She's happy in the fast lane.

Byline: PEOPLE By Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

Rochelle Pappel didn't see Danica Patrick almost win the Indianapolis 500 this year.

She was too busy winning her own races.

"I like to go fast," says Rochelle, 11, a fifth-grader at Willamette Christian School and a fierce competitor in the sport of Junior Drag Racing.

Unlike Indy Car contests, girls are fairly common in Junior Drag Racing, and the adult version of the sport has several well-known women. About a third of the competitors in Rochelle's Junior Thunder racing class are girls, says her father, Ron.

But not all of them have accomplished what Rochelle has.

"She's better than I am," says Pappel's brother Jim, 17, a racer in the National Hot Rod Association's High School Sportsman racing class. "She keeps her cool. She keeps winning."

Rochelle may not have a driver's license, but she's racked up an impressive list of racing accolades including three highly coveted "Wally" trophies, which are handed out to the winners of national events. Some of her classmates are envious of her burgeoning drag racing career.

"They think it's cool," she says. "They wish they could do it."

Rochelle started at 8, the minimum age required to compete in Junior Drag Racing. Now she is the Junior Thunder Champion for Division 6, which includes Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington and Western Canada. She won the Memorial Day Junior Dragster Nationals at the Woodburn Drag Strip and moved into first place in the overall points standings for her class. If she can hold on to her ranking, she will compete at the Division 6 Finals, Sept. 9-11, in Seattle.

She has attracted a host of sponsors including K&N Engineering, Inc., and Lucas Oil Products. Her goal, according to her family's racing team Web site, is to "be competitive in racing and look good while having fun and being safe."

"She takes it very seriously," says Ron Pappel, who races a full-sized Super Comp dragster in his spare time. "When she gets in that car, it's like she almost becomes an adult. She becomes one with the car."

A self-described "car guy" who owns Eugene Executive Auto Sales, Pappel says it took little prompting to interest his daughter in racing. As the story goes, the family was asked to watch a friend's dragster for the night and then 8-year-old Rochelle, whose interest already had been piqued by her brother, could not keep her eyes off the sleek racing machine.

"It looked like fun," she says.

The family ended up purchasing that entry-level gas-fueled dragster and has since upgraded to a new alcohol-powered vehicle, which Rochelle says is faster and cooler than the old car.

Splashed in pink, yellow and orange, the dragster has a purple lightning bolt down the side. It can travel 60 feet in 2.1 seconds and tops out at 80 mph.

The cars used for junior dragster racing are a scaled-down version of the adult cars. They sell for around $5,000 to $10,000 and require a fair amount of maintenance, says Ron Pappel. Rochelle changes the oil, refuels the tank and keeps the car clean. Her top speed in competition is around 60 mph.

Rochelle's mother, Karen, is not at all surprised her daughter has taken to racing cars.

"She has no fear," she says. "When she was 1 she was going down the biggest (playground) slide she could find."

Although Rochelle's fearless attitude serves her well, the "bracket racing" she competes in requires more than just a lead foot. The scoring is based on how quickly drivers leave the starting line and how close they come to their estimated time (E.T.) down the 1/8 mile track. Drivers have to make minor adjustments for temperature, humidity and other factors to ensure consistency.

On a good day, Rochelle will run up to nine races and spend 10 to 12 hours at the track. For protection, she wears a single-layer fire suit, a helmet, gloves, a neck collar, arm restraints and a heavy-duty five-point harness seat belt.

"We feel she's safe," says Ron Pappel, pointing to the crash precautions and the team of trackside safety experts required at every race. "It's been a great family activity for all of us. And what a story she can tell her kids, whether she stays with it or not."

ROCHELLE PAPPEL

Age: 11

Hobbies/activities: Basketball, volleyball, track, wakeboarding, piano, French horn, drag racing

Bet you didn't know: Rochelle has a snapshot of herself standing with top alcohol dragster racer Ashley Force taped to the inside of her car. "It's for luck," she says.

CAPTION(S):

Rochelle Pappel, a fifth-grader at Willamette Christian School, is a Junior Drag Race regional champion and a tough competitor.