Reigning NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster champion Julie Nataas is embracing the steep learning curve that comes with driving a Nitro Funny Car, even after failing to qualify for the NHRA Nationals in Norwalk, Ohio. She’s been driving the Del Worsham Funny Car.
The Norwegian driver is in her rookie season behind the wheel of a Funny Car after years of success in dragsters. She said the transition brings a fresh challenge and renewed motivation.
“It’s a lot of fun, a lot of excitement, I guess I should say,” Nataas said. “Definitely different than a dragster, but I do love the challenge that a Funny Car brings.”
Nataas said she made the move after feeling stagnant in the A/Fuel class. She believes her background in go-karts, formula cars, and dragsters prepared her to take the next step.
“I kind of felt like I was doing the same thing over and over, so I needed that challenge,” she said. “With my experience in go-karts, formula cars, and other types of racing, I feel like I can definitely handle a Funny Car.”
Preparing for the switch wasn’t just mental. Nataas spent the past year and a half improving her physical condition to meet the demands of the new category.
“Over the last year and a half, I’ve lost 25 pounds and gotten a lot stronger,” she said. “I did that because I knew I was eventually going to be in a Top Fuel dragster or a Funny Car, so I just wanted to be physically the best prepared that I could be.”
Though the cars are more unpredictable, Nataas said she was not surprised by the physical demands of driving a Funny Car.
“Driving the A/Fuel Funny Car, I kind of already knew what a Funny Car feeling was going to feel like opposed to a dragster,” she said. “Obviously these Funny Cars are wild, they’re never going to do the same thing twice.”
She did cross the centerline in testing, but that was chalked up to a learning experience, of what allowances the Funny Car offers and doesn’t forgive.
“I knew I shouldn’t have done that, but that’s also what you learn from and it’s how it goes,” she said.
Nataas has been able to take advantage of the tutelage offered from a couple of Funny Car champions in Worsham and former dragster turned Funny Car pilot driver Austin Prock. Their combined experience helps her refine her skills.
“I only listen to Del and Austin for driving advice,” she said. “Austin came from dragsters and he knows that extra step going from dragster to Funny Car, so he can kind of see what I’m doing.”
She said Prock helps her catch lingering dragster habits that don’t translate in Funny Cars.
“Backing up, I’m backing it up like it’s a dragster, but I really do have to fine-tune and adjust that,” she said. “Austin is the one telling me that, while Del would’ve never really known why I was backing it up that way.”
Worsham has driven a dragster, though, winning an NHRA World Championship while driving for Al-Anabi Racing.
While some drivers might be bothered by the added grit of Funny Cars, including clutch dust, Nataas said it doesn’t faze her.
“People ask me if it bothers me inside the race car,” she said. “I’m like, guys, the clutch dust is the least of my problems, I can see through that. That’s fine.”
Her A/Fuel Funny Car experience helped prepare her for even the most abrasive conditions.
“We actually had an issue with the clutch dust to the point that it was not normal,” she said. “So I kind of got that experience really quick.”
Her father was hesitant about her move to Funny Cars, citing safety concerns, but Nataas made the decision independently.
“I just one day called my dad and said, ‘I’m going to drive a Funny Car and you don’t have a say in it. Sorry, not sorry,’” she said with a smile.
To her surprise, he gave his support.
“He said, ‘You have so much experience driving dragsters and go-karts and formula cars, probably more experience than most other people out here,’” she said. “He said, ‘It’s going to be a cute thing for you to fix.’”
Though Funny Cars aren’t typically described as “cute,” Nataas said her father uses the term with affection and humor.
“He never really wanted me in a Funny Car in the first place because he was like, ‘No, they can explode in your lap,’” she said. “But he’s all in now.”
Off the track, Nataas defies the stereotype often associated with Funny Car drivers.
“I was a tea party and the girliest girl I could think of,” she said. “So I’m definitely a girly girl. And then I come to the racetrack, I like to play with these Funny Cars.”
When the body comes down, it’s all business for the champion.
“There’s just something that happens when that body comes down,” she said.
