Rocky Mountain Race Week bills itself as the ultimate test of drag racers. Basically, up to 250 drivers compete on quarter-mile drag strips in different states every day for a week, with many racers traveling between events. There are tons of different classes and a cash purse that totals over $30,000 for the winners. For drivers, you basically just have to have a license as well as registration and insurance for your vehicles. Or, in the case of 15-year-old Michaela, a learner’s permit and a passenger.

You can check out the story on 1320video’s YouTube channel starting at around 23:30:

Here’s a little rundown of the story: Michaela got her learner’s permit in February of 2021. She’s been dying to compete in Race Week for over a year, with her stepdad having competed in a previous event. She and her grandpa then found a third-gen Camaro and began piecing it together themselves, fitting it with a 406 small block Chevy engine. And as long as she brought her grandpa as her co-pilot, Michaela was able to not just drive cross-country to every event but to compete against some pretty skilled drag racers. She also mentioned that now that she’d raced for herself, she wanted to come back every year.

And Michaela wasn’t the only teen involved in the weekend. One 13-year-old boy named Blayne has been serving as his dad’s crew chief. He pops up at around 8:30 in the video, and he’s been helping his dad compete for several years. It’s great to hear him breaking down the issues he and his dad encountered on the way to the track; he sounds like a consummate professional.

In both cases, it's awesome to see teenagers so closely involved in the racing scene, their love of cars and motorsport being encouraged at a seriously young age.