From NW Motorsports News Services
AIRWAY HEIGHTS — Spokane’s Jessica Juel answered the public address announcers request that she report to the tower during last week’s Northwest Classic bracket drag race at Qlispe Raceway on Sept. 11.
Juel’s certainly glad she heard the call and is now $20,000 richer because of it.
Mind you Juel was not the recipient of such a cash prize from the Northern Quest Casino near the track. She had to work all of about 30 seconds to claim the winnings driving six rounds on the drag strip’s eighth-mile to win the “Top Bulb 64” race.
Talking on Sept. 14 with a scratchy voice reminiscent of someone with a cold, “There’s been some celebration to be had here in the last few days,” Juel said.
The race was initially and previously filled with 64 entrants with $20K to win and $4,000 to the runner-up. But not everyone showed and Juel’s reaction was “I said yes, of course.”
“They asked if I wanted to get into the show as an alternate,” Juel explained. She rolled the dice and would pony up $550 entry money and it paid off as she reached the final against Canadian Dwane Ringguth.
Juel laid down a winning final of 4.57 seconds at 147.88 mph, sporting a .017 reaction time. Ringguth clocked a 4.600 at 151.47 after a .019 starting line reaction.
From a money standpoint the win is by far the biggest in a long career that started with Juel riding a Hot Wheel trike as a kid. At age 16 she hopped into her dad Don’s rear-engine dragster and “I never got out.”
Juel does, however, cite a win at a National Hot Rod Association race earlier this year in Mission, British Columbia as her biggest and most memorable.