Camrie Caruso builds on family legacy of drag car racing at Gainesville Raceway

As the 2024 NHRA Pro Stock drag racing season leads to the Gainesville Raceway Friday, Camrie Caruso will be solely focused on moving up from tenth place in the Pro Stock All-Star Callout.

Regardless of how she performs at the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, she has already built an impressive resume and added to her family’s deep history in drag racing.

The second-ever woman to contest a full season of NHRA Pro Stock racing and just the seventh female driver in the history of Pro Stock, Caruso is a trailblazer in modern drag car racing.

A family racing legacy for Caruso

Camrie’s dream started in pursuit of her father Marc’s career in Pro Mod, not Pro Stock.

Her father and grandfather “Papa Joe” Caruso were both well-known figures in Pro Mod racing.

Due to this, Camrie knew her ambitions aligned with professional racing from a very young age.

After getting a start in the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League at 16, Caruso never looked back.

When four-time Pro Stock winner Alex Laughlin sold his entire racing operation, it gave Caruso and her sponsors the perfect opportunity to find a spot in the Pro Stock Scene.

Caruso already had the dream, but still credits the limited number of women in Pro Stock as a motivation for moving into that classification.

Onto Gainesville Raceway

Caruso and her team have a unique racing opportunity at this weekend’s Gatornationals NHRA event.

With possible inclement weather in Gainesville, she admits the challenge of not being able to go at full speed in the race.

Although Gatornationals will begin Thursday, she will be qualifying and competing from Friday to Sunday.

Caruso will look to build on her success in last year’s All-Star Callout, in which she won her first ever event.

Regardless of the weekend’s results, however, she is on track to set a strong standard for female participation in drag racing for years to come.