Sport: Drag Racing – Modified Dragster | Activity: Race Driver
As a second time in a row Queensland Championship winner, and current holder of the Australian Championship for Modified Drag Racing, Kellie has some humbling advice to us all.
To be the best person and driver you can be, challenge yourself, stay grounded be a humble winner and a gracious loser, accepting you can’t win all the races. Learn from those losses and take each win as a stepping stone towards becoming the Champion you want to be.
Kellie’s first experience of drag racing was at the tender age of only 2years old, watching her dad – Phil Bellert – race at the Willowbank opening meeting. While she was quite happy to be on the sidelines of the racing family, supporting her dad and brother in their racing, Kellie always knew she would also be driving one day. It wasn’t until 2010 that she stepped into her Naturally Aspirated 510ci Big Block Chev, Rear Engine Dragster, doing 9.24 seconds @ 126mph/202kph in her first full-powered pass. Kellie is now regularly beating the others on track with a current Personal Best of 7.45 seconds @ 180mph in the Dial Your Own Modified Dragster category of Drag Racing.
Dial Your Own racing is based on a handicap situation. After your qualifying passes you designate a dial in (a calculated guess, pretty much) on how quick you will do the quarter mile in and try to run spot on that time. If you run quicker than that time it is called a breakout and more often than not you lose the race. Your reaction time also plays a huge part in the race, the closest to a perfect light (.000) the best. The driver with the best race package (best reaction time + closest to their dial in) wins the race. More often than not we are talking about winning or losing a race by 1000ths of a second.
But it’s about so much more than the actual race, it’s also about the atmosphere, the sights, and smells. This is a place where strong friendships are forged and families have their together time, even if it does mean that father and daughter are lined up to race against each other into the finals. With the Kidd/Bellert family currently having 5 cars racing on any given day and with a new junior dragster arriving next season for Kellie’s daughter Jazmin, it just goes to show that this gender and age equal opportunity sport is more about the family, and less about the individual.
“Us as drivers get to collect the trophies and the awards but the crew (our friends and family) that work on our team deserve the spotlight as well. We can not do this without them.”
Kellie has the ultimate dream of using her sharp Modified tree skills to go racing in a Pro Alcohol Dragster, and wouldn’t mind “having a crack” at Pro Mod as they become more popular in Australia. In the meantime, we will be watching out for Kellie in her dragster, her son Alex and daughter Jazmin in their juniors, as well as dad (Phil) and brother (Tony) on the Willowbank Raceway and Sydney Dragway.
While Kellie would like to thank the support of all her family and friends, her sponsor TBRE Performance Toowoomba for building a super reliable and super consistent engine, and an extra special thank you must go out to her husband Steve, who is by her side for all the ups and downs.
Bellert Racing: https://www.facebook.com/BellertRacing/
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