Seven year old Skylar Klassen's dream of drag racing is much closer to reality.

The Winkler girl fell in love with racing while spending weekends at the tracks with her dad, a race chaplain with Racers For Christ.

"I like racing because it's fun and it's a way to get out with your family, and there's lots of cool cars to look at," she says. "When I saw there were dragsters for kids I thought, "it looks like fun, so maybe I could try it.""

To raise money for her own Jr. Dragster, Skylar spent the summer selling lemonade at the local farmer's market. Earlier this month through a series of fortunate

To raise money for the dragster, she had been selling lemonade all summercircumstances and a generous local seller, Skylar had the surprise of her young life.

"When I walked into the backyard I saw my very own racecar," she explains. "I thought it was awesome, I gave my dad a big hug and did happy crying."

While the drag racing season has come to an end, Skylar is anticipating her first race next spring.

"I'm kind of nervous, but very excited," she says, adding she's been practicing at the go-kart tracks.

"To go really fast I want to push the pedal right onto the floor," she says.

Dad, Shawn Klassen, explains he couldn't be more proud of his daughter and her dedication to her goals.

"We spend a lot of our weekends at the drag strip and dirt track races as a family and it was cool at a young age she wanted to be a part of it," he says.

Klassen says as a family they were trying to find a Jr. Dragster, but didn't think it would happen for a few more years. After stumbling upon the racecar and sharing Skylar's story the seller wanted to help. Local businesses have also been touched by her story and offered to help sponsor the young racer.

"Every time she goes down the track I'll be very proud, and just proud of how hard she's worked to get to this point," he says.

The first drag racer in her grade two class, Skylar has picked her team name, Smarty Shorts Racing, and is looking forward to the arrival of her racing jacket before putting the pedal to the metal in the spring.

Skylar is anticipating her first race next spring.