Billionaire heiress likes fast lane of NHRA

Alexis DeJoria will have the luxury of not having to sleep in a hotel this weekend when she races in the NHRA Las Vegas Nationals.

The 32-year-old Top Alcohol Funny Car driver can stay in her father's home about 15 minutes from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

"Hey, we'll get to save some money," DeJoria said.

Money is an issue for the six-year drag racing veteran.

Her father, John Paul DeJoria, started a line of hair-care products with Paul Mitchell and a loan of $700 in 1980. Last year, Forbes magazine ranked DeJoria as the 65th-richest man in America. His total worth is estimated at $4 billion.

But Alexis DeJoria has set out on her own in drag racing. Alcohol fuels her Funny Car, literally and figuratively, as her methanol-burning ride is sponsored by Las Vegas-based Patron tequila.

DeJoria has the looks to have modeled for Paul Mitchell and the guts to go from zero to 260 mph in less than six seconds.

She might walk an occasional red carpet with her father and likes dressing to the nines, but don't confuse her with other heiresses who seem to live in the spotlight. DeJoria prefers life in the real fast lane, running down quarter-mile dragstrips at breakneck speed.

"Red carpets are always fun. I'm a tomboy at heart, but I dress up with high heels any chance I get," she said. "But I won't ever get wrapped up in that whole scene."

DeJoria's free spirit is evident in her 13 tattoos, including a dragon around her right ankle. "I purposely had that one put on my throttle foot," she said.

She freely admits to being a "thrill seeker," which is why she skydives, rides dirt bikes and took up drag racing.

"My mom always thought I had a death wish," DeJoria said. "I don't see it that way."

Her mother, Jamie Briggs, has softened her stance on DeJoria's thrill seeking and will accompany her daughter at this weekend's event.

DeJoria could have mustered the funding to jump right into a top NHRA class but instead started by attending a drag racing school and worked her way through slower NHRA categories.

"It was important to me to come from the lower categories," she said. "That way I could get the feel of everything. That was important for someone like me who kind of came out of left field."

Her progression led to her making the championship round at last year's Las Vegas Nationals, one of her three national event finals appearances.

DeJoria's current ride, which she co-owns with crew chief Nick Bastio, is another step toward her ultimate goal of racing at 300 mph.

After the NHRA event near Dallas in late September, DeJoria made her first runs in a Nitro Funny Car -- an ultimate full-bodied race car owned by Del and Chuck Worsham. She was quick enough to earn her NHRA competition license for one of the sport's two premier classes.

For once, DeJoria isn't in a hurry.

She plans to make at least 50 test runs next year before eventually moving to the 320 mph class.

"I got my feet wet in Dallas and got a feeling for it," DeJoria said. "But you can never know too much about those cars before you start racing them."

She values every run, every lesson.

Last year at a race in Englishtown, N.J., DeJoria received more of a thrill than she expected.

After completing her quickest-ever run at 5.55 seconds and 260 mph while winning a second-round race, DeJoria's two parachutes detached from the rear of the car just past the finish line. The car sped into a safety catch net, which caused it to flip and land on its roof.

DeJoria was uninjured and undaunted.

"Life happens. It's unpredictable no matter what you do," she said. "I'm not going to sit in my house and hide. I'm going to experience the world."

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.