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When Sammy-Jo Johnson isn\u2019t playing cricket, she\u2019s driving trucks. And when she\u2019s not driving trucks, she\u2019s racing cars.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old Sydney Thunder bowler has been a staple of the Women\u2019s Big Bash League since its inception in 2015, but when cricket season\u2019s over, she\u2019s behind the wheel, either driving trucks for work or drag racing for pleasure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always had the passion and love for drag racing, I was doing that since I was 18,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI still race now in the off-season, which is a lot of fun, but I probably never thought of it as a career option because it\u2019s probably not something a lot of females get into.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I\u2019m passionate about, and I\u2019d love to bracket race [a form of drag racing with a handicap] later down the track once I stop playing cricket. But at the moment I\u2019m focussing on playing cricket because I\u2019m pretty lucky to get to do it as a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The automotive industry has always been part of Johnson\u2019s life. Growing up in Lismore, her dad was a truck driver, and she\u2019s been around workshops and garages her whole life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been around the tools, since I was a baby. So that\u2019s where the passion stemmed from, and then as I\u2019ve gotten older, my partner Brian he loves his cars, and he\u2019s a mechanic as well,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n
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Sydney Thunder player Sammy-Jo Johnson.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Flavio Brancaleone<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a race car, we\u2019re building two other ones, so we\u2019ve got plenty of tools and stuff we\u2019re tinkering with at home.\u201d<\/p>\n There are still many years of cricket left for Johnson, including the ninth season of the WBBL which started on Thursday night with the Sixers taking on the Stars at North Sydney Oval.<\/p>\n At just 30, she\u2019s a veteran of the game, but the growth of the competition since its first year in 2015 has been unbelievable, said Johnson.<\/p>\n \u201cYou go back to [the first season of the WBBL], you used to play two games in the one day at a neutral venue, and you might have a couple of people watching,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n