Racer Profile: Melissa Theuerkauf

Number One Driver Melissa Theuerkauf

Melissa Started Racing in 2017 when we decided to build a race car together. The Decision was made because I found the max limits in my XD Ford Falcon when I use to race it. I no longer wanted to race that car because of 3 things.

• The value of the car and the sentimental value (I didn’t want to hurt it) and to get the car to go faster,
• much more modifying would have had to happen,
• and most importantly Melissa could begin her race career,

so it was decided we would build a dedicated race car and form a Husband-and-Wife team called JDT Racing.

We had and old XF Ford Falcon shell which we turned into a full racer. We choose to use a Barra engine because it was the easiest to convert the car to and the most powerful option, and one of our Sponsors has an abundance of them.

Melissa’s first race was The Wondai Sprints. At that stage the car was still naturally aspirated which was great for learning her race craft in. She done a very good job and learnt a lot. We continued to do a lot of sprint races and hill climbs over the years including Oaky Sprints, Pittsworth Sprints, Reid Park Sprints, Noosa Hill Climb and The Gold Rush Hill Sprint.

We also managed to pick up some big sponsors on our journey including: Bursons Auto Parts Rockhampton, Hill Billy Hot Rods, Fulcrum Suspension and Active Gear Rockhampton.

We also improved the car along the way doing lots of modifications. We eventually turbo charged the engine and improved the handling and brakes. We take it to the new DriveIt NQ Facility up at Townsville for lots of track time, racing and testing. Melissa became very comfortable behind the wheel and began to do great times and when we went back to all our chosen Sprint events such as the Pittsworth Sprints in 2024, Melissa displayed so much speed, so fast in fact that when we reviewed our footage from the onboard cameras it was hard to tell whose footage we were actually watching with Melissa’s race lines so similar to mine and her speed was almost matched to me. So, we decided to buy new tires and rebuild the front end of the race car for better handling so we could get straight back up to the Driveit NQ Facility to work on her race craft while it was still very fresh in her mind.

I’m so proud of how far she has evolved with her race career and continues to make massive gains in her race craft. Look out for Melissa at the race track as she is determined to be the fast women on track and her main focus is to bet her husband, but the faster she goes the faster I go so she will have her work cut out for her.

Written by Josh Theuerkauf Team owner JDT Racing
Some links of interest: https://www.facebook.com/Joshy351/
JDT Racing – YouTube

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Editor’s Note:
We noticed that back in 2018, we featured Melissa in one of our early racer profiles — check it out here: Profile: Mel T (2018). It’s amazing to see how far she’s come since then. Watching her journey evolve both on and off the track is exactly why we love doing what we do at Girls Torque. Keep smashing it, Mel! 🏁