While some people outside the drag racing world may never have heard of Kelly Bettes, since becoming the quickest and fastest women in Australia, they sure do now! The Bettes name has a long history in the sport of drag racing with Mum Jenny and Dad Steve involved in admin and management, while brother Scott and Kelly started racing in Junior Dragsters.
Kelly Bettes and the Lamattina Top Fuel team have just come off a successful appearance at Darwin’s Nitro Up North event, recording a new PB of 4.58 seconds.
This weekend the team are heading to Alice Springs for more firsts – first Top Fuel dragster at the track, and no doubt ready to smash the existing 1/4 mile track record of 6.15 seconds out the park!
We asked Kelly to give us a little history
“Well, firstly I didn’t exactly go straight from Junior Dragster to Top Fuel!
“In between, I drove my Modified dragster for many years and then was lucky enough to drive the Jett Racing Turbo Datsun 1200 ute.
“Having the experience of these cars prior to stepping into the Fuel car has been a great thing!
“They, along with Junior Dragster has taught me all things about racing. Reaction times, speed, tyre shake, wheel spin, a car moving around and when to lift!
One of the major things the JR Ute taught me was how to adapt to any situation, and to be comfortable and calm!” said Bettes.
“Certainly, knowing where I came from in Junior Dragster as a kid, to now stepping in to what are the king of the sport is an absolute dream come true!”
Besides the racing element, Kelly also knows the true support comes from her family.
“My biggest supporters would be my family, they have always been there for all of my racing,” said Bettes. Mum and Dad are the reason my brother and I were able to grow and develop in the sport!
“I also have a wonderful group of friends who support me and are quite often at the track for every race event! The Jett Racing team who I currently still drive the ute for are also a great support network and continue to push me in support for success in the sport!
“My advice to the Junior Dragster racers of today would be to make the most of your time driving in the category! While you are there to have fun, also take the racing side seriously and start to develop your racing abilities for your next step! “Stay humble when winning and learn from your losses! You can’t get better if you don’t learn from your mistakes.
AND never give up on your dream!!
“At this weekend’s Desert Nationals, I hope to put on a show for the crowd, achieve great results for the LTFR team and maybe even break some records! As well as still learning to drive these beasts haha!
“I am really excited for Alice Springs this weekend, myself and the team will be pushing as hard as we can to put some good numbers on the board.
“We saw great potential in the car at Darwin and will be trying to do the same in Alice!
Stay Tuned on – ANDRADragRacing Facebook
Kelly Bettes Racing Lamattina Top Fuel Racing Central Australian Drag Racing Association
www.andra.com.au
DESERT NATIONALS
When: July 29-30, 2017
Where: Alice Springs Inland Dragway
What: The Desert Nationals features Rd 2 of the Summit Racing Equipment Sportsman Series. The Lamattina Top Fuel dragster is set to rock Alice Springs with Australia’s quickest and fastest female – Kelly Bettes behind the wheel. And if that’s not enough, Top Doorslammer will be making spectacular runs over the two days.