It may well be an NHRA first.

It most certainly was a first for the young and highly talented pastry chef at Lowe's Motor Speedway's Speedway Club.

In early November, Jessica LeCronier, a fourth year student at Johnson and Wales University, Charlotte campus and pastry chef at the Speedway Club, was commissioned to create an exact replica of the recently opened Zmax Dragway, home of the NHRA Carolina Nationals, in gingerbread.

It may well be an NHRA first.

It most certainly was a first for the young and highly talented pastry chef at Lowe's Motor Speedway's Speedway Club.

In early November, Jessica LeCronier, a fourth year student at Johnson and Wales University, Charlotte campus and pastry chef at the Speedway Club, was commissioned to create an exact replica of the recently opened Zmax Dragway, home of the NHRA Carolina Nationals, in gingerbread.

A sweet recreation of one of the newest and “sweetest” new facilities on the NHRA tour.

A two hundred hour labor of love, the Gingerbread version of Zmax Dragway went together a little quicker than the actuall facility but took almost as much planning. A trip to the facility to take photos, both inside and out, along with a review of the architectural plans were necessary to help capture a true likeness of the dragstrip.

With photos in hand, LeCronier crafted a set of stencils to assist in the baking and assembly. Cooking took a day, while the majority of the time went to assembly, with a close attention to detail.

“The toughest part was the glass windows,” LeCronier said. “The main building has so many different parts and making windows from sugar is not easy. For the main grandstands we used jelly beans to duplicate the colors of the seating in the grandstands.

Built atop a 4' by 6' piece of plywood, the main building stands 14 inches tall and has received rave reviews. In fact, Wes Jones, architect of the dragstrip, would like to have the gingerbread creation for his offices. Wanda Miller, manager of the Speedway Club is hoping to keep the creation on display at least through the May events at the speedway.

Like the real dragstrip, this scaled down version is a true labor of love that has brought a sense of satisfaction to the builder.

“The most satisfying part of building this gingerbread creation,” says LeCronier, “has been the comments made by Wes Jones, the contractors who actually built the dragstrip, the people who work at the Speedway and all those who walked by and admired my hard work. Its the greatest compliment one can receive.”

Lecronier, 21, is graduate of Northeast High School in Pasadena, Maryland. She picked up her baking skills first under the watchful eye of her mother, a tremendous cook in her own right and while attending the Center of Applied Technology North under the tutelage of Peter Akerboom. LeCronier placed first in cooking competitions in the State of Maryland and third in the commercial baking category, nationally, two years running at competitions held in Kansas City, Missouri by Skills USA. You can learn more about Skills USA by visiting their website at www.skillsusa.org .