Michelle Bongiovanni

At the age of 19, Michelle Bongiovanni became the youngest driver to capture a Ford Performance Cobra Jet Shootout title when she won the Watson Racing Cobra Jet Shootout this past weekend at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout in Bradenton, Florida.

The New Jersey runner came from the 11th qualifying position with her 2008 Super Stock Ford Mustang, winning four rounds to win the CJ Shootout title. This is her second win in the Micro Strategies-backed Mustang, and adds to her racing resume that includes multiple Jr. Dragster championships.

Michelle Bongiovanni vs Anthony Bongiovanni

Bongiovanni got off to a good start when she defeated her father, Anthony, in the opening round, taking .069 at the stripe in a close duel. She then took on Green Bay’s David Swanson, who fouled away his chances. In the semi-finals, Bongiovanni faced the fierce Cobra Jet of Don Fezell, but Fezell also missed the tree (-.018), handing the win to Bongiovanni.

On the opposite side of the ladder, Paul Roderick was handling business with his 2013 CJ. He defeated Gardner Stone, Carl Tasca and Ken Miele on his way to the final.

Paul Roderick

As the sun set on Bradenton Motorsports Park the pair of Cobra Jet Ford Mustangs lined up with Bongiovanni dialed 8.64 and Roderick dialed 8.93. The silver CJ of Roderick left first and Bongiovanni was soon on the march. Bongiovanni had a slight advantage on the tree (.066 to .094) and that gave her room at the stripe to tighten the gap. She ripped the gas three times and took the stripe first, running 8.67 at 147 mph. Roderick had a clean lap, posting an 8.95, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the hard-charging Micro Strategies-backed CJ of Bongiovanni.

“This is so cool,” said Michelle Bongiovanni, a Penn State student, who was behind the wheel for the first time in 2017. “It was an amazing weekend, I mean really, it was pretty awesome, considering the end of last year I got out of my groove. This boosted my confidence and I’m excited to go racing again this weekend [Bongiovanni will compete at the Division 2 Lucas Oil event in Gainesville, Florida this weekend]. It was also pretty nice beating my dad. He beat me one other time and he held me too it, now we’re even.

“The other thing I loved was racing with the NMRA. This was my first time racing NMRA and I really liked the crowd. It was a lot younger, the stands were packed, and the whole place was filled with Mustangs. While you’re driving you don’t notice anything or anybody, but after, in the winner’s circle, I realized how many people were rooting for me and it was cool seeing so many girls racing in all the different classes.

Of course I have to thank Optima Batteries, Micro Strategies, Resource1, REVan Media, and my family. My dad is awesome for letting me do this and my crew is amazing, too. We couldn’t do this without Ricky [Hertzog] our crew chief.

Paul Roderick

Ricky Hertzog