and New York-based Sea Tow captain;
as well as Sullivan’s Towing and Smith-
field’s Chicken ‘N Bar-B-Q.
“Honestly, we both went into the
finals just happy that our cars were
in the finals,” Messer says. “It’s hard
to do that. As I was growing up in
Jr. Dragsters, my dad tried so hard
to get both of our cars, mine and my
sister’s, in the finals and it just never
happened. We were both ecstatic
and it didn’t throw off our game or
anything. We were both going out
there to do the same thing, and that
was to win.”
The string of success padded Mess-
er’s points lead going into the final
“I don’t know of another organiza-
tion I’d want to race with,” she says.
“They just are overall great people
and I’m just so honored and thankful
that I’m able to run with them. They
continue to provide for us racers.”
few races of the season, but it also
served as an affirmation that she
was on the right track. presented by ProLine Racing and
$hameless Racing at Virginia Motor-
sports left to run.
“For us to make it to the finals, a win
and a runner-up, it made it a lot
more special to us, knowing that if
we strive for something like that, we
can accomplish it,” Messer says. Messer was declared the 2019
Lucas Oil Top Dragster 32 world
champion at Darlington, allowing
her to enjoy the World Finals
without a bit of pressure.
Messer’s championship challenger,
Steven Boone, went one round
further than her at the penultimate
race, the Fall Nationals presented by
$hameless Racing at Darlington
Dragway, but Messer’s lead was big
enough that Boone was out of
rounds to pass her, even with the
Brian Olson Memorial World Finals “When we finally knew that we
secured it, it was so hard to believe,”
Messer recalls. “It didn’t hit me until
we were at the World Finals and I
was like, ‘Wow, I’m a champion.’”
Outside of racing, Messer is studying
recreational therapy at the Univer-
sity of North Carolina Wilmington
But most of all, Messer’s most influ-
ential supporter is her father.
“He’s been my supporter, my rock,
my best friend, and he just continues
to sacrifice everything for me and
my racing,” Messer says. “He’s a
world champion as well. He won a
world championship in mud racing.
Just to be able to share that title
with him means a lot, knowing that
I’m working and growing and trying
to be more like him.”
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