Drag Illustrated Issue 118, February 2017 | Page 96

TheHOTTEST2017
HISTORIC
SPORTSMAN HERO
A
t just 23 years old, Mia
Tedesco is already one of the
most decorated females in the
sport. In 2016 alone, she won
the NHRA Super Gas world
championship and Division 3
championship, the Top Alco-
hol Dragster regional championship, was voted
the Division 3 Super
Eliminator Driver
of the Year and was
chosen as the Divi-
sion 3 Person of the
Year. Those are high
honors for “Miss Mia”
as she’s affectionate-
ly known by fans and
competitors.
Amassing those
honors came with an
unexpected surprise.
Tedesco was the first
female to ever win
a Super Gas world
championship. “It
was pretty awesome,”
Tedesco said of the
feat. “I didn’t know
beforehand that a
female hadn’t won it
before, but to be the
first is pretty incredi-
ble and humbling, to
do something that no
one has ever done be-
fore. It’s something
that everyone hopes to one day win, but to actu-
ally do it is surreal. I was blessed with an awesome
year. My equipment was great, my guys worked
hard, and everything just fell into place.”
Tedesco thanks her parents who own Pitts-
burgh Raceway, sister Natalie, fiancée Andy,
teammate Jason Lynch and crew chief Jason
Ateri, as well as sponsors Cars Protection Plus,
VP Racing Fuels, Hoosier Tire, QuickFuel, Wilk-
erson, Abruzzi Transmissions, Lucas Oil.
When Tedesco added Top Alcohol Dragster to
her racing schedule, she admits it was, at first, a
bit of struggle competing in two vastly different
classes. “It was really hard, mentally, to do two
completely different procedures and try to win
in both. But last winter, I decided I wasn’t going
to let that bother me anymore. I was going to be
successful in both categories and not let switching
between the two affect me. I thought about it all
winter, mentally prepared, physically prepared.
When we ca