Full Throttle

… is a racer that started their career at the age of 13.

Jesica Matzdorf always wanted to drive the family car down the long driveway at her family’s home in Grand Rapids, but her father, Bill, wouldn’t let her until she got her driver’s license.

But Jesica Matzdorf didn’t want to wait until she was 16. She wanted to drive now, so three years ago Jesica and Bill Matzdorf came up with a compromise: She could race in the pure stock classes at Grand Rapids Speedway and Hibbing Raceway.

With parental permission, the pure stock entry-level classes allow drivers to start racing before they have a regular driver’s license. It was the perfect fit for Jesica Matzdorf. After some trial and error, the 17-year-old has established herself as a driver who can not only compete against the boys, but one who can beat them.

“I’ve had my share of ups and downs,” Matzdorf said. “The very first lap I had the car out on the track I spun out, and last year I rolled the car over, but I think I’ve established myself as just another driver. At first, it was like, ‘She’s just a little girl. We better not hit her.’ But then when I started beating them, they didn’t like that.”

Now in her fourth season, Matzdorf was off to her best start in the pure stock class before going to France earlier this month as part of her French class. Prior to the trip, she was first in points at Hibbing and was close to cracking the top 10 at Grand Rapids.

“The other drivers race Jesica just as hard as they race the rest of the guys — if not harder,” said Hibbing Raceway president Bill Engelstad. “But to Jesica’s credit, she isn’t afraid to rub doors with them, that’s for sure.”

Part of Matzdorf’s success is that rather than switch cars every year, she is continuing to race with the 1987 Monte Carlo she drove last year. Her familiarity with the car has helped her on the track.

Matzdorf has won several heat races, but has yet to win a feature.

“I had raced for 30-plus years, and when I sold my car a few years ago, it was a good time to let Jesica start racing,” Bill Matzdorf said. “When she wanted to start racing, I couldn’t really tell her no after I had made her come with me all those years.

“The other drivers used to think it was pretty fun to race against her. They always waited for her to make a mistake, but it doesn’t happy any more.”

Jesica Matzdorf gets help on her car from her father, as well as super stock driver Chad Finckbone and friend Kevin Nix. Racing is very much a team sport, but she enjoys the individual aspect of it.

“I get a real adrenaline rush from racing,” Jesica Matzdorf said. “When you’re on the track, it’s just you and your car. If you mess up, it’s your fault. But if you win, it’s you who won.”

Jesica Matzdorf is a girl on the go away from the track as well. She was working 60 hours a week at Hardee’s and Ruttger’s Resort earlier this summer before scaling back.

And she also isn’t your stereotypical grease-under-the-nails gearhead. While she helps with nearly everything on her race car, from turning wrenches to changing motors, the senior-to-be has a 4.0 grade-point average at Grand Rapids High School. She is also taking college courses as part of a post-secondary studies program through Itasca Community College.

Matzdorf said racing gives her an opportunity to meet new people. She plans on going to college after she graduates, but expects racing to still be a part of her summers.

“Over the years I’ve met a lot of people at the race track who I really enjoy,” Matzdorf said. “It’s a whole different bunch of people at the track, and you might not all get along, but the majority of you do. If I try to talk with people from school about racing, especially the girls, they don’t really know what I’m talking about. But at the track, we all talk about the same things. It’s nice to have that.”

That’s not to say Matzdorf’s friends from school haven’t become racing fans. Matzdorf recently had team racing shirts made, and now they’re in short supply. Several of her friends go to her races.

“My friends just think it’s cool that a girl is racing. People get a kick out of it,” Matzdorf said. “People will come up to me and say, ‘We’re your biggest fans. We love watching you race.’ I’ve never thought of myself as a popular person out there, but I have a lot of people come up to me — whether at work or at the grocery story — and they’ll ask me how the car is running. It’s pretty neat.”