Alexis DeJoria, daughter of a co-founder of Paul Mitchell hair products, could have taken the easy way and immediately accepted one of the NHRA top-level offers that came her way in 2005.
That’s not the route she chose.
Her father, John Paul DeJoria, rode a demanding work ethic to go from a poor upbringing in Southern California to a self-made billionaire.
It’s an example that got passed down, so Alexis DeJoria worked her way through drag racing’s minor leagues to earn a nitro Funny Car license in 2010 and compete in four national events the following year.
DeJoria not only earned a spot in what now is called the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, but the 36-year-old from Venice, Calif., claimed her first career victory at Phoenix on Feb. 23.
The victory “definitely helps lift a big weight off our shoulders that we’ve had for a while,” DeJoria said Thursday. “We were hoping to get that first one last year, but we changed a few things on the race car, and it definitely takes time to get those things figured out. We were starting to get it at the end of last season, but we didn’t get that final round we needed. So when we were going to the final round in Phoenix, I just felt like this was really our time.” Read More