The idea for the Junior Dragsters Program grew from Bob & Leslie
Rickenbach. Having experience with there grand daughter who is involved in racing at Maple Grove Raceway in Pennsylvanian.
Seeing so many children watching family and friends race, they decided to introduce the children to a level of racing just
for them.
Junior Dragsters are approximately 14 ft. in length & powered
by a Briggs and Stration Engine which burns either gasoline or methane . The race distance is 660 FT or 1/8 mile. NHRA or
National Hot Rod Association speed is dictated by the drivers age and ranges from 45 to 85 mph. Imagine that sitting just
3 inches off the track. The program is only ten years old, having been invented by Vinnie Knapp at Englishtown, NJ, in 1992.
At this point there are over 6000 kids in the states, Puerto Rico and now St. Croix involved with the sport. The age for membership
includes 8 - 17 years old.
The Rickenbach's Program is a nonprofit with eight cars shared at
the time by 20 youth as young as nine and including a 16 year old, both boys and girls.
