At times, it is mind-boggling to comprehend how far our society has come as a whole from the 1960′s where women were not afforded the same opportunities as men. Such was the case for many years in the testosterone-charged coliseums of NASCAR. It was practically unheard of until the 1970′s for female drivers to ever enter NASCAR events. Sure, there were three females who broke the gender barrier in the neophyte days of stock car racing in Sara Christian, Ethel Flock-Mobley, and Louise Smith. But much like McCarthy-ism, these females were escorted out of NASCAR and discouraged from competing in the male dominated sport.
Enter Janet Guthrie in 1976, fresh off encountering alarming sexism from Indy Car officials the previous year in her attempt to make the Indianapolis 500, she came to NASCAR and fared respectably well at the top level, with a commendable five top-10 finishes in a career that included 33 starts from 1976-1980. Outside of one-off efforts by Belgian Christine Beckers and Italian Lella Lombardi during Guthrie’s NASCAR tenure, no Y-chromosome drivers of note attempted a NASCAR race until Patty Moise made some sporadic starts from 1987-1989. It would be almost 15 more years until Shawna Robinson’s abortive Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year campaign. At that point, it seemed like it would be a long while until a female driver got another opportunity in Sprint Cup.
However, in some of the lower-level NASCAR series, there have been a few females attempt full-schedules with a mixed crop of results. Jennifer Jo Cobb set a NASCAR record this past season, finishing in the highest season-ending position in points in a NASCAR series with a 17th place finish in the Camping World Truck Series final points standings, despite not having a single top 10. Erin Crocker even ran a full schedule with backing from Cheerios and the Betty Crocker people in the Truck Series in former Ultra Motorsports equipment and largely struggled. Deborah Renshaw and Kelly Sutton also ran full-schedules in the Truck Series while Chrissy Wallace, Kim Crosby, Tina Gordon, and yes, even Danica Patrick have run in the Nationwide Series with Danica, whether you like her or hate her, bringing in fans that would not otherwise watch a NASCAR event.
But on the horizon, there are a few female drivers in other forms of racing who have the potential to possibly topple Danica as the queen of motorsports, at least on a NASCAR level. Take into consideration Alison MacLeod, the winningest all-time USAC Midgets feature winner. She recently signed a deal with Venturini Motorsports for driver development and to hopefully get a few opportunities in ARCA. Given her success in USAC, it’s only a matter of time before she reaches NASCAR. Another name in ARCA that has been a semi-regular over the years has been Alli Owens and she has performed admirably in her ARCA appearances. Also take into consideration current Michael Waltrip Racing intern and part-time Truck Series driver Caitlin Shaw, Derrike Cope’s twin nieces, Amber & Angela, and also Michelle Theriault.
But perhaps the driver that could very well topple all of them is 18-year old Pensacola, Florida native Johanna Long, winner of last Sunday night’s prestigious Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in her hometown of Pensacola. She ran seven Camping World Truck Series races in 2010 and turned quite a few heads in the process. She has already announced her intentions to run for the 2011 Rookie Of The Year honors in the Camping World Truck Series and should topple Jennifer Jo Cobb’s record points-finish with veteran crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland calling the shots. So for all you chauvinistic, pig-headed NASCAR fans who don’t think women belong in racing, think again because NASCAR is quickly giving new definition to the words “Girl Power!”
Enter Janet Guthrie in 1976, fresh off encountering alarming sexism from Indy Car officials the previous year in her attempt to make the Indianapolis 500, she came to NASCAR and fared respectably well at the top level, with a commendable five top-10 finishes in a career that included 33 starts from 1976-1980. Outside of one-off efforts by Belgian Christine Beckers and Italian Lella Lombardi during Guthrie’s NASCAR tenure, no Y-chromosome drivers of note attempted a NASCAR race until Patty Moise made some sporadic starts from 1987-1989. It would be almost 15 more years until Shawna Robinson’s abortive Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year campaign. At that point, it seemed like it would be a long while until a female driver got another opportunity in Sprint Cup.
However, in some of the lower-level NASCAR series, there have been a few females attempt full-schedules with a mixed crop of results. Jennifer Jo Cobb set a NASCAR record this past season, finishing in the highest season-ending position in points in a NASCAR series with a 17th place finish in the Camping World Truck Series final points standings, despite not having a single top 10. Erin Crocker even ran a full schedule with backing from Cheerios and the Betty Crocker people in the Truck Series in former Ultra Motorsports equipment and largely struggled. Deborah Renshaw and Kelly Sutton also ran full-schedules in the Truck Series while Chrissy Wallace, Kim Crosby, Tina Gordon, and yes, even Danica Patrick have run in the Nationwide Series with Danica, whether you like her or hate her, bringing in fans that would not otherwise watch a NASCAR event.
But on the horizon, there are a few female drivers in other forms of racing who have the potential to possibly topple Danica as the queen of motorsports, at least on a NASCAR level. Take into consideration Alison MacLeod, the winningest all-time USAC Midgets feature winner. She recently signed a deal with Venturini Motorsports for driver development and to hopefully get a few opportunities in ARCA. Given her success in USAC, it’s only a matter of time before she reaches NASCAR. Another name in ARCA that has been a semi-regular over the years has been Alli Owens and she has performed admirably in her ARCA appearances. Also take into consideration current Michael Waltrip Racing intern and part-time Truck Series driver Caitlin Shaw, Derrike Cope’s twin nieces, Amber & Angela, and also Michelle Theriault.
But perhaps the driver that could very well topple all of them is 18-year old Pensacola, Florida native Johanna Long, winner of last Sunday night’s prestigious Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in her hometown of Pensacola. She ran seven Camping World Truck Series races in 2010 and turned quite a few heads in the process. She has already announced her intentions to run for the 2011 Rookie Of The Year honors in the Camping World Truck Series and should topple Jennifer Jo Cobb’s record points-finish with veteran crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland calling the shots. So for all you chauvinistic, pig-headed NASCAR fans who don’t think women belong in racing, think again because NASCAR is quickly giving new definition to the words “Girl Power!”
5 comments:
You forgot Robin McCall made a few Cup starts in the early 80's for JD Stacy.
Just read and enjoyed this, very nice. However, I would like to comment on the following paragraph in this blog -->
"However, in some of the lower-level NASCAR series, there have been a few females attempt full-schedules with a mixed crop of results."
I was just wondering if you meant to leave out "The Lone Female" in NASCAR'S oldest division? (or didn't know about) I am referring to "Renee Dupuis" who is an owner, driver, and a crew member (who does lots of wrenching.) She has just completed a "Full" 2010 season with an 18th place finish in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour standings.
If you would like to learn more, you can visit Nascar.com's site where Renee is "driver listed,"... they just updated her "Year-by-year Whelen Modified Tour Recap" (stats)
[Link below]
http://hometracks.nascar.com/drivers/nwmt/renee_dupuis
Steve, I forgot all about Robin McCall. Seemed like she ran two or three races in 1981 or 1982. (Somewhere in that timeframe, at least.)
XXXX, I didn't mean to leave her out. I just wanted to try and focus more on the females that have made it to the top three levels of NASCAR.
Steve,
Actually Mrs. Dallenbach entered 2 short field races in 1982 both at Michigan. Those were the only Nascar touring series races she ever ran.
Enjoyed the blog very much. Just wanted to add Tammy Jo Kirk to the discussion of female racers in NASCAR's top 3 series. Though she wasn't full-time, Kirk became the first woman to drive in the Truck Series in 1997. Running 19 of 26 races, she finished the season 20th in points and claimed the highest-points finish for a woman in the series until Jennifer Jo Cobb broke the record this year, finishing 17th. Kirk also raced in 13 events in the Truck Series in 1998 and ran 15 races in the Nationwide Series in 2003. Also, in 1994 Kirk became the first woman to win the Snowball Derby.
Post a Comment