ALEXIS BATTLES THE ELEMENTS TO RETURN FOR 2021

by Bobby Bennett, Photos by Roger Richards    Thu, 2021-03-11 09:48

 

 Alexis DeJoria is such an adrenaline connoisseur that when drag racing shutdown amid a global pandemic, she was not one bit happy. When the 2020 NHRA season ended one month earlier than usual, and the 2021 tour started over a month later than in years prior, she wasn't too enthused.

"It was a very long off-season," DeJoria said. "None of us liked that, that's for sure. Ending in October, and then not starting until March. It takes a toll on the whole team and everybody's itching to get back on the racetrack."

Then in the midst of some of her worst cabin fever, on February 15, 2021, a major ice storm struck her hometown of Austin, Texas, leaving her without power and water.

"That was no fun at all," DeJoria said. "Texas was not prepared, obviously, for those kinds of temperatures."

The severity of the storm took DeJoria aback. But she did know the cool temperatures would have adverse effects on her not-so-volatile hobby.

"I went out to the nursery, got a bunch of plants, and I didn't realize we had this huge storm coming," DeJoria explained. "I had to put all the plants inside until the freeze was done. So my house looked like an atrium. It was pretty nice.

DeJoria, a California girl in the years before moving to Texas, wasn't acclimated to the cold.

"I could see my breath when I was inside my own house," DeJoria said. "That's never good. It's never good."

Before the storm hit, DeJoria admitted she spent a great deal of her time strapped into her Funny Car simulator, which is essentially the back-half of one of her old race car chassis with a non-functioning motor.

"I used to get in there for at least 20, 30 minutes, and then take a break, and then come back," DeJoria said.

And when she wasn't virtual racing, DeJoria was working on her latest business - helping to develop a new Tequila brand, Banderro.

"It's a family business, with my sister, my brother, and we have a few other partners," DeJoria said. "It's really good. It's been winning awards. Just has a really good taste. Great packaging. So we'll get some out here for everybody to try it."

 

 

 
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