Drag Illustrated Issue 118, February 2017 | Page 93

“At the time, I didn’t realize how big a deal that
award was. But now, I know what a huge honor
it was to be chosen by my fellow NMRA racers,”
she admitted.
Next, Clements picked up a win at the 5th An-
nual Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nation-
als at Atlanta Dragway in April of 2013. “Even
getting one round win in Renegade is hard, but
I kept going rounds and everything was going
right for me, so it was really neat,” she happily
remembered of the monumental weekend. “I felt
like I got over a hump. If I could win one, then I
could win another!”
In 2014, Clements didn’t get another win but
she did improve overall to finish seventh in cham-
pionship points. The following season, she was
once again honored by NMRA by being chosen as
the 2015 Ambassador of the Year. “To me, NMRA
means being with my family on the weekends,”
Clements explained of what inspires her positivity
and good sportsmanship.
Clements hit her stride in 2016 and made a lot
of progress with her program. Fielding a Watson
Racing-built 25.5 spec ’14 Mustang with a Pro-
Charged 360 ci small block Ford engine built by
her father, she took the runner-up spot at the 13th
Annual NMRA Ford Super Nationals at National
Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, and finished out
the season ranked fourth in championship points.
She also raced at the infamous “No Mercy 7”
event at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Oc-
tober. Running in Ultimate Street for the first
time, Clements proved her ability to hang with
the heavy hitters when she qualified fifth with a
4.927 at 143.44 mph pass in a large field of 24 cars.
Running eighth-mile for the first time was tricky,
but Clements picked up a round one win before
she went out due to an electrical malfunction.
“2016 was my favorite season. I had challenges
with the combination or not fully understanding
the car, but we copied my brother’s combination
and I could finally tune and the car would react,”
said the young woman who was beyond satis-
fied with how things went. “What really got to
me, though, was at the World Cup Finals race
at Maryland International Raceway, we went
three rounds there and I lost in the semi-finals
because I got too greedy with the tune up and the
car wheelied, but it reacted to my changes and I
ran a new personal best each time!”
Her process of learning to manage her car’s
tune hasn’t been easy, but Clements has some
great teachers who utilize the Socratic method
to inspire her to come up with her own solutions
rather than simply provide answers. “My brother
made the foundation of my tune and gives me
guidance, but he lets me figure out what I should
do. I also talk with Ed Rice, and sometimes I
know the answer in the back of my head, I just
have to bounce it off these guys and have them
help me make sense of it,” she laughed. For Cle-
ments, the biggest challenge she faces when it
comes to tuning is simply interpreting the mass
of data and being able to figure out what parts
need attention or adjustment.
Unsurprisingly, Clements’s 2017 season has
already gotten off to a solid start. She returned
to SGMP to try her hand at Ultimate Street once
again at the “Lights Out 8” race in February and
qualified 23rd with a 4.995 at 141.58 mph blast.
“We were trying something new for that race but
the engine was compromised the day before we
left, so we popped my brother’s engine into my
car,” noted Clements, who was determined to
make it to the race come hell or high water and
was content to spend her weekend fine-tuning
her Mustang for her upcoming NMRA Rene-
gade season.
With a degree in Automotive Engineering from
Clemson University, Clements has the smarts to
ensure her racing endeavor is as successful – and
fast – as she wants it to be. It won’t be long before
her personal best of 7.49 at 182 mph is a distant
memory and she’ll have many more new achieve-
ments to add to her already impressive résumé.
- AINSLEY JACOBS
DI DI
DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
D r a g Il l u s t r a t e d . c o m
93
Dr ag Illustr ated