VIDEO - Kelly Bettes Is Australia's New Queen of Speed
Australia has a new Queen of Speed with Brisbane sensation Kelly Bettes setting the quickest and fastest runs for a woman in Australian drag racing history.
Licensing in the Lamattina Fuchs/Carrot Kings Top Fuel dragster at Willowbank Raceway this morning, Bettes stopped the clocks on her first pass at a stunning 4.660 seconds, reaching 326.87 miles per hour.
In doing so, she became the first Australian woman to break the 300 miles per hour barrier on Australian soil.
Bettes also became the first woman to break 500 kilometres per hour on Australian soil, with the metric conversion working out to 526.04 km/h.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think my name would go into the history books as Australia’s fastest woman driver,” Bettes told JustDragRacing.com.
“It’s all a little surreal and I need time to sit down and digest it all.”
American Hilary Will was the first woman to break 300 mph in Australia in winning the Scott Kalitta Memorial event at Sydney Dragway in 2008.
Australian Rachelle Splatt was the first woman to break 300 mph, driving for John DePorter's Luxor Casino team at Houston in the US way back in 1994.
Splatt recently made a comeback and had hoped to be the first Australian woman to break 300mph on home soil, but car issues have restricted her performance in two appearances to date.
Bettes backed up the run around midday with a 4.666/325.30 pass to secure her IHRA Top Fuel license.
The first ever Junior Dragster National Champion in 1998, Bettes claimed the ANDRA Modified Eliminator title and John Storm Memorial Trophy in 2010.
Bettes will make her Top Fuel competition debut at next month's opening round of the 400 Thunder Drag Racing Series at the Nitro Up North event at Darwin's Hidden Valley Raceway.
“I’ve been thinking about Hidden Valley throughout the whole licensing process and I am really excited about racing in Darwin,” Bettes said.
“I’ve heard the people are great, the track is one of the smoothest in the country, and I’m told the whole event is just awesome, so I am really looking forward to it.”
The weekend following Hidden Valley, Bettes and the Lamattina team will visit Alice Springs' Inland Dragway for the Desert Nationals.
VIDEOS BELOW - Kelly Bettes' first and second passes courtesy Bettes Family.
Above: Kelly Bettes backs up her first license run with a 4.666/325 pass in the Lamattina TF dragster.
Above: Kelly Bettes receives her IHRA Top Fuel license. Image courtesy Bettes Family.
