Behind The Wheel - #32 - Abby Larsen
A woman with a winning streak in the Women & Wheels class at Tulsa, placing 1st in both events held there, meet Abby Larsen. Abby is a mother of two and she’s not just a regular mom.. she’s a cool mom- with plenty of fun and fast SUV’s! Abby has two boys and has been married to her husband Shawn since 2009. Abby finds herself being pretty busy with work as she owns a child care facility, but her and her husband see racing as their date night.
Abby told me that growing up she always liked and enjoyed cars, and growing up she went cruising 12th street in Oklahoma. Who would've known that cruising would lead to her meeting her future husband and getting together with him in 2002. From then, she told me she followed in his footsteps and eventually got a Grand Prix GTP. The GTP was the first car she took down the track and raced before getting her 2007 Trailblazer SS in 2006. At the time, she was deciding between the TBSS and the GTO. She went on to tell me “The TBSS was the first vehicle we bought before we got married, it brought my two kids home from the hospital. It has so many memories wrapped up in it”.
The TBSS was kept stock for a while before eventually receiving a Magnuson 1900 supercharger, Devil's Own alcohol injection system, headers, exhaust, RPM built trans, and converter. It still sports a stock bottom-end, and doesn't even have an aftermarket camshaft! She has a personal best ET of 11.02 on the foot brake, and gives credit to her tuner of her ability to run that time and still drive it to and from the track. Her biggest supporter both on and off the track she told me, is her husband Shawn. “Our tuner says Shawn doesn't enjoy racing as much as he enjoys watching me race. He always puts his stuff on the back-burner every-time for me”, she said.
Aside from her 2007 TBSS, they have another TBSS holding the name “Second Chance”, this TBSS was originally owned by one of their friends Chance, who passed away before finishing his project.” His wife reached out to us last year and asked if we wanted to buy it. It didn't run, only had 24k miles, and had sat since his funeral. It’s now our project and I know we’ll make him proud and it will even sport his own company's alcohol injection system, Devil's Own, which was his goal”, she told me. This TBSS currently has a stroker motor, will be receiving a Magnuson 2650, and Abby has a goal of just making Chance proud. Abby also daily drives two badass mom-mobiles, one of which is a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and the other a Trackhawk.
Abby was drawn to the women’s class because, “It’s not as cutthroat. I still do compete in classes with men, but it's so much more relaxed and laid back. I was racing Brittany Glanzer and we drew each other, but we both drew the lane the other had been testing in all day. We just talked about it and decided to swap lanes”. Abby has competed in the OKC event last fall, and two Tulsa events, bringing home a win at both of the Tulsa events!
To conclude the conversation I asked Abby what she sees Women & Wheels doing for other ladies in this industry and she told me, “I think it's given those that are usually too timid the courage to go ahead and get out there and try it”. Her biggest piece of advice would be “If you're too scared to get out there and do it alone- ask for help! There's always someone willing to help. You can't make a mistake no one else has ever made. We have all red lit or made some mistake at the track”.
Abby is very tough but friendly competition and we can't wait to see where she goes with both her current and new vehicles!
Abby told me that growing up she always liked and enjoyed cars, and growing up she went cruising 12th street in Oklahoma. Who would've known that cruising would lead to her meeting her future husband and getting together with him in 2002. From then, she told me she followed in his footsteps and eventually got a Grand Prix GTP. The GTP was the first car she took down the track and raced before getting her 2007 Trailblazer SS in 2006. At the time, she was deciding between the TBSS and the GTO. She went on to tell me “The TBSS was the first vehicle we bought before we got married, it brought my two kids home from the hospital. It has so many memories wrapped up in it”.
The TBSS was kept stock for a while before eventually receiving a Magnuson 1900 supercharger, Devil's Own alcohol injection system, headers, exhaust, RPM built trans, and converter. It still sports a stock bottom-end, and doesn't even have an aftermarket camshaft! She has a personal best ET of 11.02 on the foot brake, and gives credit to her tuner of her ability to run that time and still drive it to and from the track. Her biggest supporter both on and off the track she told me, is her husband Shawn. “Our tuner says Shawn doesn't enjoy racing as much as he enjoys watching me race. He always puts his stuff on the back-burner every-time for me”, she said.
Aside from her 2007 TBSS, they have another TBSS holding the name “Second Chance”, this TBSS was originally owned by one of their friends Chance, who passed away before finishing his project.” His wife reached out to us last year and asked if we wanted to buy it. It didn't run, only had 24k miles, and had sat since his funeral. It’s now our project and I know we’ll make him proud and it will even sport his own company's alcohol injection system, Devil's Own, which was his goal”, she told me. This TBSS currently has a stroker motor, will be receiving a Magnuson 2650, and Abby has a goal of just making Chance proud. Abby also daily drives two badass mom-mobiles, one of which is a Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT and the other a Trackhawk.
Abby was drawn to the women’s class because, “It’s not as cutthroat. I still do compete in classes with men, but it's so much more relaxed and laid back. I was racing Brittany Glanzer and we drew each other, but we both drew the lane the other had been testing in all day. We just talked about it and decided to swap lanes”. Abby has competed in the OKC event last fall, and two Tulsa events, bringing home a win at both of the Tulsa events!
To conclude the conversation I asked Abby what she sees Women & Wheels doing for other ladies in this industry and she told me, “I think it's given those that are usually too timid the courage to go ahead and get out there and try it”. Her biggest piece of advice would be “If you're too scared to get out there and do it alone- ask for help! There's always someone willing to help. You can't make a mistake no one else has ever made. We have all red lit or made some mistake at the track”.
Abby is very tough but friendly competition and we can't wait to see where she goes with both her current and new vehicles!