IHRA: Dina Parise goes from Ice Capades to racing champ

To call Dina Parise's career in professional sports unique would be a gross understatement. Because frankly, there's no one in the world who has enjoyed the vastly different spectrum than what Parise has lived over her incredible career.

How many women can say they went from the Ice Capades to a world champion drag racer? That's what Parise has accomplished over her career, capped by winning the International Hot Rod Association's (IHRA) Pro Modified World Championship in 2015.

Parise grew up in Bellmore, Long Island and as a teenager, she aspired to become the next Dorothy Hamill, diligently working on becoming a world class figure skater.

"I'm not ashamed to let people know that I wanted to be like her," Parise said. "And I ended up working with her."

While Parise never reached her ultimate goal of competing in the Olympic Games and winning the gold medal like America's sweetheart Hamill, Parise did manage to earn a spot in the Ice Capades and skated with the same troupe that Hamill eventually purchased.

Parise remained a member of the Ice Capades for four years before meeting the man who would eventually become her husband, Andrew Parise.

Andrew Parise, another New Yorker, another Long Islander from Massapequa, was busy pursuing a career in motorsports.

"Andrew had just purchased a '67 Camaro and was racing that," Dina Parise said. "I had never even been to a drag race before, but I did watch it on television. I was a big racing fan, a huge A.J. Foyt fan. I went to a race with Andrew and fell in love with the sport."

She also fell in love with the man and the two soon married.

"I just loved the camaraderie of the sport," Parise said. "I loved how everyone got along. It's what I wanted to do."

Make no bones about it. As soon as Parise got hooked, she wanted to be a Sprint Car/Funny Car kind of girl.

"The other racing's not for me," Parise said. "After 100 miles, I'd need to use the restroom and I'd need a snack. If the race is only nine seconds, well, hell, I can do that. When Andrew built that '67 Camaro, I knew that I wanted to drive that car."

About 18 months later, Parise was a student at the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School in Florida. Within two days at the school, Parise was driving cars at 150 MPH or more.
"I was ready to hop into that '67 Camaro," Parise said.

Parise, who was also a hairdresser full-time at the time, knew that she wanted to drive the Pro Modified circuit.

"I wanted to drive the Pro Mod, because there weren't too many women in Pro Mod," Parise said.

Parise said that she was inspired by the great Carolyn Melendy, considered to be the First Lady of drag racing. Melendy was the first woman to ever drive Pro Mod.

"There were others like Annette Summer and Carol Long as well," Parise said. "I wanted to be like them."

Dina and Andrew, who was also already an avid racer, formed a two-person racing team.

"It was a family-run team, just me and my husband," Parise said. "Everyone who climbs into a car has aspirations of being a champion, especially if you have that athletic frame of mind."

Andrew Parise is your typical drag racing jack-of-all-trades, getting his hands dirty under the hood one minute and then climbing behind the wheel to race the next.

Andrew Parise helped to build a 1953 Corvette that he raced and in his first year of competition in the National Hot Rod Association, he set a new record in Comp Eliminator.

"We ran pretty well together," Dina Parise said. "We had a good thing going. Andrew had his car and I had mine."

Sure enough, there were times that they would compete against each other.

"That always made the rides home interesting," Parise said. "The budget was tight."

In 2014, the Dina Parise Racing (DPR) team paired down the vehicles to just one, taking a gamble on a Cadillac.

"Andrew said that the only person I can picture driving her is you," Dina Parise said. "We sold our two cars just to field her."

The "her" that Parise is referring to is named Stella. That's the name that was given to the glistening fire-engine red machine that the Dina Parise Racing team purchased almost two years ago.

The car was named Stella after Parise's late grandmother.