'Girls are definitely taking over' — Tucson hosts Junior Drag Racing competition

This weekend, youth drag racers and their families in RVs and trailers descended on Tucson for the Tucson Dragway Junior Divisional, a two-day drag race event for competitors under 18.

This time, nearly half of all the competitors are girls, according to a race official.

Families came from California, Nevada and Arizona — the states that make up the National Hot Rod Association's Division 7 .

Many of these attendees see these race weekends as a full-family event. Many of the parents were, or still are, drag racers themselves — like the Price family.

The whole family travels cross-country in an RV for races, towing three junior drag race cars in a trailer behind them.

All three Price kids race. They say that they got the bug from both sides of their family.

The two daughters, Maddee and Kayslee Price have been drag racing since they were 7 and 8-years-old, respectively.

They said things have changed since they started.

“I feel like there’s definitely more girls than guys now," Maddee said. Her sister agreed: "Girls are definitely taking over.”

Bill Kidd, a race coordinator for the track, said this isn't out of the ordinary for modern-day junior drag racing.

"It’s definitely not what you typically think of racing," he said. "This sport has probably 50% girls in it, and every one of them are great racers.”

Kidd races as well. He said that the local adult drag racing community is only about 15% women but thinks that the junior racers could gradually change it.

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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com , or connecting on Instagram or X .