Shona Mendoza

Little did Shona Mendoza know that a bit of a workshop wind-up with an employee would end up in an addiction to drag racing. The discussion was over whose car would be quicker — the employee’s Nissan Skyline or Shona’s daily driven five-litre EK Holden. Of course, the only way to settle it would be by taking both cars to Masterton Motorplex and racing down the quartermile. After some initial trepidation, the car ran a 14.6-second pass. Before long, Shona had got the car down to a best of 13.7s but with a desire to go a whole lot faster. The EK was never going to be the right car for it, so Shona purchased a Series 4 Mazda RX-7, and her husband, Shane, installed an LS1. As the pair run Mendoza Mechanical, the work was all done in-house. along the way, and the goals changed just as fast. High 10, low 10, high nine, low nine, and now, with a current PB of 9.24s at 148mph, the goal is to run an eight-second pass. The drag racing bug has rubbed off on the pair’s kids, with Jacinda (15) and Jackson (11) now both racing junior dragsters. This makes Shane a busy man come race day, looking after all three cars and drivers, but it’s become a great escape from the stress of running the business, and the family couldn’t be happier with their decision to go racing. So far, Shona’s racing career has been relatively incident-free, with the only scare being the bonnet coming up mid track on one pass — although Shona says it was more embarrassing than scary. While she’s loved every trip to the strip, it adds to the appeal when people come up and tell her how ecstatic her kids are as they watch her from the start line. She knows that she’s done well when she sees Jackson fist pumping with the timeslip in hand. Ironically, rather than brag about her achievements, Shona tends to play them down, stating that if she were to bring them up in a group of women, it’d become a conversation-killer. In the right circles, though, she gets plenty of welldeserved and good feedback and compliments, which, in turn, inspires in her the confidence to go even faster.

THE DRAG RACING BUG HAS RUBBED OFF ON THE PAIR’S KIDS, WITH JACINDA (15) AND JACKSON (11) NOW BOTH RACING JUNIOR DRAGSTERS

On the first pass, the car was quicker than the Holden had ever been. From there, things have continued to progress, the car gaining a turbo

PB TO DATE: 9.24s at 148mph SPONSOR: Mendoza Mechanical SHONA THANKS: All the drivers who have given me advice along the way about driving, burnouts, the tree, and everything else — a lot is self- taught but putting different tips into practice has...

AGE: 44 DAY JOB: Self-employed DAILY-DRIVER: V8 Ford Explorer, V8 EK Holden DRAG CAR: 1988 Mazda RX-7 Series 4