In life, there is often no greater motivator than being told that we can’t do something. It creates a fire in our souls to defy the odds and to seek victory over the doubters. And for Sandi Wold, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1991 and told that she would never walk again, those words became the driving force that ignited her passion for life and for racing.

“At that time in my life I was in a horrible place, to say the least, and it was devastating,” Sandi Wold explains. “Back in 2000, I had fought with the disease to get my physical, mental and emotional strength back and had decided from the day the doctor told me that the M.S. was going to take away my ability to walk that I wasn’t giving in to the disease – that I would conquer it.  To date I have done exceptionally well keeping my health in check, so to speak. I do walk, and one would never know that I have M.S. if they saw me and didn’t know it. So for now I cherish every day that I have the ability to do the things I want to do.”

Husband, John Wold, echoed that sentiment, “When she was diagnosed, the doctors didn’t give her much chance of being normal, and so for her, this is just an ‘I’ll show you’ message that she can do this.”

Sandi and John became interested in drag racing after their proverbial nest of five children emptied. With their children off to college and creating families of their own, and a shared craving for adrenaline evidenced by their snowmobile and quad riding, drag racing was a natural fit. “My husband and I felt the need to find a sport that both of us could enjoy together so we had things to look forward to. Hence the birth of my drag racing career,” says Sandi.

Now, twenty years after her diagnosis, Sandi and her husband John have embarked on their loftiest racing venture yet, entering the wild world of Xtreeme Drag Radial in the Pacific Street Car Association with their turbocharged Mustang that’s already run well into the seven-second zone. The Wolds’ 2000 Ford Mustang GT is a highly-engineered, purpose-built racing machine today, but like many race cars terrorizing the quarter mile, it’s beginnings are traced right back to the showroom floor.

“She bought this car brand new and did a little street racing, but I said ‘come on honey, let’s go to the track,’ John explains. So we went down to the local track and went a couple of rounds and she tells me the car isn’t fast enough. So we decided it was time for a supercharger.”

The Wold’s bolted on a ProCharger and got it dialed in with a FAST EFI and ignition system and proceeded to put the five-speed Mustang into the nines. But in short order, Sandi admitted it still wasn’t quick enough. At that point, John took the next logical step by outfitting the car with a turbocharger and double overhead cam combination that put the car well into the eights. Naturally, however, longevity issues creeped in as the cylinder walls cracked and valve seats began pushing out, leading them to propose a more purpose-built powerplant.

“A good friend of mine called John Mihovetz and asked him if he’d build us a motor. John said ‘let me talk to her’ and called my wife and told her ‘we’re having a race in Bakersfield, come on down.’ Well, Bakersfield is about 850 miles from here, so we hopped in the truck to go down there and meet him. We didn’t even know what he looked like, but we got there and tracked him down and he came out of the motorhome, introduced himself, and told us ‘sure, I’ll build you a motor.’ It was pretty funny, but that was his test to see if we were serious – to see if we’d take the time to drive down and see them run and discuss motors. And he knew at that point we were in because he’s pretty particular about who he builds motors for.”

After receiving the engine from Mihovetz and spending some six weeks getting everything wired and plumbed, John and Sandi decided the car they had simply wasn’t up to par for the kind of horsepower they were about to throw at it, and per an earlier agreed upon stipulation from Mihovetz, it was decided that it was time to put the once daily driver under the knife. That’s when Mihovetz referred them to Robbie Miller, who spent about 18 months beginning in November of 2009 bringing the car up to seven-second standards with a complete certified cage and chassis, suspension, wheel tubs, and other race-minded elements. Once complete, the chassis, interior, and engine bay were all powdercoated, finishing off what was an immaculate new piece.

“Robbie does spectacular work, and when we got it back, it was beyond our expectations,” John said. “And with it done right, I was more comfortable with my wife driving this car with a nuclear weapon under the hood. I felt like she was a lot safer.”

Built at Miller’s shop in Upland, Calif., the backhalved car sports an ’03 Cobra front clip and a custom cowl hood to give it the racey look, with an AJE K-member, Lamb suspension components on all four corners, a Mark Williams 9″ housing and four-link, along with a funny car cage and all the bells and whistles commonly found in an Outlaw 10.5 car. Black anodized Weld Racing Wheels and Mickey Thompson 29.5×10.5’s complete the rolling package.

Mihovetz and the modular experts at his Accufab Racing facility in Ontario, Calif. constructed the stock bore, 4.6L Ford Modular powerplant that features a dry sump oiling system, massaged Ford factory cylinder heads, and what Wold describes as fairly close to stock camshafts. “Because we’re running a turbo, we don’t need a lot of lift or duration.” The fresh new bullet is fed by a 91mm Precision Pro Mod turbocharger, while all of the engines functions are handled through a MoTec engine management system. The power is transferred through a Reid Racing-built two-speed Powerglide transmission and a PTC Racing torque converter.

While Sandi handles the duties of driving the Mustang, John performs all the maintenance on the car and even gets in a little racing of his own with his ’03 Ford Lightning pickup.

“It runs in the mid-12’s, and that’s fun for me,” John explains. “I don’t have a fast car like hers because we can’t really afford two of them. So I’ve got my truck that I bracket race and she’s got the fast car, and one of these days I might license in her car, but this is our first year out and we’re turning heads and we need to concentrate on what we’re doing now.”

Continued John, “she’s a heck of driver. She can handle this monster, and it really is a monster. It’s funny, because at the track, I’ll have other racers come up to me asking which lane I want and tell me ‘nice run last pass,’ and I have to tell them ‘you need to be talking to the driver.’ They ask ‘she drives that?’ It’s fun to surprise people.”

With the racing season already more than midway through, the Wold’s and Mihovetz are dialing in the combination for a run at the PSCA title next season, and even an East Coast tour to the hotbed of street legal drag racing is a possibility.

The weekend of July 1-3, in the first competitive outing with the transformed race car at the PSCA Summer Nationals in Fontana, Calif., Sandi was the #1 qualifier in Xtreeme Drag Radial with a stellar 7.79 at 187.83 MPH and reached the final round, where she came up just short in a bid for her first win to opponent Brant Campbell. But less than a month later, at the PSCA’s Showdown After Sundown at the Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Sandi emerged victorious, qualifying third and running low ET of eliminations at 7.79-seconds in the final round on her way to victory over Jeff Longden and a much-cherished trip to the winners circle. And for John and Sandi, it’s their hope that the Las Vegas is triumph is but the first of many.

“Despite what the doctors told her, she walks really well, and we’re going to keep doing this until she can’t do it anymore,” John explains. “And that’s really the name of the game. That’s why we ride snowmobiles and quads: so we can make memories while we can, because M.S. is terminal – you always have it. So, as long as she can physically do it, we’re going to do everything we can.”

Says Sandi, “Drag racing is more than simply driving a fast car – it’s my way of rising above.”