MEET the youngest female monster truck driver in America who started racing when she was a teenager. Rosalee has been driving monster trucks professionally since she was just 14. She is known as the youngest professional female monster truck driver in the United States. Rosalee’s truck, Wild Flower, is a 1932 Ford Coupe monster truck with 66 inch tall tyres, weighing approximately 600-800lbs each, boasting 15-16 horsepower and decorated with pink roses.
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MotorTranscript
00:00Jumping a monster truck is like flying.
00:03Now we're going 30, 40, sometimes even 50 feet in the air.
00:08It's pretty indescribable.
00:28Some people try and give me a hard time because I'm a girl once in a while, but you really
00:31can't let it get to you.
00:32If you do, then that's your biggest disadvantage.
00:40My name is Rosalie Raymer.
00:41I am 20 years old and I am the driver of the Wildflower Monster Truck and the youngest
00:45professional female monster truck driver.
00:47And we're here in Turlock, California today for the Spring Nationals.
01:02So I've been racing monster trucks professionally since I was 14 years old.
01:06When I was 13, I crushed my very first car and then by 14, I was in full-time competition.
01:11All right, hold it.
01:20I think I was too young to remember when I first started working with trucks and cars.
01:25I have pictures at three years old holding flashlights out at monster truck shows while
01:30the guys were working on trucks.
01:33As soon as I got the opportunity, I've always been working on trucks alongside my dad, whether
01:39that's working on his truck, helping build my own.
01:42You have that side?
01:46All right.
01:47My dad is like my best friend.
01:50You know, it's pretty great getting to spend every weekend on the road with him.
01:56At age 11, she was driving my truck around in the pit area, getting comfortable with
02:00it.
02:01It was just an ongoing progression and we just added that in.
02:05It just seemed like the natural next step to put her in a monster truck and set up one
02:10that fit her and her style.
02:18This is Wildflower, my 1932 Ford Coupe monster truck.
02:22She runs on 66-inch tall tires.
02:26That's five foot six inches.
02:28That's as tall as I am, but they weigh about somewhere between 600 and 800 pounds depending
02:33on the tire you run.
02:36Back here for our power source, we've got 565 cubic inches of blown alcohol motor.
02:43She's got about 1,500 to 1,600 horsepower and she runs on methanol.
02:47Back here is my wheelie bar.
02:48You can see it gets a lot of action.
02:50Last weekend, wheelie contest, bent it up a little bit.
02:57We've got two nitrogen shocks on each corner of the truck.
03:00To go along with the two nitrogen shocks in each corner, we run a four-link suspension.
03:04Monster trucks are a lot to handle.
03:05It's two different complete steering systems, a lot of horsepower, a lot of responsibility,
03:11but I think I was definitely ready when I jumped in the seat.
03:24Sometimes I say it's kind of like driving a roller coaster, but I have control over it.
03:31The highest I've jumped is probably about 50 feet in the air.
03:36I mean, the adrenaline rush is absolutely insane.
03:39Going 30, 40 feet in the air, you feel like you're flying and sometimes there's a moment
03:44of hang time when you're up there.
03:49Where you just lose your breath a little bit and you're not sure exactly when you're going
03:52to land, but you're still planning for when you do.
03:56It's pretty incredible.
03:57Ready to go, Dad?
04:01Ready to have some fun?
04:01Yes.
04:02All righty.
04:04Love you.
04:05Love you, too.
04:08All righty, good to go.
04:15I've probably competed in over 300 competitions.
04:27I've won multiple competitions, from freestyle to racing to donut competitions and wheelie
04:33contests.
04:45I'm studying mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech with a minor in industrial design, and
04:50right now I'm going into my fourth year.
04:52I try to keep monster trucks in school pretty separate.
04:54Right now, with the build of our new truck, we're working on the chassis.
04:57So getting all the tubes bent and fitted before we weld it up to start putting the rest of
05:02the truck together.
05:05It's a lot of fun.
05:06To be able to share something, a passion that you have together, makes it just so much more
05:11fun and exciting.
05:13Monster Truck is the only platform, really, where girls and boys compete on an even playing
05:19field.
05:19There's no girls' monster trucks, boys' monster trucks.
05:22We're all out there competing against each other together.
05:24I'm doing something I love to do out here, and I like to say I put my best into everything.
05:29Who think Rosalie should win tonight in the wild?