All I can say is that I've always loved to go fast in my car. – Ali Youngblood
CENTERVILLE — At one time or another in their lives, most adults have admittedly driven a car pretty fast.
Sure, some of us have done it more often — perhaps even broken-the-speed-limit-and-the-law fast — than others.
And then there's driving, well, really, really fast -- as in world-land-speed-record fast.
Up until five years ago, Ali Youngblood had always enjoyed doing the former in her car. Since then, though, the petite woman they call "Hot Rod" Ali has made a big name for herself doing the latter in a souped-up race car.
In 2011 her father, Don, owner of Youngblood's Hot Rods in Centerville, and her brother J.D. "got a wild hair," according to Ali, and decided to build a race car — a 1932 Ford Roadster — and soon set out to break some speed records.
And that's when the ignition switch started on this auto racing saga.
In August of that year, Don and J.D. Youngblood had taken their car to race at the Bonneville Salt Flats, so Ali and her mom, Sherry, "decided we were gonna go out there and support them," Ali said. "They had already broken a record, and we were gonna go watch 'em back it up.
"Just being out there for that short amount of time and watching my brother and all of that, I just remember looking at my dad and saying, 'I wanna do that.' And I will never forget the look on his face when I said that. He got the biggest smile and said, 'We're coming back, and you're driving.' And that's when it started."
Race team crew chief Barry Hadley remembers it well.
"She was out there walking around, and things were a little chaotic, and she walked over to that purple car and got inside it, sat down and said, 'I can do this,'" he recalled.
So in September of 2011, taking a page out of that famous line from the film "Top Gun" — yes, she had "the need for speed" — Ali made her debut as a driver.
"Looking back and remembering the very first time, I do remember that brief moment of claustrophobia mixed with anxiety mixed with 'What in the freak am I doing in this car?' I do remember that, but it only took one time and you can't put into words what it feels like," she recalled fondly of her first time behind the wheel of that race car.
She went 115 mph on her rookie run, then followed that up with a world-record run of 124 mph for a Class H (1.5-liter engine with 400-450 horsepower) vehicle.
"All I can say is that I've always loved to go fast in my car," said Ali, a 43-year-old mother of three. "But for me, it's always been 'I don't want to get caught' and 'I don't want to pay fines or tickets.' … So I think this was just that avenue that was like, 'Oh, now I can go as fast as I want and I don't have to worry about getting in trouble.' And better yet, it's legal."
The next year, they put a turbo motor in the car and she drove it 159 mph, shattering the old world record. And then in 2013, after Don built a new car using the same '32 Ford Roadster design, this time with a Class G 2.0-liter (600 to 650 horsepower) engine, she roared to another world record of 174 mph and set a track record of 162 mph at El Mirage, California.
In June of this year, she set nine new track records during a meet at Wilmington, Ohio, near Dayton.
And now they've built a third car with a 3.0-liter (1,000-plus horsepower) engine, and they'll be shooting to set another world record this weekend when "Speed Week" returns to the Bonneville Salt Flats beginning Saturday.
"There are 700-plus people in the 200 mile-an-hour club," said Don Youngblood, "of which there's only 23 women in it. And you have to set a record when doing it. She wants to become the 24th woman driver to do so."
Her racing accomplishments may come as a bit of a surprise for those who remember Ali as a soft-spoken former Davis High School volleyball player and high-honor-roll student who went on to be a near-4.0 student at Weber State University with a double-major in microbiology and chemistry, then later served in the Relief Society presidency and taught Relief Society lessons in her LDS Church ward.
But she views her newfound fame and notoriety as a race-car driver as something which, with all of the safety precautions that are taken when driving the race car, is actually much less dangerous than, say, driving on I-15 during rush-hour traffic.
"I feel more comfortable and more safe in that car than I do in normal driving, when I'm turning and looking and wondering what other drivers might do," Ali said.
"There's obviously the fear of what would happen in a wreck at high speeds, for sure. But I've also seen a lot of people come out of them amazingly well because of the way that these cars are built — much less serious injuries than all those people who are hurt in random accidents in regular cars.
"I know that every run I make, there's definitely danger involved," she said. "The one thing that gives me consolation is that, with a roadster and its low center of gravity and all of that, you should spin when you lose control, not flip. … And I think everybody should have to wear a helmet when they drive their cars. It'd be a lot safer world with a lot less injuries."
She says that her mom, Sherry, worries the most about the possibility of Ali getting hurt while racing the car. But Sherry, along with Ali's 13-year-old son Kyson, are also probably her biggest fans.
"My mom goes everywhere with us, and she's the last person that gives me the thumbs-up before a run," Ali said.
Ali credits her brother J.D. with making those breathtaking, slightly terrifying rides much more safe and secure for his big sister.
"J.D. is the engine-builder, and he is amazing," she said. "He's so good at what he does. He absolutely loves being behind the wheel, too, but he doesn't like to multitask. It's very stressful.
"We have different driving styles. He's just an awesome brother and super-supportive. What makes him tick is seeing the car drive good, seeing it not break down. He's totally awesome at what he does, and I would have to stop racing if he decided not to do this any more. I always say I'm just lucky that I get to drive the cars that he builds."
Hadley, who also serves as director of media relations for the Youngblood team, says that J.D. does everything in his power to make sure that Ali's safety is of utmost importance.
"I'll tell you, when Ali gets ready to run and J.D. is over there strapping her into the car, making sure she's safe and all ready to run, you see the close relationship between those two, and it's really something special," Hadley said. "You can see it in J.D.'s eyes — he is taking care of her. He really truly cares about her, and to see that relationship is really neat."
Ali works full time as the lab manager for Systemic Formulas, a nutritional supplement company in Ogden, and tests their products "to make sure they're safe and will do what they're supposed to do."
She lives in Farmington and has two other children — 16-year-old Kylee and 20-year-old C.J. — and though most moms might put their foot down at never allowing their children to put the pedal to the metal in a rocket with the ability to go over 150 mph, Ali feels differently about it.
"It would be kind of exciting to see my kids try it," she said.
—However, she admits that after suffering serious whiplash in a non-racing accident a few years back, driving a car at 170-plus mph might not be the best idea in the world.
"I can't go on the Wild Mouse at Lagoon or it might make my head fall off," she said. "So this is probably a stupid sport to be in with my neck issues. But like I said, you feel so secure at the time, and you can't just lay down and die. That was my theory."
She also said that it's a very expensive sport — fuel for these cars costs $25 a gallon and since there's no money to be won by being a world-class driver of this sort, those who participate in the sport do so because of the challenging thrill and rush of excitement it brings.
"There's no money involved. In fact, you kind of go broke," she said with a laugh. "Ultimately, it's about the records for a lot of people, I think. And truly, that's why we started.
"For me, though, I think it's kind of changed. I mean, it's cool to have records and say I've got records, but the racing is just a cool thing to do. For me, to go out there and not get a record, I probably don't get affected by it like my dad does. If the car's safe and relatively stable, and it's fast and it's fun, that's what's most important to me."
Don Youngblood, whose career was spent working for the Department of Defense, got into cars as strictly a fun hobby, but it has since become much, much more than that.
He pointed out that the success of their endeavor requires a total team effort -- which includes the help of more than two-dozen sponsors, companies like Garrett Turbochargers, Brookville Roadster, Speedhut of Orem, Optima Batteries, NGK Sparkplugs, 3M Wraps.com, Spec Clutch and AEM Electronics, among many others.
"It takes a team to do it," he said emphatically. "The bottom line is, it's a team. Ali couldn't do it by herself, J.D. couldn't do it by himself, and I certainly couldn't do it by myself. It takes all of us working together to make it work."
And these days, it's working pretty darned well for "Hot Rod" Ali and her crew.
EMAIL: rhollis@desnews.com