{"id":48355,"date":"2021-02-10T12:30:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-10T17:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=48355"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:21:36","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:21:36","slug":"ms-hellcat-great-grandma-gearhead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2021\/02\/ms-hellcat-great-grandma-gearhead.html","title":{"rendered":"“Ms. Hellcat” \u2013 Great Grandma Gearhead!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While many of her peers are happy spending their twilight years going to bingo night or just sitting in a rocking chair staring at the world from the comfort of their front porch, this golden girl from Lubbock, Texas, can be found shredding tires while drag racing her 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat at the local drag strip. Carolyn Batteas, a 75-year-old great grandmother, is a far cry from the typical posterchild of Dodge\u2019s Brotherhood of Muscle. One thing\u2019s for sure, this senior citizen has no problem whacking the loud pedal and letting her supercharged kitty eat. Carolyn, a retired nurse, is not afraid to go fast and mix it up with competitors half her age. Her recent escapades at the Bondurant High Performance Driving School<\/a> have proven that. To fully appreciate Carolyn\u2019s adventures hammering 700- and 800-horsepower Challenger SRT Hellcats and Challenger SRT Demons, we have to look at her humble beginnings.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Carolyn<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Carolyn grew up in Kansas and Missouri during the conservative 1950s and early 1960s. She was raised in a single parent household, and was asked to help out with many chores, including raising her younger siblings. While her brothers enjoyed participating in little league baseball, climbing trees and playing with BB guns, the traditional customs of the Midwest dictated what girls could and could not do. \u201cGrowing up during this era, girls were expected to act different than boys,\u201d reminisced Carolyn. \u201cI could not play baseball, ride a bike or play on trees, it just wasn\u2019t what girls did \u2013 or so I was told. While my brothers played catch and shot BB guns, I had to stay inside and learn embroidery, but I was a bit of a tomboy.\u201d As Carolyn grew up, she began to drive, went to college, became a nurse, got married and raised a family, and eventually retired. Carolyn is not a native of Texas, and it was her daughter that brought her to Lubbock many years ago so she could be close to family. It was also relatives that would turn her on to the high-horsepower thrills at Bondurant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n