In many cases, women who get involved with motorsports do so with their parents or spouse, but for Navy gunnarsmate Jess Richards, every aspect of her time racing her Dodge Challenger SRT^® Hellcat Redeye is done on her own. While she does credit her dad for introducing her to the sport, all of her regular racing activities are done on her own – from loading the car up and hauling it to the track to handling all of the pre-race prep work and post-race repairs.

“I prepare my car, load it up, strap it down, check everything over on the car and trailer, prepare the RV, check all the tires, and drive to and from the tracks all by myself. I do not have family, a boyfriend, friends or a crew helping me out with anything that involves getting to and from the track, loading and unloading the car, and prepping it for race day. I think it is important to mention that because I believe so many people miss out on amazing opportunities because they are waiting for someone else to do it with them. As nice as it would be to have the assistance, I simply just cannot wait around for it to come my way or I would miss out on literally everything. I believe it is important that females make an independent name for themselves in this sport and that starts with just simply showing up!”

Richards is currently Inactive Ready Reserve for the Navy while she is pursuing her doctorate in Physical Therapy at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, with plans to graduate in late 2024. In her limited free time, she has become a very active racer with her 2019 Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye, running low-9s in the quarter-mile and appearing on the podium at a variety of events during her short-yet-successful racing career. She is an intelligent badass with the drive to go racing without any help, making her a great representative for the Sisterhood of Muscle.

Going Racing with the Redeye

Jess Richards served seven years in the United States Navy, including a tour to Afghanistan in 2018-2019, during which time she ordered her 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye in Destroyer Grey. She had originally planned on buying a standard SRT Hellcat with 717 horsepower, but when the 797-horsepower Redeye models were introduced, she ordered one of those instead, as she wanted to get “the best of the best.” She ordered her Challenger Redeye on Thanksgiving Day in 2018 and on April 1, 2019, her new muscle car was ready to be picked up at the dealership.

When Richards took delivery of her Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye, she was unaware that sportsman drag racing existed. She was familiar with professional drag racing, showcasing drivers like Matt Hagan and Leah Pruett, but she didn’t know that the sport was accessible to average people who wanted to go fast in a safe environment. That changed in June of 2019, when Richards and her dad headed to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, for a test and tune day. She had a great time and learned that there are people who race like that all of the time – and she wanted to be one of those people. While there, she saw a flyer for an upcoming NMCA event at the track, so she signed up and raced at the National Muscle Car Association event at Summit Motorsports Park that August. After that event, Richards was “hooked” on drag racing and she began looking into how to go faster.

Over time, Richards added a 2.72-inch Hellraiser upper pulley, FIC 1200cc fuel injectors and an E85 tune from Zdung Ho of Ztunes, leading to an increase in power well beyond the stock numbers. To help keep the engine cool while racing, she has added blower spacers and a thermal blanket while rear cradle lockouts and BMR upper control arms help put the power to the ground. She also has aftermarket wheels and tires, but other than that short list, her Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye is stock. With this configuration, she has run a best quarter-mile time of 9.33 at 145 miles per hour, along with a best trap speed of 148 on a separate run. Those low-9-second elapsed times coupled with her driving skills allowed Richards to have a great 2022 season, finishing second in the Quick 8 class at the NMCA Rockingham and St. Louis events, winning the 9-second class at the Norwalk NMCA event and making it to the semifinals at the Modern Street HEMI^® Shootout event in the Heavyweight class in October. For many events early on, she towed the car with her 2020 Dodge Durango R/T, but she has since purchased a motorhome to handle the towing duties, leaving the Durango to serve strictly as her daily driver.

The video below shows Richards in action during the Holley Moparty event earlier this year.

Supporting the Local Racing Community

Jess Richards credits her dad with introducing her to drag racing, but she credits the racing community as a whole for her progression in the sport.

“Going back to the story of my dad and I taking the car to the track for test and tune, I would have to give him the credit for introducing me to racing and allowing me to be exposed to all that was out there. As far as getting involved with racing as much as I am, credit has to be given to all those I have met along the way who have mentored, educated and pushed me to be exactly where I am at today,” said Richards. “Nothing about this is cheap or easy and there are numerous times I’ve thought about how simple my life would be if I didn’t race, but then I also ask myself what am I living for if I’m not racing. The bonds I’ve made over the years with everyone have really made everything worth it!”

To help other budding racers in her area, Richards started the Ohio Mopar_® Racers Club. She saw that some of her friends were getting into racing, but they were not getting the best information when it came to picking upgrades that would lead to the best results on the track. Richards explains that when she first got into racing back in 2019, she “spent a lot of money and wasted a lot of time listening to people who, to be completely honest, were clueless in what they were telling me.” Although she was already a member of a large local Mopar club, that group focuses mostly on car shows and cruises. Richards wanted a dedicated group where members could organize local track days, talk about their current projects and share information that would benefit others in the drag racing community, so she started the Ohio Mopar Racers Club.

Plans for the Racing Future

Jess Richards plans to continue to work to get faster, but her off-season plans don’t include adding gobs of power. Instead, she will focus on safety, adding a racing seat and a 5-point harness to go with the safety cage that is already in place. After getting down into the 9.30s, a primary goal for the 2023 season is to get into the 8-second range, but regardless of her elapsed times, Richards is eyeing more racing success next year. She plans to continue racing with the Modern Street HEMI Shootout and the National Muscle Car Association as much as she can with her busy doctoral studies schedule, along with some Street Car Takeover events. She did specify that she would prefer to participate in more events with quarter-mile heads-up racing rather than index or bracket racing, as she doesn’t like having to slow her car down to run a certain number.

For example, the Modern Street HEMI Shootout Heavyweight class is just that – a quarter-mile heads-up class with no displayed times. The “problem” for her is that class includes racers like Zdung Ho, who tunes her cars and many others in addition to competing in his own Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat – which happens to be the fastest SRT Hellcat Charger and one of the fastest SRT Hellcat cars in the world. “Z” runs in the high-7s and low-8s while many other racers in the MSHS Heavyweight class run in the mid-to-low-8s. This means that in theory, Richards will have to cut a good amount of time to be competitive, but when you are talking about cars running those kinds of times, it isn’t always the quickest car on paper that takes the win. “I no longer let the fast cars intimidate me as I learned a lot this year that anything can happen and each race can be anyone’s race.”

Finally, with the daunting schedule of a doctoral program looming over her for the next two years, Jess Richards knows that her racing time may be cut short, but she is still looking forward to the start of the 2023 season.

“A lot of my intentions for 2023 really just have to do with making the best of the season. Knowing I have to park the car for quite some time is not something I’m looking forward to at all, but something I must do in order to finish my schooling and get on with my career, but I also know I’ll be back and ready to go once school is all said and done! I’m sure I’ll be way behind in ET by the time I return, but that just gives me more to work towards.”

Navy gunnarsmate Jess Richards – soon to be Dr. Jess Richards – is one of the rare women in the community who is truly racing on her own, without any help from a family member. She got involved in the competitive aspect of the sport on her own, making every upgrade decision, doing all of the pre- and post-race checkups and hauling the car from race to race on her own – showing that any woman who truly has the drive to go racing can do so without help from a family member or spouse.