License to Thrive

Peggy Llewellyn - drag racer

Peggy says: 

"My drag racing 'root' is firmly planted. My dad, Eugene Llewellyn, actually planted my
need for speed seed. He is the owner of Southeast Cycles in San Antonio, Texas and an avid drag racer himself. Our family outings consisted of loading my father's Honda nitro funny bike onto the trailer and heading out to Alamo Dragway. I can remember looking forward to racing each weekend with enthusiasm because besides watching my dad race, my brother and I would get to race against each other on our Dandy 'pocket rocket' bikes."

"The racing bug bit me (again) while pit crewing for my brother in late 1994. The same feeling I would get when my brother and I would race, the intensity and excitement of racing all came back to me. I asked my father if he would build me a dragbike, mind you he already had an idea of what kind of dragbike he wanted to build me, he just wanted to make sure I was going to be 100% committed to the project. He didn't want me to get fed up and abandon the whole thing. My father sat me down and went over the cost and time it would take to build a dragbike. Within a week I had bought a GS1150, my dad and brother totally gutted the bike and sent the bare chassis to Robbie at RLM (in San Antonio) to get raked. I had already used all of my savings, but my drive and determination wouldn't let lack of money be a problem for me. I took on a second job, worked some overtime and used my quarterly bonuses to finish my dragbike. In the meantime, my father and brother
wanted me to get a feel for a dragbike."

 "I was already looking past just racing at the local track. Turning my hobby into a 'career' as a professional racer like Dave Schultz and John Myers was highly unlikely, ESPECIALLY for a woman. I decided I would hone my skills, get my license and race the Division 4 circuit. All that changed in July 1996 when Stephanie Reaves (the first women to ever receive an NHRA PSB license and qualify for a national event) along with Angelle Sampey and Karen Stoffer qualified for the Mile-High Nationals in Denver. The prostock motorcycle class was forever changed. These women came into a male-dominated sport and proved they were a force to be reckon with. Without these pioneers, it would be impossible for me to even consider a career in drag racing, at that point I reassessed my priorities. It took 2 1/2 years before my bike was finished, but I had decided to make racing a prostock motorcycle my #1 goal."

-Won first career final round appearance, becoming the first black woman
to win an NHRA POWERade event (Dallas 2007)

-Earned appearance in first ever Countdown to 4 and Countdown to 1

-Finished in the POWERade top five in standings

-Posted career-best time and speed