While most ladies would probably choose to celebrate their one year wedding anniversary over a romantic candlelit dinner, Janice Llewellyn of White Lake, Michigan recently spent hers competing in the 3^rd Annual Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords All-Female Shootout at the Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Janice is not only new to Mustang ownership–she purchased her 2014 Shelby GT500 just under three months ago–but she’s also a virgin to the sport of drag racing. With that in mind, her first trip to the racetrack was a dream weekend.

With no prior seat time, this rookie racer exceeded everyone’s expectations in her achievement of two class wins at the event. With an 11.74 second average, she took her first class win in the All-Female True Street class, then followed it up the very next day picking up her second win in the All-Female Shootout.

The All-Female shootout used a three-pass average to determine the qualifying order, and eliminations are run in a heads-up format. Janice took out Peggy Schoenberger in round one eliminations, then moved into round two to defeat Danielle Amrine and advance to the final round.

There, she lined up against last year’s runner-up, Nikki Frost. When the lights dropped, Llewellyn was out first with the holeshot, then crossed the finish line first with a pass of 11.59 at 126.39 mph over Nikki’s run of 11.53 at 130.13 mph.

All Female Shootout Finalists Nikki Frost on the left, Janice Llewellyn on the right. Photo Credit: Bridgett Davis

Llewellyn’s GT500 is tuned by Don Walsh at Walsh Motorsports, and cracks 685 horsepower on the chassis dyno. The GT500’s modifications include a JLT Performance cold air intake for improved breathing, a Ford Racing single blade throttle-body, as well as a JBA off-road X Pipe to enhance both performance and the soundtrack of the Shelby-badged Mustang. Other mods include Ford Racing 3.55 rear gears, Nitto 555r Drag Radials and BMR rear upper and lower control arms to help put the power down.

Photo Credit: Cliff Moore

For her efforts, Llewellyn took home a total of $2,050 in cash winnings; additional awards included a 6-foot trophy and plaque as well as a VMP Tuning gift certificate.

Janice shared, “I was really nervous. I initially didn’t want to go since it was the weekend of our one-year wedding anniversary, but once my husband convinced me to race my car, I started to get excited about it. I had never drag raced before and had no idea what to do. Everyone I met was great. All the other racers were really nice and helpful. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would! I am hoping the next time I am at the track, I learn how to launch it better! I knew it would definitely be an interesting experience regardless of the results.”

That it was. Janice plans to continue to hone her skills with a possible sophomore appearance in 2016.