From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

SAMANTHA NEILD

National Hot Rod Association Junior Drag Racer

April 20 2005

To Samantha Neild, the 8.2 seconds it takes to race down the track is much more than a blur. It's so much more than the streak of black metal and blond hair the spectators in the stands witness. Neild can break it down in slow-motion, from the rattle of the Blockzilla engine through the burnout to the screaming wheels of her competitor. "When to pull even, when to close it," she says matter-of-factly.

Neild, 15, is one of the top competitors in the National Hot Rod Association's Junior Drag Racing League. Running a half-scale, alcohol-burning dragster on the regulation eighth-mile straightaway, she has been involved in race challenges in Bradenton, Orlando and Gainesville. But it's at Moroso Motorsports Park in Palm Beach Gardens where she earns her NHRA points.

At Moroso, Neild and her Blonde Ambition race team have attracted so much attention that companies such as the online retailer Totalracebabe.com are trying to capitalize on her image potential, even getting her to do some modeling. "But that's not for me," she says honestly. She knows she has to play the game to attract sponsors, but she's far-removed from Babeland. "I've never been a Barbie chick."

Neild grew up in Jensen Beach, where her mother, Karen Kinsley, would take her to Moroso every weekend. Her stepfather, accomplished racer and mechanic Frank Kinsley, eventually asked Neild if she'd be interested in racing.

She was, and soon, she was mastering the track and annihilating the competition. In her third season at Moroso, Neild is being groomed to step up to a full-size dragster. She even got to meet her idol, Shirley Muldowney, a three-time NHRA champ and subject of the film Heart Like a Wheel.

These days, women and girls make up about 25 percent of the league. "And I like kicking guys' butts," Neild admits.

She knows people may think she's too young to choose a career path, but when one path is blacktopped, scarred by flames and tattooed with melted rubber, making a decision is easy. "This is what I want to do," she says.

Many drivers in her league don't go near the mechanical side of the sport, but Neild is a rarity in that she doesn't hesitate to get involved with tearing down an engine. She has also been known to dance in the pits after a win, something else few drivers will do.

When her teachers at school found out she's a dragster pilot, she says their initial reaction was, "Oh, really, we would have never guessed; you're so quiet," as if she should be as loud as the open pipes of a fuel burner.

"It's cool, being known for doing something different," Neild says. "But now, when there's a question about motors, the science teacher always calls on me."

-- T.M. Shine