For our first "Future Of The Sport" feature of 2014, we are going to introduce you to Hannah Adair! We elected to feature Hannah this week because she will be competing at the Tulsa Shootout this weekend. Keeping with the theme we have followed in past features, Hannah did such an awesome job composing her bio, we are going to let her tell you about herself!
I am Hannah Adair, 19, and I am
from Tulsa, OK and race 600cc Micro-Sprint Cars and Midgets. I started racing
in 2004, in the 100cc Jr. Sprint class. I finished 2nd in points my Rookie year
at my home track, Port City Raceway in Tulsa.
In 2005, I raced with NMMA for
National Points where I finished 9th in National points, out of over 75 other
drivers, 3rd at the NMMA National race, where over 80 cars competed, and 3rd at
the NMMA Centrals race and claimed over 15 wins that year.
In 2006, I moved to 600cc
Micro-Sprint cars in a class called Restrictor. In my first practice, I was put
head on into the wall at full speed, and ended up with a compressed fracture in
my back, and I was unable to race for 16 weeks. I came back to racing with a
few weeks left, and in my first race back, I won my heat race, and finished in
the top 10 in the A Feature. In 2007, 2008, 2009, I ran Restrictor again, and
won many features. I finished 4th in points in 2007, we didn't run for points
in 2008, and finished 2nd in points, and lost the championship by 2 points, in
2009.
In 2010, I ran the Tulsa Shootout
for the first time, which is the toughest Micro-Sprint Car race in the country.
I started 4th in my heat race, and finished 2nd, which locked me in for
the A Feature. I started 11th in the A Feature, and was taken out on the first
lap. I was put to dead last, 24th, and drove my way back to 8th in 20 laps. In
2010, I moved up to A-Class 600cc Micro-Sprint Cars where I made history at the
Non-Wing Nationals by becoming the first female to win both of my heat races
and finish in the top ten both nights and finished 3rd in points that
year.
In 2011, we moved up to the
toughest Micro-Sprint Car class called Outlaw where I finished 2nd in points
and won Rookie of the Year at Port City and finished in the top 5 or top 10
every week.
In 2012 I continued racing the
Outlaw class with a brand new car and motor. We had many struggles, but I
continued to keep my head up and try my hardest each week. We were constantly
in the top ten with a few top fives and top threes. I missed 6 races at Port
City Raceway due to other races, and I ended the season with a strong 6th place
finish in the Championship Points.
At the end of 2012, I was given
the chance to race The Battle at the Center and The 2013 Chili Bowl Nationals
with McCreery Motorsports, where I had to raise $5,000 to be able to race.
Thanks to many sponsors, I was able to live my dream of racing The Chili Bowl.
These races would be my first in a midget. At The Battle at the Center, I was
only able to complete 8 laps due to mechanical failures. At The Chili Bowl
Nationals, my qualifying night was on Wednesday. I drew a 65, which put me
starting 6th in the heat race, and I finished 5th. That put me into the A
Qualifier, where I started 9th and finished 6th. I then started 4th in the B
Feature and we got a horrible start, which put me back to 9th, and I needed a
top 4 to transfer into the A Feature. I battled my way back to the front, where
I passed for 4th on the last lap, but came up half a car length short of making
the A Feature. On Saturday night, I started on the Pole of the E feature (the
features went all the way to the K Feature), where I led every lap, but got
beat by just a few inches. I then started 14th in the D Feature, got in a wreck
on the first lap and restarted 17th, and finished 13th.
In 2013, we had a very up and
down year. We managed many top 2 finishes and we were in the top 5 and top 10
each week. We missed 4 races at Port City Raceway and managed to finish 8th in
the championship points due to our consistency of running up front.
In 2014, we will be running a
Midget around Oklahoma, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana with POWRi and USAC
Midget series.
By 5th grade I began racing at a public go-kart track in Knoxville, IA
called Slideways Karting Center where I ran in the weekly men’s league in 2008
and 2009. It was through Slideways Karting Center I discovered English Creek
Speedway, a 1/6th mile outlaw sprint kart track
south of Knoxville. 
Racing
all over the country has given me the opportunity to gain incredible experience
and meet some amazing people! These past four years of racing I have been very
blessed with incredible sponsors, fans, family, and support, and I am looking
forward to what the future has in store as I work my way towards reaching my
goal of racing sprint cars at Knoxville!
