Hot Rodders of Tomorrow: All-Female Team Makes History

By Mariah Prescott
HotRodHotline.com – Article published here

April 9, 2015

Back in February, a high school team of young women led by Coach Jill Arata competed at the Race and Performance Expo in St. Charles, Illinois. The team is making history as the first all-girls squad coached by a woman and is the only female team competing this year in the Hot Rodders of Tomorrow events.

The team hails from the automotive department at Belvidere North High School in Belvidere, Illinois and all are in it to prove a point: Women can be grease monkeys too.

My Maiden

I sat up and stared off into the dim light of the barn. A cool spring night breeze blew through the aisle. Maiden paced in her stall; her breathing was heavy, sweat thick on her neck. I looked at the time, the glow of my cell phone illuminating my makeshift bed of blankets and hay bales. 2:30AM. I had been awake all night and was going to be there until the foal came.

I leaned back against the wide boarded wall of the barn, pulling a wool cooler up around my chin. My eyelids started to drag, the darkness of the barn willing me to sleep.