Women in Racing
| 28 February 2007
The other day I was thinking about the 2007 NHRA POWERade drag racing season. I was wondering who would be strong in Funny Car because the 2006 Funny Car season was extremely competitive. Could it be more so under the new-for-2007 points system?
Anyway, one thought led to another and the name Ashley Force came to mind. If all goes as planned, she’ll be driving one of the John Force Racing Mustangs. The 8000 hp Funny Car monsters are arguably the most temperamental and the most difficult machines to drive in the POWERade series.
With Ashley Force in mind, it was only a small step to the overall topic of women in racing. There have been female race car drivers almost from the beginning but the strength of the “good old boys 
club” has mainly kept females confined to club racing, so called “powder puff” events, and the lesser organized series. The question is why? Is it that women are not as good behind the wheel, are they not capable of putting themselves in the “zone” where a winner’s killer instinct resides (i.e., full-on controlled aggression), or is it primarily the testosterone barrier that has kept them out of the top series? Draw your own conclusions but recognize that women are finally becoming more and more visible in the motorsports arena. It’s not a done deal by any means but as name teams in the top series commit time, energy, and money to female drivers and female crew members, it’s only a matter of time until the results begin to appear in the win column.
Certainly the relatively new push to promote diversity is having a positive effect but at least as important are the talent of the newcomers and the legacy of the modern era trail blazers starting with Janet Guthrie and Shirley Muldowney in the mid 1970s. With Guthrie’s and Muldowney’s tenacity and no small amount of talent, they opened the door a crack and the trickle of women that followed is now growing into a stream. And if you couldn’t pick among talent, instinct, and testosterone in the previous paragraph, you need only to follow the careers of the more recent female participants to see that there is no lack of talent. Mostly we hear about drivers but there are noteworthy female crew members, as well. Not all are associated with Ford products but many are.
A brief look at four of racing’s modern-era female trail blazers follows. Others could be added but I’ll concentrate on the four that I’ve chosen. After those four, there are thumbnail sketches for nine of the newcomers. Again, there are many more but those nine will give you a reasonable glimpse of the female racers of today.
Janet Guthrie—A pilot, a flight instructor, and an aerospace engineer, Guthrie began racing in SCCA in 1963, at age 24. By 1972 she was racing full time and had several overall wins in SCCA races and class wins in more significant races such as the Sebring 12-hour endurance race (1967, 1970). In 1976, she qualified for her first Winston Cup race and became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR super speedway event (Charlotte World 600). She ran in 33 more Winston Cup events over a four year period with 6th being her best finishing position. Also in 1976, she was the first woman to enter the Indianapolis 500; she earned her rookie license that year. In 1977 she was the first woman to qualify for the 500; she finished 29th. She raced at Indy again in 1978 and 1979 with her best finish being a 9th in 1978 driving for a team that she formed and managed. Her 1979 Indy car was a LOLA powered by a Ford Cosworth. She was elected to the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame and inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Her driving suit and helmet reside at the Smithsonian Institute. You can read her autobiography published in 2005 under the title Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle.
Shirley “Cha-Cha” Muldowney—Muldowney was the first woman to qualify for a drag racing license in the United States (1975). In another first, she was the first female to drive a quarter mile in under six seconds. With Connie Kalitta as crew chief in 1977 and (now) husband Rahn Tobler as crew chief in 1980 and 1982, she won the NHRA Top Fuel championship, becoming the first person, male or female, to win it three times. She is still a good will ambassador sought out by fans at the drag strip. Her biography was published in 1988 under the title Shirley Muldowney by Jane Duden.
Lyn St. James—St. James was a successful sports car and Indy Car driver. She raced 
in 53 SCCA Trans-Am races where she logged seven top-5 finishes. She ran 62 IMSA GT races where she posted 6-wins included in her 17 top-5 and 37 top-10 finishes. She is the only woman to have won an IMSA GT race driving solo. She was the second woman to race at the Brickyard where she competed in 7 Indianapolis 500 races, qualifying as high as sixth in a Ford-Cosworth powered LOLA entered by Dick Simon (1994). In 1992, she was named Indianapolis rookie of the year and finished 11th in a Dick Simon LOLA. Ford was one of her backers and she was a Consumer Advisor for Ford Motor Company from 1981 to 1996. Today the Lyn St. James Foundation provides training and support to help guide women toward successful careers in motorsports. Her autobiography was published in 2002 under the title: Ride of Your Life (A Race Car Driver’s Journey).
Kim Richards—Richards currently serves as assistant crew chief to crew chief and husband Tim Richards on the NHRA Budweiser Top Fuel dragster driven by Brandon Bernstein. Before moving to the Bud car, she was crew chief for her father, Dick Lahaie, when he was driving in Top Fuel. Together, they won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1987.
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Following in the footsteps of the women who helped blaze the trail, the nine ladies listed below are tough competitors one and all. They represent some of today’s outstanding motorsport’s talent.
Erin Crocker—Crocker drives a Dodge Ram truck for Ray Evernham in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. She came from 360 Sprint racing where she had five A-Main wins and was named National’s Rookie of the Year in 2003 when she participated in the Knoxville Nationals as the first woman to ever qualify for that event in its 43 year history.
Melanie Troxel—Troxel was NHRA Top Fuel points leader for the first 12 races (of 23 total) in the 2006 season driving for Don Schumacher Racing. Her end-of-season points total found her in fourth place. She holds the record for the quickest and fastest female in drag racing at 4.458-seconds and 330.31-mph. She is the only driver in drag racing history (male or female) to make the final round in six consecutive races, two of which she won.
Angelle Sampey—Sampey is a three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion (2000, 2001, 2002). Small of stature but large on nerve and talent she guides her Suzuki to 7-second, 190 mph passes. Riding for Don Schumacher Racing, she finished third in points in the 2006 season.
Katherine Legge—From a successful kart career in the 1990s, Legge displayed great talent as she progressed through the open wheel ranks to a Champ Car World Series ride in 2006 where she drove a Ford Cosworth powered Lola B2/00 for PKV Racing. Her best finish in the car was a 6th at Milwaukee. Before advancing to Champ Car, she drove in the Toyota Atlantic series. In her first Atlantic race (Long Beach 2005) she became the first woman to record a win. Two more wins in 2005 together with two other podium finishes found her in third place at the end of the season. Help from Kevin Kalkhoven combined with her talent earned her an F1 test in November 2006 driving a Minardi. The test was successful but according to Champ Car owner Kalkhoven, Legge decided to continue her association with PKV (Pettit Kalkhoven Vasser) in 2007.
Danica Patrick—Patrick began driving karts at age 10. As a 23 year old rookie in the 2
005 Indianapolis 500, she placed fourth, driving a Honda for Rahal Letterman. The finish made her the top-finishing woman ever in this famous race. Patrick is also the first woman ever to lead a lap in the Indy 500; she led 19 laps in the 2005 race. She will move to Andretti Green Racing in 2007 to drive a Dallara Honda. Following her highly publicized appearance on the Indianapolis racing scene in 2005, Patrick became a household name and a sponsor endorsement magnet. The 2006 Gallop poll for favorite adult female sports stars carried Patrick in fifth place.
Ashley Force—The daughter of legendary Mustang Funny Car driver and 14 time NHRA champion John Force, Ashley Force began her drag racing career in the Super Comp category before moving to Top Alcohol Dragster in 2004. She finished the 2006 Top Alcohol season in fourth place. Driving a Force Mustang, she earned her NHRA Funny Car competition license in April 2006 at speeds in excess of 315 mph. She has been tutored by the best in the business and it was announced in January that she would transition to the NHRA POWERade Series as a professional driver behind the wheel of a fourth Mustang in the John Force Racing Funny Car Stable. By the time you read this, she should have entered races at Pomona and Phoenix during February and be on her way to Gainesville for the third race of the 2007 season.
Nicole Addison—In 2006, Addison was the only over-the-wall female crew member in the top three NASCAR traveling series. On race day, she was a rear tire changer on Terry Cook’s ppc Racing F-150 Craftsman truck. She grew up watching her dad race in the Tucson, AZ area but had no driving aspirations of her own. Her particular focus was on becoming a crew member. Having proven herself in that arena, she expects to be part of the over-the-wall gang when ppc Racing moves its truck team to NASCAR Busch Racing in 2007.
Alison MacLeod—Early in 2006, at age 16, MacLeod was signed by Ford Motor Company to drive a Beast Focus midget in select USAC Ford Focus Midget Series events as part of the Clorox/Ford Racing Women’s Driver Development Program. She started racing 4-cycle karts at age 7 and had several wins and championships as she moved through the ranks to shifter karts before moving to USAC.
Stephanie Mockler—Early in 2006, at age 18, Mockler was signed by Ford Motor Company 
to drive in the USAC National Midget series at Mansfield, OH as part of the Clorox/Ford Racing Women’s Driver Development Program. She had one win and 14 top 10s out of 17 starts in 2005 when she finished second in the Ford Focus Midget Series championship. The same year, she also finished third in the USAC Ford Focus Midget national championship.
Both MacLeod and Mockler—The multi-year commitment to Ford Racing and Clorox is designed to develop female drivers in USAC and then graduate them to the NASCAR Busch series in cars campaigned by the Woods Brothers. Both girls will continue their education while they pursue their racing careers.