Profile: Melissa Theuerkauf

Sport:          Sprints and Hillclimbs | Activity:      Race Driver

Mel has gone from staying up late as a little girl, watching  Formula 1 racing with her dad to competing on the circuit in her 1985 XF Ford Falcon, dual racing with her husband. And she’s not just a “behind the wheel” kind of girl either, making sure she’s fully hands-on in the workshop, on and offseason.

The race car in question is a 1985 XF Ford Falcon that Mel and hubby did a conversion to a bullet proof 190KW 4.0L Barra DOHC 6 cylinder engine in just 6 months. Although it’s not the fastest car on the circuit, Mel has designs on adding a turbo in the near future. Now you would probably think that because she also owns an XD Ford Falcon with a 351 Cleveland and an XE 6 cylinder Falcon, that she’s a blue oval girl, but the Holden supporter Mel assures us that by towing the race Ford with her Holden Colorado, she cancels that out.

Mel started out on the sidelines of the race track, photographing hubby as he raced, and helping out with his race car. But there comes a point for every racer girl, when deep down you and everyone around you know that you want to get behind the wheel and experience all that fun first hand. Mel was fortunate enough to have the awesome support of not just her hubby, but also mum and dad, all encouraging her to “give it a go”. Although she’s only been competing for the past year, Mel has certainly not looked back. In fact Mel already has aspirations to do more and advance her racing ‘career’ as far as it will take her.

“I try and fit in as much racing as I can,” Mel told us, also sharing that to achieve that adrenaline rush, she can travel up to 10 hours to compete in some of the up to 5 races per year that she can compete in.

Because of the distance travelled Mel and the family (her pit crew) camp out in the race track pit area, sleeping alongside the race vehicles with all the other racers. This means that they can easily do a walk of the track early the following morning before they start racing. And when racing begins, the spectators roll up in their thousands.

“My best race memory was at the Noosa Hillclimb, when Dick Johnson drove past in his Tru Blu XD Falcon. It shook my car and the rumble made my ears ring,” Mel shared. I’m sure Mel was happy that her idol didn’t see her try to start an already running car during a driver change over with her hubby. That’s OK Mel, we understand it can get pretty noisy in the pits, and we promise not to tell anyone.

Getting started in racing can seem a little intimidating, not just for females in this male-dominated sport, but for anyone just starting out. We always have safety concerns in the back of our mind and wonder if it’s a worthwhile pass time. But if you venture behind the scenes, you’ll find a lot of really nice passionate people ready to encourage and help you understand the sport. And CAMS keep a pretty tight reign on the safety of all vehicles and events, so that even when there is an accident you’re more likely to commiserate about the damage to your car rather than your body.

Unless you’re Mel, who even though she near on destroyed her car, still managed to see the bright side of a very scary accident.

“I was on the very last corner of my last run of the weekend at Pittsworth Sprints when I ran through some oil on the road.  My car went sideways and bit in then flung me around the other way straight into a concrete wall and destroyed the car.  I went through the finish line backwards and took out the finishing flag recording my fastest time for the weekend.”

Mel would like to thank her team sponsors (JDT Racing), Bursons Auto Parts, Hill Billy Hotrods, Fulcrum, Pro-Dyno and Bridge Street Tyre Mechanical.

JDT Racing: https://www.facebook.com/Joshy351/
Mrs T’s Sprint Racing Photography: https://www.facebook.com/MrsTsSprintRacingPhoitography/