It’s Mustang Girl Monday brought to you by Team Mustang Girls. If you were at the NMRA All-Star Nationals in Atlanta this past weekend you may recognize Rebecca Starkey and her 8 second street car, a 2011 5.0 Mustang with VMP Gen II TVS Supercharger. This year Rebecca is racing her first full series in a heads-up class, Coyote Modified.  To date, her best is 8.95 @ 150.9 on a 1.242 60’.  Additionally, she is a mother of 4 and a nurse practitioner, nurse-midwife.

Rebecca started drag racing when she was 17 years old.  She grew up listening to stories of her mom racing snowmobiles and her dad road and ice racing.  Unfortunately the stories were all distant memories; neither of her parents raced after having children.  Rebecca was raised in Daytona Beach, home of world famous racing.  As a preteen, she began bicycle motocross racing on a whim.  “Racing was always around me.  At times, it was distant and vague but it definitely made an impression”.  The moment when Rebecca got her driver’s license she announced that she wanted to race.  Her dad suggested drag racing, citing its relatively inexpensive entry point.  She bought her first car, a 1995 Mustang, and quickly began modifying it and making trips to the local drag strip.

It was there that Rebecca met her husband when they were both drag racing Mustangs.  He had an aftermarket parts company that evolved and flourished into a supercharger manufacturing and performance tuning company.  In 2010, they bought a 2011 5.0 Mustang.  It was an exciting prospect; the legendary 5.0 Mustang was returning.

The Starkeys were excited to begin modifying the car and testing its performance potential.  Naturally, her husband developed a supercharger for the 5.0 Coyote engine. They were shocked and impressed with the results.  Rebecca went a 9.79 at 143 in March of 2011 at the first Coyote Shootout.  She did this on a stock engine, stock transmission, stock torque converter and drag radials.  The positive displacement supercharger was a match made in heaven for the Coyote engine. After her 9 second runs in 2011, Rebecca took some time off from racing and just recently made her come back at the NMRA season opener in Bradenton in 2014. She went 9.6s that weekend in heat with a brand new Aluminator engine.  She ran in several other events, overcoming challenges along the way and eventually got the car down to its best time of 8.95.

During  her time off Rebecca focused on building her family. She and her husband have four kids; they are seven, five, three, and one. Rebecca home schools the kids and has completed two Bachelor’s degrees and two Master’s degrees.  “People often comment on how many things I do concurrently.  I owe my belief that I can do anything and can have everything to my mom.  I watched her go through nursing school while serving our country in the United States Air Force while raising my brother, sister, and me.  She always worked hard to excel at everything she did.”

Rebecca really enjoys driving the car on the street.  She drove the car 120 miles to the NMRA season opener in Bradenton a few weeks ago and her kids enjoy riding in the Mustang. In addition to her hard work and her mother and father’s influence, Rebecca owe’s a huge amount of gratitude to her husband, Justin. “He has supported me and been my best friend in everything that I’ve done.” Rebecca would also like to thank  VMP Tuning, BMR Suspension, Brisk USA, Gulf Racing Fuels, TRZ Motorsports, HP Tuners and JLT Performance. Keep up with Rebecca and her results on www.facebook.com/rebeccastarkeyracing.

Each week Team Mustang Girls features a different woman and her Mustang. Check out the past featured ladies from Mustang Girl Monday and submit your own Mustang story at TeamMustangGirls.com.