In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
In TX there are two people you don't want in your class, Brianne C. and Blanton P. :). Blanton is still the only person to drive my car faster than I ever did. Of course Brianne never drove it :).
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
In TX there are two people you don't want in your class, Brianne C. and Blanton P. :). Blanton is still the only person to drive my car faster than I ever did. Of course Brianne never drove it :).
Shirley Muldowney doesn't get talked about nearly enough. She beat everyone in 77, 80, and 82. I can't think of another women who's not just won races, but whole championships.
In reply to Appleseed :
Michele Mouton nearly won the driver's title were it not for her car failing her at a single event. Audis were pretty crap that way.
While I was instructing, females tended to be my best students. They would LISTEN. One of the highlights of those days was being the first track day instructor for Christina Lam. She got so much faster I actually thought it was my instructing instead of her talent. 
Some of the best body shop estimators I deal with at work are women.
Meanwhile, SCCA still segregates autocross with the Ladies Class. 
I have followed Iron Dames since this last 24Hr Le Mans. I think they are great.
Tim Suddard said:
Like most of the rest of the world, I recently saw the new “Barbie” movie. If I’m being honest, my wife very much wanted to see the movie, and I figured spending a couple of hours with Margot Robbie, the beautiful Australian actress who plays the lead role, couldn’t be all bad.
The movie does not deal at all with …
When I first started out in the 70s there was a husband/wife team who I competed against. The wife elected to compete in the men's class because she said it prepared her better for the national competition. I first had to get good enough to beat her and then set my sights on him beating him once in the last season I was able to compete against them. When I did my first HPDE with COM at the old Bryar Motorsports Park we were instructed by a husband/wife team who both raced in SCCA events. My daughter started doing HPDE events from the time she was 16 years old and became an advanced driver in the hobby. While generalizations are usually to be avoided I can tell you in my years of HPDE instructing I prefer women students because their approach is they are open to learning the new experience while every male thinks they already know how to "drive". Saying all this and despite all the advances made there is still a bias that continues and we all need to be encouraging and supporting of all who want to enjoy our hobby.
In reply to ddavidv :
Absolutley. Well said.
My dad was a semi-pro motorcycle racer. All his friends were similarly fast, and as it happens, some of their girlfriends were as well. My approach was to go faster until I crashed. Rinse, lather, repeat. What the fast women riders understood that my testoserone-addled brain couldn't was that it's folly to try and muscle around a machine that's 50 times stronger than oneself. Unfortunately, sexism is alive and well in a general sense. But I think that most people, when presented with clear evidence that some women can "run with the big boys" will give them their just due. I certainly do.
Appleseed said:Shirley Muldowney doesn't get talked about nearly enough. She beat everyone in 77, 80, and 82. I can't think of another women who's not just won races, but whole championships.
Did you read my post? Angelle won three and Erica Enders won five. There were others. The NHRA is seemingly a great home for women.
Sex should have nothing to do with it. Whoever does a better job gets credit, and if it isn't that way, that lays at the door of the chauvinists who downplay the performance of the female drivers.
In many cases, the women have an advantage over the men - they more often drive with their brains instead of their glands. I knew a couple who both ran the same car in the races I was running. If anything, she was smoother and did a better job of driving than he did - he had a tendency to get caught up in the race an take chances as the red cloud came down and clouded his better judgment. She was a tad faster than he was despite all that and was much cooler under pressure.
And she did get the credit due to her for doing a good job. So unless you ask the idiots that think a woman can never be as good/fast as a man (and there is no shortage of such out there) I think they do get credit due.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:In reply to Appleseed :
Michele Mouton nearly won the driver's title were it not for her car failing her at a single event. Audis were pretty crap that way.
And that Audi was not the easiest thing to drive, anyone who could tame a Group B rally car deserve all the respect.
If an unknown man and unknown woman show up at an autox, which of them will more of the other drivers assume is the driver vs spectator? If it turns out they're co-driving the car, and one is running as a 'novice' while the other is running as a 'pro', which will more of the other racers assume is which? And when the car simultaneously takes FTD and FTDI, which would more of the other drivers be more surprised to find out was driving the car at the time? Oh sure, they can heap their 'enlightened' accolades on how fast she was after the fact, but she would still have had her equality inherently doubted more than his right from the very start.
Whether or not women in motorsports (or any male dominated field) get the credit they deserve is as much about the due consideration given to them at the beginning of the day, as it is at the end of the day.
All of these anecdotes that give 'credit' to the capabilities of women in motorsports serve a very important purpose, but also actually underscores the lack of credit women in general have gotten and continue to get. Otherwise these stories would cease to be anecdotes, because they would no longer have a point to make.
In reply to tuna55 :
You can't cross the centerline and take them out. Nascar and Indycar will nudge a woman driver and spin her out.
Yes they do. If you win or do well you get the credit you deserve. Shirley Muldowney got plenty of credit for her ability. It's not subjective, you win you get the trophy.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Hailie Deegan will make the move to NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series next season in a multiyear deal with AM Racing that was announced Thursday.
The 22-year-old Californian is the only woman competing full-time at NASCAR's national level and has spent the past three seasons in the Truck Series. Deegan has been in the Ford Performance development program since 2020, and Ford has entered her in a variety of disciplines, including the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, the ARCA Series and trucks.
She is now getting her promotion to the next level and has backing from Ford as well as new sponsors Airbox and Viva Tequila Seltzer.
This was an interesting read. There is even a very fast Datsun 1200 in it.
https://www.racingjunk.com/news/fastest-woman-on-wheels-paula-murphy-has-passed/
Interview with Sheena Monk from Jalopnik. She shares an NSX GT3 with Katherine Legge.
There's progress, but there are still some problem people.
jerel77494 said:In reply to tuna55 :
You can't cross the centerline and take them out. Nascar and Indycar will nudge a woman driver and spin her out.
This reminded me of an interview with Danica Patrick I just finished listening to. Awesome interview, I gained even more respect for her efforts.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/69ctSm8gASubkZ6ui3V8d1?si=1JgtfCdOSWmhAkTK9XF2vQ
In reply to L5wolvesf :
If it's got a 1200 it has to be a good article.
Paula Murphy has passed away at age 95. She was the first woman to earn an NHRA nitro license, set land-speed records at Bonneville, speed records in NASCAR Cup cars at Talladega and in an Indy car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nhra/a46212628/paula-murphy-the-fastest-woman-on-wheels-dies-at-95/
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