Hours before her race, Adrianna Delliponti had her feeding tube replaced. She suffers from gastroparesis, along with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardiac syndrome). However, Delliponti doesn’t allow those ailments to prevent her from steering a 600 wingless sprint or a sportsman modified.
“I was sick for five years,” said Delliponti, 17, of Norristown, Pennsylvania. “One night I just woke up with random stomach pain. Doctors found only 20% of my stomach was working. Unfortunately, there is no cure.”
Last year, doctors diagnosed her with POTS.
“I have to take extra care to be hydrated — I usually need to drink a gallon of water before racing,” Delliponti said. “I have a system to prepare myself for racing.”
Delliponti grew up racing .25 midgets, where racers first learned of her gastroparesis.
“I get a lot of support from other racers,” said Delliponti. “I used to have a feeding tube on my face. Everyone saw it, and their reactions strange. At first, people freaked out. Now, with the feeding tube on my stomach, only those who know me know what I have to go through to race.”
Delliponti competes at two tracks weekly. With the 600 wingless sprint owned by her parents Joseph and Danielle, she races Wednesdays at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. On Saturdays, Delliponti steers a sportsman owned by Kenny Gilmore at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. Gilmore, the 2021 track champ, serves as a mentor to Delliponti. (For more on Gilmore, read “Kenny Gilmore: Words of Race-Winning Wisdom”.)
“I want to be the first woman to win at Grandview Speedway,” Delliponti said. “I also want to gets some wins in the 600s — I have five second-place finishes.”
Adrianna Delliponti understands how far determination can take her. She carries a smile on her face, no matter what obstacle she faces.
“People who don’t know me don’t take me seriously because of two reasons — I’m a girl and I have a sickness,” said Delliponti. “If you do the work and stay focused, anything is possible. They will take you seriously.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
