Sep 3, 2009 4:55 pm US/Central
Someone You Should Know: Drag Racer Toy Hamilton
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Toy Hamilton isn't a track star, but she is one of the fastest women in Chicago.
Drag racing tends to be a male-dominated sport, maybe because very few women like the idea of racing over a short piece of track at more than 100 miles an hour in a stripped down car.
CBS 2's Harry Porterfield met a Chicago woman who doesn't mind challenging that tradition, which makes Toy Hamilton someone you should know.
For many of us, our most precious possessions are kept in a special place. For Toy Hamilton, that special place is a 24-foot trailer. With loving care, she transports her pride and joy, a drag racer; impressive in the way it looks and thunderous in the way it sounds.
She met her destiny as a drag race car driver seven years ago when she drove it in her very first race.
"My dad used to race, long time ago, back in the '70s down at U.S. 30 and the Grove," Hamilton said. "And we basically grew up at the track. I always loved the cars, the noise and the speed."
A graduate of A&M University in Prairie View, Texas with a degree in engineering, Hamilton fulfilled that dream with the purchase of her car, a 1977 Chevy Monza.
"It was like a kid in a candy store. I had dreamed of it for so long, that before I purchased the car, I was dreaming about the car," Hamilton said. "And once I got it, that's one of the dreams I finally accomplished, and I felt real good about it."
Since she started racing she's competed more than 500 times in six states: Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois.
In a video Hamilton provided of recent races, she reached a speed of 138 miles per hour in 9 seconds over a quarter mile track. Her speed is 108 miles in 6 seconds over an eighth of a mile track.
"Although I'm in a race car, I still get my hair done, I'm still doing my nails, still want to wear fancy dresses," Hamilton said. "When you're under the car, you're in garage mode. I clean up nicely, I would say."
Toy Hamilton, drag racer and someone you should know.
Click here to learn more about Toy Hamilton.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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