Hi everyone! I’m Gabrielle McDonald, aka Gabby.

I am an unassuming 20-year-old, young woman with a part time job at a pharmacy in The Square Tallaght. But what most people don’t know is that I am a Top Fuel Drag Racer from Dublin! I have been racing since I was 13 years old, and have three Championship titles under my belt already.

I am not only Ireland’s Top Female Drag Racer, I  am the ONLY Fuel Drag Racer representing Ireland.

I race a 30 ft. long Dragster that reaches over 300mph in less than 4 seconds on a 1000ft track. At the start of May this year I went over to Santa Pod Raceway in the UK to try and complete my Top Fuel licence. To qualify for a Top Fuel licence you must run 4.7 seconds at 250mph or faster, twice. To achieve my licence I currently have one more run to complete.

I started drag racing when I was 13, in a class called Junior Dragsters. I discovered it with my parents while we were driving from LA to Las Vegas. In a small amusement park, which had go-karts and 4 dragsters on a rail, I decided to get into the dragsters and give it a go.

In Junior Drag racing, you qualify on reactions and in drag racing as a whole. How you react can either mean a win or lose. When I got into the dragster I got a 0.001 of a second reaction time. Which is an astonishing reaction time for a professional, let alone a 13 year old from Dublin who had never sat behind the wheel. I fell in love with drag racing immediately.

In 2010, at age 16 I won the Triple British Championships, which included Santa Pod Racers Club Championship, Shakespeare County Raceway Championship and The British National Championship. I became the first Irish, Non-UK and first girl to ever win all three championships at once. That year I was also leading the Nordic Championship, if I had been able to attend the final two races in Sweden, I could have won the 4^th Championship. But due to the lack of funding, other than from my parents, it was far too expensive and unaffordable for us to travel over to Sweden for two months to compete. That same year I was voted Sportswoman of the Year by Shakespeare County Raceway. Last year I was also nominated for the Tallaght Person of the Year awards in the sports category.

Currently Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Government does not recognise Drag Racing as a sport. I have appealed to Motorsport Ireland on numerous occasions to change their outlook on the sport. I went to Motorsport Ireland every time I won a trophy representing my country to try and convince them to change their mind to no avail. Earlier this year I met with Minister for Sport, Tourism and Travel Leo Varadkar and Minister of the State at the Department of Finance Brian Hayes to see if they could recognise the sport and to help with funding. I was referred back to Motorsport Ireland which I did again to no avail.

My goal is to obtain my licence which will allow me to compete at the final race event of the year, The European Finals at Santa Pod Raceway in the UK this September. With your help in raising the funds I can make the necessary arrangements to have a car and crew ready to compete at this event which I believe I can win, representing Ireland and doing us proud as a sporting nation.

Through racing this final event this will kick start my professional Top Fuel Drag Racing career and within the next 2-3 years become the first Irish European Champion.

I look forward to your support both morally and financially in the coming months. I will do us proud…

Thank you for your support.