{"id":34330,"date":"2020-02-06T17:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T22:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=34330"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:23:08","slug":"a-life-dedicated-to-muscle-the-nicole-amsberry-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/gallery\/2020\/02\/a-life-dedicated-to-muscle-the-nicole-amsberry-story.html","title":{"rendered":"A Life Dedicated to Muscle: The Nicole Amsberry Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originating in the 1960s, the term \u201cmuscle car\u201d refers to special editions of mass-produced vehicles specifically designed for drag racing. The term is still popular today, typically used when talking about modern Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> performance vehicles exceeding 800 horsepower. In a way, being a muscle car enthusiast is a lifestyle. It not only costs money to build the car\u2019s perfect body, it also requires a great deal of time and effort. Growing up with a Barbie in one hand and a Mopar in the other, NPC Figure Competitor Nicole Amsberry<\/a> extends the lifestyle of a muscle-car enthusiast as she focuses on perfecting both her and her car\u2019s body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicole and her father<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kevin Amsberry, Nicole\u2019s father, has bought and sold\ncars since his daughter was a toddler. Memories of Nicole\u2019s childhood include\nsitting in the driver\u2019s seat of Kevin\u2019s \u201968 Roadrunner with both hands on the\nwheel, pretending to drive. But, it wasn\u2019t always pretend; Nicole has just as\nfond memories of sitting on her father\u2019s lap as he let her steer. By age 6,\nNicole was zooming her ATV solo down the beaches of Southern California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Always driving<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A cheerleader who was an auto-shop class enthusiast,\nNicole broke all of the stereotypes associated with high school clich\u00e9s. When\nshe moved on to college at the University of Illinois, Nicole worked with the\ngrounds crew at Northwestern University, rode lawn mowers across fields to\ncut grass, painted makers and lines, picked up garbage, and did any other task\nassociated with maintaining athletic grounds. Inside the classroom, Nicole\npursued an education in health and fitness, earning a BA in Science in Kinesiology\nand an AA in Applied Science to become a physical therapist assistant. After\ncollege, she worked with the National Football League\u2019s Chicago Bears as a\nfascial stretch therapist until she moved back to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Having spent much of her life studying the\ninner-workings of the auto body and the inner body, Nicole started strengthening her own physique by training for and competing in the 2017 Figure\nDivision. Competing in the Figure Division was the first change for Nicole that\nyear. The second most significant event was when, for the first time, she got\nbehind the wheel of a Dodge Charger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Amsberry family already owned an SRT Hellcat and had\nanother two SRT Hellcat Widebody vehicles on order, so when Kevin received a\ncall about a dealership with Dodge Challenger SRT Demons in stock, he knew they needed to add it\nto their collection. Living in close proximity to the varying open and tight roads\nof the Southern California canyons, Kevin and Nicole were in no shortage of\nplaces to cruise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Father and daughter attended Bondurant High Performance Driving School<\/a> together in 2018. The program, which they extended to last four days (three for high-performance driving and one at the drag strip for SRT Demon drag racing school), rekindled Nicole\u2019s childhood vision of becoming a racecar driver. Throughout all of the drives that weekend, she never hit a single cone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once she returned home from Bondurant, Nicole confided in her father about her passions, and revealed that she was considering a change. Kevin was already retired, and after hearing his daughter\u2019s dreams, he encouraged her to quit her job in sports medicine so they could dedicate 2019 to all things cars and racing. Together, they would pursue their passions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 19, 2019, this father-daughter duo loaded up their SRT Hellcat Redeye and headed to SpringFest<\/a> in Pomona, California, to attend the Modern Street HEMI<\/a>\u00ae<\/a><\/sup> Shootout<\/a>. While there were no official time slips from the day, Nicole made approximately 16 runs with only a lunch break in between. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicole in the staging lanes posing for a photo with two little girls that were there with their father<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who was trackside had their eyes on Nicole that day, but no one more so than the younger girls, who were if not inspired then certainly impressed to see a woman behind the wheel of an SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat Redeye, out racing all the men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kevin and Nicole attended a variety of tracks and\nevents in their premiere race season: the \u00bc-mile drag racing muscle cars at the\nStrip in Vegas, Irwindale Speedway, and Auto club Dragway in Fontana, and \u00bd-mile tracks in Shafter, California, and Gila Bend, Arizona, with a top speed of\n160 mph from a dig!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Living as a racer and an award-winning bodybuilder is challenging. Each demands a lifestyle: time, money, energy. Nicole has had to find a strong balance of dividing her time between twice daily gym visits, meal preparations and racing. As racing events take up much of her time, she maintains her schedule by booking hotels with up-to-date gyms, packs her own food and naps accordingly.

During Peak Week, the week leading up to a show, Nicole undergoes two spray-tans, hair, make-up and an athletes briefing, all before seven hours of competition. Then, once the competition ends, Nicole preps her meals for the next two days, packs her bags, her helmet and all of her racing gear. With her father as the driver, Nicole finally sleeps in the car, which often includes a 6-hour drive to the next race location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nicole is currently one of the most influential female Mopar enthusiasts and racers, dedicating her life to figure competitions and drag racing. She shows women of all ages that they can shine on stage with confidence in the morning and cruise down the drag strips at night. Her positive energy and determination to be the best at everything she does encourages us all to recognize that there are no limits to what we can accomplish.

Nicole is a strong example of what it means to be part of the Mopar family. She recognizes that \u201ceveryone\u2019s cars are unique to them, but the one thing we have in common is that we all love Mopar. I have met some incredible people since starting this journey.\u201d Nicole continues by adding: \u201cWhether near or far, I feel incredibly blessed to have crossed paths with them along the way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Author: Matt \u201cSRTaddicts\u201d<\/a>

Photo credit to: Adam Kent Photography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hair & Makeup: Vera VanGuard<\/p>\n\n\n\n