Drag Illustrated Issue 118, February 2017 | Page 100
TheHOTTEST2017
DOUBLE
DUTY
W
ith a father like
noted driver, crew chief
and tuner Ed Rice, it
was pretty much a giv-
en that Jennifer Brooke
Rice would follow in his
footsteps and wind up
with a career in racing as well.
Rice, who studies marketing at the University
of Tennessee, has loved going fast ever since she
was a child. “My dad tells me I’d be in the garage
trying to help him but I’d be tearing stuff apart in-
stead,” laughed Rice, now 20, as she remembered
her happy childhood turning wrenches. When
she turned 10, she got her first Junior Dragster
and although she couldn’t race much herself as
Dr ag Illustr ated
100
D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
her father’s program took priority, Rice fell in
love with driving.
When she was only 12 years old, Rice competed
at the prestigious NHRA Eastern Conference
Finals race. There, she won her Junior Dragster
class and went home with a highly-coveted Wally
– a feat some spend their whole career chasing
and never achieve. “I didn’t realize the signifi-
Jennifer Brooke Rice