Sherrie Bodnarchuk may not "know one end of a screwdriver" but she knows how to go from zero to 200 miles per hour in less than seven seconds. She displayed this expertise on July 22 at the Kambusters annual drag race competition.
It all started over 20 years ago when her husband started getting tickets for doing stunts like doughnuts on the streets with his Camaro. With kids at home, Dave Bodnarchuk decided that going to the race track to take his aggression out would be less costly and "silly", said Sherrie.
When Dave added an even faster car to his collection, Sherrie took the wheel of the Camaro. She hasn't looked back since.
When back problems forced Dave out of the driver's seat of his car, Sherrie started racing with it while he took charge of "wrenching," as Sherrie calls it.
Driving 140 mph in the second car just was not fast enough after a while.
"I wanted to go faster so then we got the funny car," said Sherrie. Owning a car that goes up to 50 mph faster than her previous car was "not much of a jump when you are going fast like that."
For the speed demon, the thing keeping her from going even faster is the cost of jumping up to a nitro fueled car.
Fans of drag racing recognize her 1970 Superbird alcohol-fueled funny car from competitions like Kambusters Annual Prairie Thunder Drag Races.
She does more than just wow audiences with her sleek car - she broke the track record for speed twice on July 20, doing the eighth mile in 4.557 seconds. For Bodnarchuk, the moment "the guys radio and tell me what we did" is the most exhilarating moment of a race.
"If it was a good one like this last one we broke the record again so I was 'woohooing' on the radio," she laughed.
Of course, every step of the race leads towards that coveted adrenaline rush.
As soon as she is towed to the staging lane, her head is focused on what she needs to do.
"After they have started the car and they have put the body down, I'm in control of the car after that and anything that happens is up to me," she said.
"I try to do a really good burnout because that's part of the thrill for them is to see the burnout - and I kind of like them too," Bodnarchuk said with a laugh.
While fans like to see cars that get a bit of air off the green light, lifting is a bad sign for Bodnarchuk.
"I hate lifting. I just say 'if you lift you lose' because the only time I'm going to lift is if I feel that I am absolutely losing control of the car," she said.
The seasoned driver has noticed that more females are getting into the higher class of racing since she started in the early '90s. Once someone is behind the wheel it is just about skill, not gender, she noted.
Her best advice to females is to get behind the wheel and practice, as long as it is not with a spouse.
"Spouses holler. We found that spouses are not the best coach in a car," she said.
Having retired from an office managing budgets and staff, Bodnarchuk has more time to inject into what has become a year-round family activity.
Winters are spent fixing the car and during summers races take up eight to 10 weekends during the summer. Even vacations usually involve a trip to watch racing, said Bodnarchuk.
A drawback to the sport of high speed racing is the cost of repairs. One of the small 'hero' cards that her crew hands out to fans shows flame coming from under the hood of their car. It is one of their three blown engines from this year.
"My husband calls it his $14,000 hero card," she said.
The costs are all worth it to provide the thrill of the race, interaction with fans, and the friends that she has made over the years. Bodnarchuk lives in the Saskatoon area.
