Chiropractor Jill Hartzell is - Racing in a ‘Man’s World’

by: DrTirpak posted: August 06, 2012

Dr. Jill Hartzell (aka Jill George) is a Chiropractor by day and a Racecar Driver the rest of the time. The 2006 Palmer College of Chiropractic graduate has a passion for dirt Late Model car racing and with her permission CE Cruncher re-posted an article she contributed to the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

I try to do something no other woman in the country is doing.

I race super late model dirt cars across the country and I do it against the very best men and boys out there. Nearly all the guys I race against are full-time drivers. They race for a living.

It is a huge challenge and, like many other sports, there are huge highs and devastating lows, sometimes within minutes of each other.

I have been an athlete all my life. I was a state champion in track at Newton High School, a Missouri Valley Conference track athlete at UNI and a Golden Gloves boxing champion. Nothing, however, compares with the difficult nature of trying to maneuver a 2,300-pound, 850-horsepower dirt late model car around all sorts of different race tracks from West Virginia to Florida to Minnesota and all points in between.

I race under my maiden name, Jill George. I do that because my husband (former UNI athletics director Rick Hartzell) said if someone wants to be mad at me, he doesn’t want the family name attached. He is kidding of course, but the Jill George name has a nice ring to it and is my brand of sorts.

I have raced ARCA cars at Daytona, tested a Roush-Yates car at Talledaga — where I went faster than 200 miles per hour — and raced ASA asphalt cars at Hawkeye Downs, the Milwaukee Mile and at my home of Newton.

But dirt racing is my passion and where I have had some moderate success. People would find it unusual, but my goal every night is to make the feature race, not necessarily to win. Just making the race is a win for me most nights because the high level of the competition and my own expereince and ability. I try to learn something new every night, to get better, to do my very best and I try to keep our equipment in one piece.

Most of the time, that is what happens. I have had a couple of scary wrecks this summer, one at Middlebourne, W.Va., when my throttle stuck wide open. I got bumped in the right rear corner of my car and I hit the wall head on, completely destroying the car. I spent night at a West Virginia hospital.

I am not scared, maybe not very smart, but I like the speed, I like the extreme challenge of what I do, and I like to compete.

I get treated with great respect by nearly everyone I race against. Many nights, especially if I am doing pretty well, some of the local racers we race against have trouble getting beat by a woman and things can get a little rough. But the professional guys I race against on the World of Oulaws or Lucas Oil tour treat me just like anyone else. They race hard, but clean and they respect their own equipment and mine.

Most of my issues come when I make a mistake, or we don’t have the car just right and then some things can happen that are not so good. But the challenge, and the highs that you get from some success bring you back to try again and again.

The car I drive is 2011 Rocket chassis, made in West Virginia. It has Chevy Camaro decals but the cars are really all the same in terms of body styles, they just carry different stickers and sponsorship. I am sponsored by Schaeffer Oil, Base Racing Fuel, Mike Molstead Motors of Charles City, Dirt Late Model Magazine, Hartzell Family Chiropractic (my business) and Gale Force Shocks.

I have two cars, which is necessary if you are going to race all over the country. My motors produce about 825 horsepower and the cars can reach speeds of 125 mph on dirt, which is not always great for traction. Often, it is just like driving on the ice and snow in Iowa. It can be very slick, and that makes finding traction really tough.

For instance, most of the time the NASCAR cars you see on TV are not chasing traction. They are trying to find speed, good handling and cars that turn well. Our cars are built to turn left, and when you can find good traction and get a car that will “stick” to the race track you can really run well. If not, you have to back off the gas, not spin the tires due to all the horsepower and “slow down to go faster” if that makes sense.

We run a variety of compounds of tires, and if the car set up (shocks, springs, and other adjustments) and the tires are right, then these cars are really fun to drive. If those things are not just right then these cars can be a real handful to manage.

Most nights we run hot laps (practice), then we qualify with the fastest timing cars starting up front in the heat races. The heat race finish sets up the feature line up. You only get paid for the feature race finish. In the feature, 24 cars start and many nights there will be 40-plus trying to qualify. So, making the race is not easy.

The feature races usually pay $10,000 to win and $700 to start. Race gas is $8 a gallon, tires are $150 each, motors can run anywhere from $20,000 to $40,000 each (although ours are on the low end of that) and the cars themselves are worth about $18,000 or so.

The really good guys can make $150,000 to $200,000 a year or more. But when you factor in the costs for travel, diesel fuel, food and expenses making a living racing is not easy to do.

I am not a professional racer. I am a chiropractor by profession and Rick and I, with the help of some sponsorship, are able to race like we do as long as we watch our pennies. I make some money selling t-shirts and other souvenirs to fans who root for me and are happy to see a woman try to do something in a “man’s world.”

I am not trying to be Danica Patrick or anyone else for that matter. I am just trying to do something very hard that is a huge challenge, do it to the best of my ability and get better every night.

You can keep up on Jill’s racing career .  Interested in sponsorship opportunities contact MPM Marketing

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