Doing 80 in 7 Seconds

Fifteen-year-old Leah Smith will compete in the 5K Junior Shootout at Holly Springs Motorsports March 25-27.

Smith, the daughter of Gregg and Christy Smith of Hornsby, began racing in 2016 but didn’t run a full schedule until 2019. During that time, she has posted 12 wins and 11 runner-up finishes, including an IHRA Ironman Classic win. She was the 2019 IHRA Holly Springs J/D Track Champion and made the 2019 Drag Champ Top 30 nationwide list. In addition, she has competed at the IHRA Team Finals for three years and represented Team Holly Spring J/D at the IHRA World Finals last October.

Her love of racing is a family affair following in the footsteps of her grandfather, Russell DeBerry, and mom. Her dad tunes her car and prepares it for competition.  As she has gotten older and more experienced, Leah is beginning to make more and more of the decisions through weather and data analysis.

Smith’s 2014 Mike Bos junior dragster is sponsored by Vaughan Oil Company in Bolivar, who is also the presenting sponsor of the event.

Created by Terry “Jabbo” Forsythe to help promote junior dragster racing, the event draws young drivers from all over the United States. Holly Springs Motorsports is sanctioned by the International Hot Rod Association.

“We believe in promoting these young drivers and their love of the sport, since they are a big part of the future of drag racing,” said Greg Vaughan.

This weekend’s event will offer two races for $5,000 and two bonus $1,000 races, making it one of the larger southeast junior dragster purse events of the year.