Fast women

            I’ve been fortunate in the course of my career to have interviewed a number of very interesting individuals. Since the change from journalist to PR rep, I’ve met still more people that I want to call amazing.

            And I am very proud to say that I have met and/or interviewed the first three women to have raced in the Indianapolis 500.

            Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher helped bring the sport of racing to the point where we have three women entered in this year’s field for the 500 and it is not a major story. Women race and the world has grown accustomed to that fact.

            It is important to note that the sport of drag racing reached that point long ago. Shirley Muldowney was the real pioneer in the National Hot Rod Association and now every professional class in the NHRA has women racing successfully. I’ve blogged before about Melanie Troxel, but there are lots of other women in the major drag racing categories. More importantly, there are lots of other women in other categories who are aiming for the top tier of the sport.

            But today’s thoughts are about Indianapolis. The 500-mile race. The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Indy.

            I recall very well how I tried to follow the practices and qualifying activities at Indy during the era when Guthrie was breaking the gender barrier at Indy. Every year I searched the LA Times for any piece of news from the Speedway, watched everything I could find on TV in the weeks leading up to the race and listened to a daily roundup on an LA radio station. I loved Indy and couldn’t get enough news about the race.

            I thought then, and still think now, that Guthrie’s first attempt at making the field for the 500 was an extraordinary moment for auto racing. A year later she made the field on her second try. There had been other women drivers in racing before Guthrie arrived at Indianapolis, but Indy isn’t like any place else or like any other form of racing.

            Bulldoze a barrier at Indy and you’ve made a difference in the sport. Janet Guthrie did that.

            St. James was next. A sports car racer like Guthrie, St. James was the first woman to be named the Rookie of the Year at Indianapolis.

Fisher was different, a graduate of the open-wheel dirt school of racing, where it’s all about car control.

            There have been other women racers at Indy since the first three. Danica Patrick is the best-known of the new bunch, although she’s a fulltime NASCAR driver now and has not been at Indy this month.

            Women have won at the biggest drag race in the world, the US Nationals. They have won sports car races (Amy Ruman became the first female Trans Am winner last season) and women are winning sprint car races now. I firmly believe Patrick will be a winner in NASCAR.

            I am waiting for the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500. It would be exciting if that happens tomorrow (the odds are not too good). Women racing at Indy is one thing but women winning would be something else, as great step forward as it was when Muldowney won her first major race and then her first world championship.

            Guthrie is retired from racing. Her book, Janet Guthrie: Life at Full Throttle, is a good read.

            St. James is still very much involved in racing. Her foundation, The Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation, helps women racers learn how to prepare for the business and racing sides of a racing career. She is also an author. Her latest book that I am aware of is Lyn St. James: An Incredible Journey.

            Fisher recently put away her steering wheel, but she remains a fixture at Indy as a car owner. Her team, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, has two cars in the field this year.

            Guthrie, St. James and Fisher have contributed mightily to the history of their sport and to society’s recognition of women as athletes. Someday I hope they get the credit they deserve.

            By the way, are you asking? I think Helio Castroneves will win this year’s 500.

            Thanks for reading. Enjoy your weekend!