Even though she grew up around racing, Jianna Evaristo did not always count on becoming a professional driver.
“I’d gone to my dad’s races, and I loved what he was doing, and of course, we grew up around racing,” Evaristo begins. “It was kind of like it was there in the back of my mind, but it was more like if the opportunity presents itself, of course I’m going to take it.”
[Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared in DI #191, the 30 Under 30 Issue, in November / December of 2024.]
As a kid, Evaristo raced Jr. Dragsters with her sisters, but not for long. “We only did it for four to five years just because we were so busy and lived pretty far from the tracks. We could really only do three to four races a year,” explains Evaristo.
Pursuing other goals, Evaristo attended college at San Jose State University, but during this time a big opportunity came up. “The opportunity for me to go racing really didn’t even come about until I was in my junior or senior year of college, and honestly, at that time I really had no plans of racing. I was getting my bachelor’s degree, and studying child development. I was going to go into therapy, so racing wasn’t even on my mind,” explains Evaristo.
Having this opportunity to go racing meant Evaristo had to decide what she wanted to race. With her dad driving Top Fuel, her background in Jr. Dragsters, and her sister getting the opportunity to drive an A/Fuel car in Top Alcohol Dragster around the same time, the big question was what she would pilot.
“I remember my dad asking me, ‘Your sister is doing A/Fuel. Are you going to race A/Fuel also?’ but I always loved motorcycles,” Evaristo says. “We just weren’t a motorcycle family, though. We had always grown up around cars. I always had that dream in the back of my mind of one day I’m going to ride a motorcycle, though.”
So how did her love for motorcycles come about? “When I was 19, I started riding on the street, and my love for motorcycles just really took off. I had that conversation with my dad, and I was like, ‘No, if I’m going to go racing, I want to race motorcycles.’”
Very humbly, Evaristo noted that they had no idea what that entailed. All they knew was what they had seen. “I had a lot to learn, but I just knew that they looked really cool, and it was something that I loved and had dreamt about. My whole family thought I was crazy but luckily were very supportive of it,” explains Evaristo.
Starting the journey, the family looked for a team that Jianna could learn from. Doing just that, Evaristo says, “I got my license my final year of college and 2019 was my debut season. It’s just so crazy to look back on where I was then versus where I am now, but it’s all part of my journey and made me the rider that I am today, thank goodness.”
Getting her first race win in her rookie year at the last race of the season was a big accomplishment, but Evaristo does not label that as her biggest moment so far.
“I’m not taking anything away from my first win – it was an amazing win – but it was also a really weird win,” Evaristo says. “That was the last race of the year, three people fighting for a championship, and I basically just ruined everybody’s day. I was probably one of the worst riders out there, had one of the lower performing bikes, and I won the final with a bad run.”
Evaristo has progressed leaps and bounds since her rookie season, so her favorite moment in her career so far came a little later.
“If I had to pick the number one thing, it would be this year in Sonoma when I set the record going 204 MPH and became the fastest female in the class while also tying Gaige [Herrera] for being second-fastest overall in the class,” says Evaristo. “I remember last year going 200 MPH for the first time and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this is it. Nothing can top this for me,’ but here we are now. I’m very lucky to have a team as supportive as mine that can help guide me through the ups and downs of my racing career.”
This story was originally published on February 7, 2025. 
