Jet Dragster Champion Elaine Larsen Honored at SuperCar Week in Palm Beach

Driver of Florida Tech Dragster
Recognized for Influence, Mentoring

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Larsen Motorsports co-owner and Florida Institute of Technology jet dragster driver Elaine Larsen was the focus of a tribute to women in motorsports at the prestigious SuperCar Week in Palm Beach in early January.

Larsen was honored Jan. 6 in the Women in Wheels/Women in Motorsports Exhibition at the Tideline Resort and featured later in the week at the Race Experience/Palm Prix event at Palm Beach International Raceway.

Larsen, a two-time world champion, was recognized for her achievements as an influential woman in the motor sports industry and in particular for her efforts to help foster the next generation of high-performance-vehicles professionals.

“Being a strong, positive female role model is a job I take very seriously,” Larsen said. “It is so important to provide young women an opportunity to get hands-on experience in our industry and I am thrilled that at Larsen Motorsports we are able to do that on a daily basis.”

In 2014, Larsen Motorsports joined forces with Florida Institute of Technology in an affiliation that has provided many opportunities for students to experience the different facets of STEM disciplines. Operating out of a facility at the university’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design in nearby Palm Bay, Fla., and traveling the country as Florida Tech and STEM ambassadors, Elaine and her husband, Larsen Motorsports co-founder Chris Larsen, have illustrated the power of STEM and higher education to thousands of spectators and fans.

Since 2012, the Women in Wheels/Women in Motorsports Exhibition has paid tribute to leading women in motorsports. Previous honorees have included Lyn St. James, Ellen Greenleaf, Milka Duno, Lisa Matthews (the fastest woman on water), Kim Morell (the fastest women on two wheels), Martha Hirshman Buckly, and contemporaries Jennifer Nicole, Shea Holbrook, Patricia Kelleher and Nicole Shaw.

At the Tideline event, artwork of Larsen and her Florida Tech jet dragster was added to a lineup of art of past honorees.

SuperCar Week is nine days of auto enthusiast events held throughout Palm Beach County each January that draws upwards of 100,000 people.

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