Driver, pioneer

As a rookie in 2003, driving the “Grumpy Ole Men” twin-turbo gas open-wheel lakester, Kisner laid down a host of firsts and a third. She was the first woman to earn the prestigious Hot Rod Magazine Top Time Trophy with a blistering 325 mph speed driving a car traditionally slower than aerodynamically superior streamliners. She was the first and still only woman to have bypassed the Bonneville 200 MPH Club’s “slower” records and earned life membership with a 317-mph record that qualified her for the 300-mph chapter of the “2” Club. The record eclipsed the old mark by an eyebrow-raising 24 mph and made her the third woman to exceed the 300-mph mark. Not your typical computer geek, the West Virginia computer engineer worked on the intelligent flight control system for the F15 fighter plane and later worked on the International Space Station when car owner Joe Law offered her the chance to drive in 2003 as thanks for a new fuel injection design.