She did both. First, she bought a Camaro-bodied TA/FC on July 30, 2005. It was built for Lynn Geengles from Watertown, South Dakota. He had sold it to a guy named Joe Percoco, who lived in Colorado, and between the two of them, they only put 33 laps on the car. So it’s basically a brand-new car, Matter said. Living in Austin, she naturally races out of NHRA’s Division 4.
Her license came in a round-about way. Some explanation is in order here.
Matter’s crew chief is Bob Miner of Stockton, California, himself a racer and TA/FC crew chief for Lou and son Stevie Gasparelli. Miner owns the company Fontana, a maker of racing blocks, cylinder heads and related items for blown alcohol cars. “I’m a pretty lucky gal,” Matter says. “It goes back to my connection with Louie and being around the car, pitching in and trying to help. Then when Bob found out that I drove a Funny Car, he wanted to know what my plans were, so we built this friendship and anywhere that we can, he helps us.”
She tries to arrange races where Stevie Gasparelli is going to be, so they’ll all be together. Miner does double duty, plus whoever else is there from his Fontana group. He’s real generous like that, she says.
Again, a digression about her licensing. Now, a month after she got the Funny Car, her son had a freak accident with her truck and trailer and all the crew’s tools. Ryan was to deliver Nancy’s Super Comp dragster to a new owner, but on the way through Idaho, he was blown off the road and he rolled twice and they lost everything, including the dragster. “I had no tools, nothing. So we spent the next six weeks trying to figure out how to get a trailer and a truck. We finally got a new trailer and a used truck and were able to get some tools, and we made it to a race in Medford (Oregon) in October, and I only got one lap. And it was another five weeks after that that we took it to Las Vegas and I only got one lap there. It’s turned into a really long process.
“Then we went to Vegas in January 2006 for the first testing of the season and I got in five laps, and with Bob Miner there, we figured out that there were things with the car that there was no way that I could drive it because of the way the steering wheel was; I couldn’t get my hands in it correctly, the throttle was completely wrong, it was fitted for somebody else. But at least I got in a couple of laps. Then two weeks later, I went back to finish my license. Then I went to Tucson and I got one lap, qualified, lost the blower belt at 900 feet, ran a 6.35, and my fuel was bad, which we didn’t know about, but at least I got to race,” Matter says.