Serious News
04-20-2016, 11:05 PM
81261
Shelby Ebert is, in many ways, a typical 21-year-old woman. The Manhattan, Kan. native is a junior at Kansas State University, majoring in marketing and accounting. However, she has a passion beyond her education: Ebert is a drag boat racer.
Ebert was in Parker April 15-17 for the Colorado River Challenge, part of the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series. She drives Boat No. 326, “Can’t Touch This.”
“You can tell my boat,” she said in an interview April 14. “It’s the pink one.”
Ebert has some accomplishments for her time in the sport. She was the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series Personal Watercraft 2 Champion in 2010. She won the 2015 Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series Division 2 Pro Eliminator Championship and the 2015 Southern Drag Boat Association Pro Eliminator Championship.
Ebert became interested in boat racing at an early age. Her parents own a machine shop, E & R Machine, Inc., which is where she developed an interest in racing and gained the opportunity to race.
“Racing has basically been my entire life since I was very young,” Ebert said in a recent magazine article. “My dad has been racing for over 25 years and I went to my first race when I was only a few months old. When I was only 2 years old, I chased after a boat that we were selling as the new owner took it out of our driveway, screaming, ‘bring me my boat back!’ That’s when my parents knew I was hooked.”
Ebert started racing while she was still in high school. She raced personal watercraft from age 14 to age 17. It was then her parents purchased the MPH Hydro that she’s been driving ever since.
In 2015, Ebert’s family purchased a Pro Modified boat that she will start driving next year. She said this will make her a professional driver, and the only professional woman driver to run the entire Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series.
Ebert acknowledges it’s not easy being a woman in a sport that is traditionally dominated by men, and also being so young in that sport. She said there are times she wished she could just be viewed as another competitor in the sport.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “If you’re the only woman, you’re looked at differently. I have to watch what I do and what I say.”
Ebert said that now that she has achieved some success, people respect her more.
Ebert said she came to Parker last year to watch and supervise the junior drag boat races, and she found the town to be a wonderful place.
“It’s a beautiful place, with the river and all,” she said.
This past month, Ebert turned 21 and also obtained her Pro Modified license, which will allow her to move up to faster classes of boats.
As for long-term goals, Ebert said she’s like to move up to the Top Fuel Hydro class someday. This is the fastest class in drag boat racing, with speeds reaching up to 250 mph.
Ebert said, “I think that racing in that class would be the most extreme adrenaline rush that I could ever experience.”
http://www.parkerpioneer.net/news/article_4aa9163c-0676-11e6-aa92-cb7e44e7f6b7.html
Shelby Ebert is, in many ways, a typical 21-year-old woman. The Manhattan, Kan. native is a junior at Kansas State University, majoring in marketing and accounting. However, she has a passion beyond her education: Ebert is a drag boat racer.
Ebert was in Parker April 15-17 for the Colorado River Challenge, part of the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series. She drives Boat No. 326, “Can’t Touch This.”
“You can tell my boat,” she said in an interview April 14. “It’s the pink one.”
Ebert has some accomplishments for her time in the sport. She was the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series Personal Watercraft 2 Champion in 2010. She won the 2015 Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series Division 2 Pro Eliminator Championship and the 2015 Southern Drag Boat Association Pro Eliminator Championship.
Ebert became interested in boat racing at an early age. Her parents own a machine shop, E & R Machine, Inc., which is where she developed an interest in racing and gained the opportunity to race.
“Racing has basically been my entire life since I was very young,” Ebert said in a recent magazine article. “My dad has been racing for over 25 years and I went to my first race when I was only a few months old. When I was only 2 years old, I chased after a boat that we were selling as the new owner took it out of our driveway, screaming, ‘bring me my boat back!’ That’s when my parents knew I was hooked.”
Ebert started racing while she was still in high school. She raced personal watercraft from age 14 to age 17. It was then her parents purchased the MPH Hydro that she’s been driving ever since.
In 2015, Ebert’s family purchased a Pro Modified boat that she will start driving next year. She said this will make her a professional driver, and the only professional woman driver to run the entire Lucas Oil Drag Boat Racing Series.
Ebert acknowledges it’s not easy being a woman in a sport that is traditionally dominated by men, and also being so young in that sport. She said there are times she wished she could just be viewed as another competitor in the sport.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “If you’re the only woman, you’re looked at differently. I have to watch what I do and what I say.”
Ebert said that now that she has achieved some success, people respect her more.
Ebert said she came to Parker last year to watch and supervise the junior drag boat races, and she found the town to be a wonderful place.
“It’s a beautiful place, with the river and all,” she said.
This past month, Ebert turned 21 and also obtained her Pro Modified license, which will allow her to move up to faster classes of boats.
As for long-term goals, Ebert said she’s like to move up to the Top Fuel Hydro class someday. This is the fastest class in drag boat racing, with speeds reaching up to 250 mph.
Ebert said, “I think that racing in that class would be the most extreme adrenaline rush that I could ever experience.”
http://www.parkerpioneer.net/news/article_4aa9163c-0676-11e6-aa92-cb7e44e7f6b7.html