A quarter-mile strip of concrete. Gray clouds of tire smoke and the smell of fuel linger in the air.
This isn't the setting most people associate with high school sports, but for those who participate in Southwestern International Raceway's High School Drag Racing Program, that's exactly what it is.
"When you're pulling up to the line, you're nervous," said Sammy Carrasco, a 17-year-old junior at Pueblo Magnet High School. "Once you hit the gas it all goes away, all that pressure is gone."
Carrasco drives a white 1941 Ford Coupe for the Pueblo High Drag Racing Team.
"Racing for yourself is cool, but when you do good for your whole school, it's just an entirely different thing. It makes me proud," Carrasco said.
Pueblo's three-car team is made up of the '41 Ford, a 1970 Ford Mustang and a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle.
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Pueblo is one of the only schools to have a full team with school-owned cars and student pit crews.
On Saturday, Carrasco and other students will have their third of 12 races of the season.
"It keeps us off the streets," said Sahuarita's Jeff Veek, second in points after two races and behind Matt Hawk of Canyon del Oro. "If we didn't have this, I don't know, maybe some would be street racing."
Sixteen-year-old Veek races his 1969 Chevrolet Nova along with three other Sahuarita students who drive and fund their own cars.
"I wish my high school had something like this when I was a kid," said Keith Dunbar, 47, a dental technician who has been racing for 25 years. "Everybody out here, all the adults, support everything these kids are doing. It's neat to have them racing alongside us."
Students race Saturdays between other street-legal and non-street-legal car classes, such as junior dragsters and Sportsmen cars.
The high-schoolers are awarded points based on their starting reaction times as well as how many seconds it takes them to get down the track in a system called bracket racing.
The idea behind having the students bracket race rather than a traditional heads-up style is to level the playing field, said Kathleen Beller, the high school coordinator at Southwestern International Raceway.
"With the way bracket racing is set up, it doesn't matter which kid has the most money in their car," Beller, 41, said. "It comes down to the driver and how good they are in their car."
Participating high schools include Cholla, Sabino, Tucson High and Sahuaro, along with Pueblo, Sahuarita and Canyon del Oro. But each year a school's participation is dependent on the same thing — money.
Pueblo's drag-racing program uses donated cars and is funded by parents who sign over yearly tax credits to the school as a part of their income taxes, said Herman Lathrop, an electronics and robotics teacher at Pueblo.
"If one of these cars has a major problem, or blows an engine or anything, then it's done for the season," Lathrop said.
Patricia Rodarte, a Pueblo freshman, works on the team's three cars, making sure they are ready to race. But she hopes to drive.
"As soon as I get my license, I want to race," Rodarte, 15, said. "People don't expect a girl to know how to work on a car or race, but that's what I'm going to do."
Despite constant funding concerns, Rodarte and other students will get their shot, said Wes Marsh, an auto shop teacher who manages the Pueblo team with Lathrop.
"Racing isn't a cheap sport, but as long as we have kids who want to race, we'll make it work," Marsh, 25, said.
south side
BOX:
• What: High School Race #3
• When: Saturday at 9 a.m.
• Where: Southwestern International Raceway, 11300 S. Houghton Road, just south of the Interstate 10.
• Tickets: $10 at the track. $5 for students, senior citizens and military. Ages 10 and under are free.
• Information: 762-9700 or visit www.sirace.com.
