Despite the tricky trials of her sophomore Pro Stock season, Camrie Caruso is brimming with enthusiasm regarding her future in NHRA competition.
Along with securing full-season sponsorship from returning partner Tequila Comisario, the KB Titan Racing driver is adamant that 2024 will see a better showing from her team.
“We started off really good in the beginning. Then we had our struggles, like everybody has mid-year, but I think we rallied through,” Caruso said.
After starting the season with a first-round exit, the 25-year-old bounced back during the next event at Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Caruso knocked out Deric Kramer, Cristian Cuadra, Matt Hartford and Bo Butner en route to her first national event win.
She is the second woman in NHRA history to win a Pro Stock event — the first was reigning champion Erica Enders in 2012.
“The first win was super special. A lot of my partners were there with me, and it was also the first track that I had a Pro Stock round win at the year prior,” Caruso said. “It was super cool to have a whole bunch of firsts at that track.”
The Pro Stock class will be back in action at the Chandler, Ariz., facility on April 5-7, giving Caruso a chance to defend her victory in the desert.
Approximately one month later, the NHRA schedule will take Caruso to Route 66 Raceway — another track where she’s stood in the winner’s circle, kind of.
In May, the New York native won the inaugural Pro Stock All-Star Callout during the Route 66 Nationals, earning a $28,000 bonus for her team.
“I never called anybody out,” Caruso said with a laugh. “I got called out all the times. But it was kind of cool to be able to win from that perspective — not really calling out, just participating.”
She defeated Cuadra, Troy Coughlin Jr. and Aaron Stanfield during the callout on Saturday, but experienced a first-round loss to Jerry Tucker during Sunday’s eliminations — another example of her up-and-down year
Overall, throughout 18 races, Caruso collected one win, reached the semifinals twice and earned a No. 1 qualifier award. Despite the struggles, the third-generation racer refuses to dim her spark.
“You have to shoot for (a championship) or what’s the point of all this time, money and investment? If we can’t shoot to win, I don’t want to be a filler. I’m not interested in that,” Caruso said. “That’s how I look at it and that’s always the end goal.”
Along with improving her on-track performance, Caruso plans to devote resources to building her social media presence and providing more value to her partners next season.
“Next year, we’re going to be even better,” Caruso said. “(Hoping for) lots of wins, maybe a championship. Gotta go big so, hopefully, we’ll accomplish those and make everybody proud.”