A need for speed

HANOVER, P.A. — Getting smashed on Friday nights is something Jessie Morrison tries to avoid.

But as she takes her 650-horsepower race car through the dirt straightaway at 105 mph and into the first turn, crashing is the last thing on her mind. Instead, she has one thought: just pass.

"You want to be pushing it to the limit around every corner and into the straightaways," Morrison said. "You are trying different things every lap. If you're not passing a car on one spot, you're moving. You might get passed by somebody, but you have got to go. Things need to happen now."

For the senior journalism major, pushing it to the limit is a way of life. Every Friday night from April to October, the 22-year-old Silver Springnative races professionally at Trail-Way Speedway in Hanover, Pa., a 1/3-mile clay track nestled away from the road in a sparsely populated countryside — first-time visitors who miss the track's unmarked driveway are left winding down an unlit gravel road without cell phone service.

As the race begins, wooden grandstands are populated by families and local race enthusiasts, many wearing Carhartt jackets, overalls or the faded apparel of their favorite NASCAR drivers. Many have Coke bottles, some filled with soda, others with tobacco spit. Those stuck with front-row seats are pelted with dirt from the passing cars; everyone else just feels the rumble.

The drivers speeding around the track last Friday night were racing on the 358 circuit — a reference to the size of the engine in cubic inches. The car's most distinct feature, though, is the staggered set of wings mounted on its roof. They make the cars look a bit like flying doorstops.

Morrison was 11 when she first wanted to jump into one of these. Her father remembers exactly how it started.

"She was playing fast pitched softball and her coach's husband raced in a 35-and-older go-kart league," William Morrison said. "We went to the race that night and by the end of it Jessie tugged on my shirt and said, ‘Dad, can I do that?' From there, it just took off."

So the younger Morrison strapped in and never looked back — she finished 10th in the points standings last season and received the Most Popular Driver award from the Auto Racing Club of Hagerstown. Going into the final race on Friday, she was ranked 11th out of 56 racers listed at Trail-Way, the highest ranked woman.

"When you are female in racing, you have to understand that there is going to be a spotlight on you at all times," Morrison said. "If you're in the front, people will go crazy, but some will say it's just a fluke. Others will say ‘look how skilled she is.' Even if the girl is in the back, the spotlight is still on her."

Even with this added pressure, Morrison has managed to earn the respect of her fellow racers.

"Before the race, you can see the focus in her eyes," driver Scott Jorda said. "If the [car] setup is right, she will be on fire that race. She takes it straight to the front."

Jorda said he and his son have both competed against Morrison for the majority of the past 10 years. He said most drivers develop a reputation for their driving style, and that Morrison's was clear.

"If you interviewed 20 drivers, you would get the same 20 answers. She is very consistent and tough," Jorda said. "People don't ever say anything bad about her driving. Does she do people dirty? I've never seen her do that."

While many drivers were inspired by famous racers from national circuits, Morrison's inspiration is a speed demon of a different breed — her older brother Breck, a pilot in the Air Force. Morrison said the most rewarding aspect of racing is not the thrill or the speed, but the relationship with her family that has developed as a result of racing.

"Many of the races aren't close to home," William Morrison said. "There has been a lot of time in that car that we've shared together, and most of that time has been spent talking. That travel time spent together has been the best part of it."

But when Morrison gets out of her diesel Ford pickup truck and into her sprint car, she knows she's confronting the ever-present danger that accompanies scenes in which pedal meets metal: 27-year-old Billy Kimmel died after crashing his sprint car at another Pennsylvania racetrack in 2007, and Morrison's car was flipped on its side in a collision earlier this year.

She said the risk is all part of the game.

"You have G-forces trying to push you out of the car," she said. "I've had broken bones and not been able to feel them, because the adrenaline is so high when you're out there."

Even though Morrison finished a disappointing 20th in last Friday's race, her dad saw more evidence of her competitive instinct.

"Anything that looks like competition, she doesn't have a casual approach toward it," William Morrison said. "If she thinks she can crush you, she will."

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