DeJoria is the daughter of John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Paul Mitchell hair products and Patrón Spirits, and Jamie Briggs. She has a daughter named Bella from a previous relationship. She was previously married to television personality and motorcycle customizer Jesse James; the two announced their separation in March 2020. As of 2022, DeJoria's net worth was reported at approximately $100 million, placing her among the wealthiest female athletes in the world.
DeJoria entered NHRA competition in 2005, beginning in the Super Gas category before progressing to Super Comp dragsters. Eight months after her debut she won the Sportsman Nationals in Fontana, California. She then spent two years racing on the West Coast in Top Alcohol Funny Car, and in 2009 formed her own operation, Stealth Motorsports.
At the 2011 NHRA Northwest Fall Nationals, she won her first NHRA national event title in Top Alcohol Funny Car, becoming only the second woman ever to win at that level. Later in 2011, she joined Kalitta Motorsports — owned by Connie Kalitta — as their fourth driver and second Funny Car pilot, making the step up to nitro Fuel Funny Car at the Texas Fall Nationals.
DeJoria drove a Toyota Camry for Kalitta Motorsports with primary sponsorship from Patrón Spirits Company. In 2012, she reached her first professional final-round appearance at Bristol and set career bests of 4.032 seconds and 319.07 mph at Reading.
The 2013 season produced four semi-final appearances. In 2014, DeJoria delivered her most significant milestone: at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona she became the first woman in history to record a sub-four-second elapsed time in Funny Car, running a 3.997-second pass. At her next race in Phoenix she won her first professional Funny Car national event. A win in Las Vegas followed in March 2014. She broke the Funny Car track record at Atlanta Dragway in May 2014 with a 4.012-second run while earning the number-one qualifier spot, then broke the Brainerd International Raceway Funny Car ET record with a 4.010-second pass and reset it herself at 3.998 seconds — the first sub-four-second Funny Car run at that facility. She won the prestigious U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis in September 2014. In June 2015, she reached the final round at the Summernationals in Englishtown.
After a two-year hiatus, DeJoria announced her return to full-time competition in late 2019. She formed a new team led by crew chiefs Del Worsham and Nicky Boninfante, with multi-year sponsorship from ROKiT Phones and ABK Beer. Her stated goal for the 2020 season was to become the first woman to win a Funny Car championship.
DeJoria's 2014 sub-four-second pass at Pomona established a permanent marker in NHRA Funny Car history. Her path from Super Gas sportsman competition to national event wins in nitro Funny Car, and her repeated barrier-breaking runs at multiple tracks, secured her place among the sport's leading competitors. Her career also raised the profile of women in the Top Fuel and Funny Car ranks at a time when the class was making its fastest elapsed-time advances.