Although the Dragfest Indoor Drag Racing Showcase would give you the impression there’s nothing but drag cars as the name implies, it’s not always quite true. If you wade through the cars in one of the halls, you’d spy, sitting in the corner, a car that doesn’t quite fit in with the rest. Instead of flashy paint, you see a shiny (and spotless) metal body. You’ve not entered “The Twilight Zone,” but you have come face to face with Don Gilmore’s “Iron Dinosaur” Land Speed Race Car! When I saw Don, I asked if he had a moment to tell me more about the car. He smiled and told me that driver, Liz Leggett, did all the interviews. I knew right then I’d get more info than I bargained for, as anyone who knows Liz knows she exudes a passion for motorsports most don’t possess. When I asked her to tell me about the car, her face literally glowed with the opportunity to tell me all about it.

“This is a blown fuel lakester. In land speed racing, there’s all these different body styles. You’ll have belly tanks, which are actually technically a lakester and you have streamliners, which are enclosed wheel. This is known as a lakester with the open wheels. Our engine class is at D/BFL. The D stands for the engine size, this is a 302, B stands for blown, because we have twin turbos that puts out 40 pounds of boost, so that makes us 2500 hp, [F stands for] Fuel because we run E85 methanol, and L stands for Lakester, which is the body style. It’s a wonderful car to drive very much built for going in a straight line, but very different than a drag race car, it’s heat mitigation for 5 miles and a corridor of 8, so it’s a long, fun time!”

In a car that’s not very tall and hugs the ground at ridiculous speeds, you might find yourself wondering what it’s like. Is it terrifying? Do you feel like you’re in a rocketship blasting off to the moon? When I asked Liz what it was like, her voice betrayed just how much she loves driving it. “It’s so calm. It’s a lot of hustle and bustle in the pits and at the starting line. You’re sitting in the seat and you have all these people leaning in and they’re strapping you in and they’re using all their body weight to pull these straps down and everyone’s asking you questions and then the canopy closes and it’s just you and the hum of the engine. And then you take off and you hear the turbos spool up and everything’s just working the way it’s supposed to work and everything’s just calm and nice and you have the whole big open expanse to yourself. It’s pretty. And it’s one of the best feelings in the world. I’m very fortunate.”

Anyone who’s ever raced anything can tell you about the thrill of the adrenaline rush you get at speed, but there’s always a little nagging fear in the back of your mind that accompanies the addiction we have to speed. Liz had a serious, confident, almost reverent tone, when she talked about how safe her land speed rocket ship is. “Things can go wrong really fast as with any sort of racing. You can crash out on a skateboard and have a bad time, but, the one thing I point out to people…I had one woman say ‘oh my goodness, this is absolutely terrifying, I would never…’ and I pointed out to her, when you drove here, you were probably on a highway going 80 miles an hour in a car next to somebody who is texting on their phone and drinking their coffee. In this car, I have a 5-point harness, fire bottles, I’ve got a roll cage, and if something was to go wrong, I luckily have the SCTA, ECTA, or Oregon Timing Association people there to save me, they’re there right away, so racing is as safe as it can be. But everyday is not safe. Driving to the grocery store you’re next to a fuel tank truck. I’m not out there next to a fuel tank truck going 80 miles an hour. Everything in life is risk-taking, [like] leaving your house in the morning, but this is one that I feel very comfortable with because I spent a lot of time with the team. I built up my licensing. I didn’t just go out and go really fast right away. I’m very fortunate to have been given the time to build confidence and build understanding of the car. I just love every second of it, I really do. Even the trials and tribulations, they’re even fun.”

For a lot of us in life, it takes some time to figure out just where our particular place is. Some never find it. This thought left me curious as to when Liz Leggett decided getting into a car like this was what she wanted to do. Turns out, it was a very easy answer. “Since I was a kid, I believe. I’ve been an automotive photojournalist for probably 25 years, I started when I was 10 years old taking car photos with my dad when I was young. I was fortunate. When I was like 17 or 18, I was Ron Fellows photographer for his NASCAR team. I had the fortune of covering F1 racers when I was really young. I’ve been into racing pretty much my entire life. One of my first memories was watching racing on TV with my dad. To get an opportunity like driving a landspeed car that you don’t own, it’s incredible, I’m very thankful and I try to put as much of the passion as I can into the whole experience because I love it so much.”

As we finished up the interview, it was clear Liz is right where she belongs at this moment within the world of motorsports. Her closing comments were almost philosophical. “As long as I can share this and give somebody an idea to build something in their garage, then that’s good, it makes me happy. It’s really fun to go from racing something where you have a dial-in of 13 seconds (Liz also drives Vintage Eliminator cars) and you’re going like 40-50 miles an hour to then going the next weekend and attempting to go 300. Everything in racing is all a give and take of working on the car, reaping benefits, breaking the car, fixing it. It’s just…that’s racing.”

If you ever get the opportunity, check out Don Gilmore’s “Iron Dinosaur” land speed car. It’s not something you’re going to see every day. And if you’re lucky, you’ll also get to meet “Landspeed Liz” Leggett, one of the best motorsports ambassadors you’ll ever run across!

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