Mia Schultz’s Top Junior Dragster Championship Makes 10th Overall

PITTSBORO, N.C. (November 17, 2016): Winning comes easy to 14 year old Mia Schultz. Every track or series championship won, she won in her first year competing for the title. That was until she got to the PDRA. In the series’ inaugural season she finished a very respectable fourth. Last year, she battled hard and finished second. Her determination never wavered, however, and in her third shot at a PDRA World Championship, she succeeded.

This was Mia’s transition year, the only year in which she would qualify to run both Top and Pro Junior Dragster. She took full advantage, not only running both classes, but winning national events in both.

There were both advantages and disadvantages to competing in the two categories, she admits: “It was pretty difficult switching from pro tree to full tree constantly, but I got the hang of it. I think it helped me [having more seat time]. I was getting better in whatever class I had more seat time in and I didn’t have to worry as much.”

She earned her first victory in Talbert Pro Junior Dragster at the second to last race of the year. She counts her PJD Sunshine State Shootout as a major highlight of the 2016 season, second only to scoring the MegaCorp Top Junior Dragster Championship. She also finished top three in PJD, a highly impressive feat for the ninth grader.
 
 
The TJD Championship came down to the final race. Arellyn Garner-Jones had won back-to-back races leading up the World Finals and was putting the pressure on Schultz. Still, Schultz had the lead and, thus, the advantage. A first round exit for Garner-Jones at the World Finals put all doubts to rest. Schultz’s hard work and dedication had paid off.

“This has definitely been my hardest championship to win,” she confessed. “The other race championships that I won, I won my first year trying. I want to thank Schultz Performance, Huddleston Performance, Baumback Plumbing, Team 14, Sandblast America, JEGS, Simpson, Illusions Paint, Illusions Wrap, Thornton Motorsports, Pit Posse, Nasty Boys Fabrication, PDRA owners and staff, my family, and God.”

Mia won’t be defending her TJD title next year, as she’s aged out of the class. She’ll be devoting her time to Pro Junior Dragster and running outlaw juniors on her off weekends, pursuing an 11th championship.


Photo: Gary Rowe / PDRA660.com / RaceWorks.com
 
ABOUT THE PDRA
Based in Pittsboro, North Carolina, the Professional Drag Racers Association is the top sanctioning body in the United States for the sport of eighth-mile drag racing. The PDRA’s professional categories include Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous, Pro Boost, and Pro Extreme Motorcycle along with Top Sportsman, Top Dragster, Pro Jr. Dragster, and Top Jr. Dragster. The 2016 PDRA schedule consists of nine national events. For more on the world’s premier eighth mile drag racing organization visit www.pdra660.com.
Follow the PDRA: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube.

PRESS CONTACT: Lisa Collier
Professional Drag Racers Association
lisa@pdra660.com
704.692.4636