In 1978, Guthrie finished ninth in the Indianapolis 500, while in 1980, she was 11th in the Daytona 500. 2012 was the first season as a NASCAR-sanctioned series, so the list will be made from 2012 onwards. Kim Crosby, born in 1964, is 58 years old talented NASCAR female driver who has won 10 races over three years. Christina Nielsen started racing as a teenager and now, at just 28 years old, she is the first female driver to win the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Series. 1986 saw the first woman lead in a Busch Series Race in Patty Moise. Patricia Moise-Sawyer, A Former NASCAR Driver (Source: Twitter). Natalie Decker stands by her truck during qualifying for the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series Corrigan Oil 200 in Brooklyn, Mich., Aug. 10, 2019. [7] Through the 1950s and 1960s, female racers made only a handful of starts in NASCAR's touring series. Now at 27, Daniels is NASCAR's first Black female tire changer. While Bobby Norfleet fought discrimination and disinterested sponsors on the track, he enjoyed inspiring his daughter Tia at home in Suffolk, Virginia. Amber Balcaen became the first Canadian woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race in the U.S. in 2016. Four years later at the invitation of NASCAR founder and chairman William H.G. Alumni include NASCAR Cup Series drivers Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez. The First African-American Female NASCAR Driver. Last year, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Awards honored Breidinger, the first Arab-American female driver to participate in any NASCAR national series, with its Developmental Series Driver Award. In 1954, Betty Skelton Erde drove the pace car at Daytona and set the female stock car speed record. Gracie Trotter (Source: Twitter) In 2007, she earned the title of the first female driver winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In 2013, she finished eight and became the first female NASCAR driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, turning in the fastest qualifying lap since 1990 in qualifying for the Daytona 500 . A blonde among these female NASCAR drivers, she is famous for being the younger sister of Ashley Force Hood which I just mentioned. "There's always room for improvement. At Kentucky, Patrick became the first woman to make 100 starts in NASCAR's Cup Series. From driving go-karts as a child to making history in US motor racing, Toni Breidinger has become the first Arab-American female to participate in Nascar stock car racing. For the last twelve years, Siegel and his team have worked to recruit, train and support minorities like Daniels to increase diversity in all areas of NASCAR. Recently, in May 2022, she opened up about her breast implant and her struggles after that. Trackhouse Racing. "I think it's very difficult to reach your full potential without the proper funding. "It is very low. A Professional Stock Car Racer, Johanna Robbins (Source: AL.com). With NASCAR looking to boost the exposure of female racers, Brittney Zamora is one of the first to stand out. "NASCAR racing is one of the only sports nationally where men and women can compete at the exact same level," Krystyn Stowe, head of marketing for Busch Family Brands, Anheuser-Busch InBev, told ABC News. Patrick didn't win a race in seven seasons, but her seven top-10 finishes are most among female drivers in NASCAR history. Stock Car Racing Driver And Victorias Secret Model, Toni Breidinger (Source: New York Post). Her No. . Moving forward, they will continue to pave their way in the male-dominated field. Since then, only 15 pit crew members have been women, according to . [16] However, Patrick would finish 38th after a crash. Amber Balcaen is a third generation racecar driver from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Wedding, Kids & Girlfriends. Louise Smith. In 1997, Kirk raced for the Camping World Truck Series and received her best points in the twentieth position. She also became the first woman to race at every racetrack on the circuit. Tony stands out among the male-dominated sports, being just one of the four women to star in the Auto Menard Series this year. Photo courtesy of NASCAR Archives & Research Center via Getty Images. At the 2013 Daytona 500, Patrick became the first female driver to clinch pole position and lead a green flag lap. She has confirmed that she is the first black woman to receive a NASCAR racing license, and has publicly spoken about her desire to someday race at Daytona, once she has moved up through ARCA and NASCARrankings. Born in 1969, Tina Gordon is one of the top female NASCAR drivers in history. NASCAR did not respond to a request for comment about Armstrong's comments. The 20 year old ARCA rookie earned pole position during the season opener in Daytona, making her the 3rd woman in ARCA history and the fourth in Daytonas 60 year existence to start a race from pole position. Although, now retired, Danica has successfully won 191 races in seven years of her career. In 2017, Patrick became the first female NASCAR driver to lead the prestigious Coca Cola 600. She returned to ARCA in 2021 for Youngs Motorsports on a part-time schedule. You Can Read About The 12 Best Race Car Drivers In The World>>>. In 2004, NASCAR started the Drive for Diversity program, hoping to develop a more diverse driver base. Tina also entered for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2003. Through a new sponsorship opportunity with Busch Light, all three women will be able to gain financial backing and exposure that they hope will encourage more women to enter the profession, both on and off the track. Interestingly, the 1949 Daytona NASCAR event was the first to feature three female racers - Christian, Mobley and Smith - while the same three drivers also raced at Langhorne in 1949, the last NASCAR race with three female drivers. Hailie Deegan, the daughter of Motocross and X Games icon Brian Deegan, is a three-time winner in what is now called the ARCA Menards Series West and was the first female driver to ever win races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Even before she started competing in NASCAR, Zamora was a super late model racer. Patrick was a novelty that they let in so they could say See we have a woman driver. Deegan, Robinson, Danica Patrick, Tammy Jo Kirk and Mara Reyes have won Poles. Her last race was back in 1998, and she is now happily retired, leaving her legacy behind. With a resume full of firsts, Janet Guthrie truly broke barriers in her racing career. 107 women have qualified for and started at least one race in one of NASCARs touring series, including 16 at NASCARs premier level. The first female to compete in a NASCAR superspeedway race, Guthrie finished 15th in the 1976 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. From 2012-2018, Danica Patrick competed in 191 Cup Series races, posting seven top-10 finishes, including a best of sixth at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2014. Toni Breidinger is the first Arab-American female driver in NASCAR history. She finished 8th, the highest ever finish for an woman in the Daytona 500. The following is a list of female NASCAR drivers who have participated in a national or regional touring series race since the organization's inception in 1949, along with statistical totals for their NASCAR careers. Amber Balcaen enters her car at the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Developmental Program in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Oct. 18, 2016. [15] While the program has succeeded in launching the careers of minority drivers including NASCAR Cup Series race winner Kyle Larson, Camping World Truck Series race winner Bubba Wallace, and 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Daniel Surez, the program's early years were less effective in expanding the roster of female drivers in NASCAR's top touring series. Brehanna Daniels is just 27 years old and changing tires on race cars -- and breaking barriers for women and people of color along the way. During college, the Norfolk State women's basketball point guard said she never once thought about NASCAR as a sport, let alone a career. I prefer drag racing where there are lots of women drivers and they actually win races on TV. NASCAR, founded in 1948, didn't have its first female pit crew member -- Christmas Abbott -- until 2012. Brehanna Daniels with ABC News' Faith Abubey. Buddy Baker (1941-2015) Getty Images / ISC Archives. 23 car, jointly fielded by RSS Racing, Reaume Brothers Racing,[30] and later Our Motorsports. Toni Breidinger, the first Arab American female driver in NASCAR, returned to the ARCA Menards Series for the first time since 2018, joining Young's Motorsports to compete part-time for them as part of the Truck Series team's first foray into ARCA. 15 and No. During . Erin Mary Crocket Evernham (Source: MassLive.com). Danica Sue Patrick is an American retired professional racing driver, model, actress, and singer who is considered the most successful female racecar driver in the history of American open-wheel racing. In 2010, IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick joined NASCAR, racing part-time in the K&N Pro Series East and the Nationwide Series. The NASCAR Whelen Euro Series formed the Lady Cup, a championship system for female drivers in 2014. Patricia Moise-Sawyer was a NASCAR driver in the past. That year, Patrick became the first woman to win the NASCAR Most Popular Nationwide Driver award. Brian Cleary/NASCAR via Getty Images, FILE, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. In the 1940s, racing promoter Bill France, Sr. was looking for ways to attract more women to the sport. Patrick is the first female driver to win a pole in NASCAR Sprint Cup . Born in Massachusetts, Erin started in the NASCAR field in 2005, where she created ten starts and received the 67th best finish the following year. Louise Smith: The First Lady of NASCAR. So, what's the deal with Tia Norfleet, and why haven't we seen her tearing up any tracks? After a hiatus to start a family, Shawna Robinson returned to stock car racing in 1999, contesting a full ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series season in 2000 before returning to sporadic NASCAR-sanctioned competition over the following several seasons. However, Patrick would finish the race at 38th place after figuring in a crash. Career highlights: Shares distinction of NASCAR's second female driver with Louise Smith, made more than 100 NASCAR Modified starts. So how come you never hear of the women drivers or see them race on TV? Toni Breidinger, 21, who is of Lebanese descent, has become the first Arab-American female to race in Nascar. Dr. Ketra Armstrong, a professor of race and inclusion in sports at the University of Michigan, told ABC News. Spire Motorsports. Feb 21, 2018. [I] definitely was like, I'm never getting into NASCAR. Driving in the Northwest Super Late Model Series in 2017 and 2018, Zamora was the 1st female winner. That success is what Siegel said he wants for all his recruits who come through the Drive for Diversity program. In 2003, she bagged the Knoxville award for Best Rookie. Robinson also took home Rookie of the Year and Most Popular Driver honors. [19][20] Long would eventually race in the Nationwide Series, making her debut in the 2012 DRIVE4COPD 300. She also became the first winner in any ARCA-sanctioned series, because there have been no female winners in the main ARCA Menards Series as of April 2021. Danica Patrick, in full Danica Sue Patrick, (born March 25, 1982, Beloit, Wisconsin, U.S.), American race car driver and the first woman to win an IndyCar championship event. How many women have competed in the NASCAR cup: 16 Female Drivers - Full list here. "When you're new and then you're also a woman on top of that? In 2019, Kobayashi won in her one and only start in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series (in the Elite Club Division). On top of funding, gaining respect in the sport as a woman is another obstacle, she and Breidinger said. In 2018, she won Washington State Rookie and was selected as one of the invitees to Drive for Diversity. These women have made history in their field and continue to do so. 20 Toyota, owned by her family. It's like, why wouldn't that matter? In 1986, Patty Moise would become the first woman to lead in a Busch Series race.[11]. after one of his crew members reported what looked like a noose, rapper Pitbull have invested in the sport, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. She has competed in one NASCAR-sanctioned event. She worked her way through the local series and was the first female late-model driver to win at Hickory Speedway.. Wallace has made seven Truck series and 2 Xfinity series starts. Breidinger hopes programs like Busch Light's will have a "snowball effect" in encouraging more brands to sponsor female drivers. Born in Ontario, she got her degree in Mechanical Engineering. She received the most popular driver award in THE 2021 and 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Best career Indianapolis 500 finish: 3rd in 2009. Patrick would record a major milestone by clinching the pole position in the 2012 DRIVE4COPD 300, being the first female driver to clinch it since Shawna Robinson. She debuted for NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2010 AAA Insurance 200 (IRP) and her last race for this series was in 2011 Winstar World Casino 350k (Texas). Shawna Robinson (8 / 2001-2002) Below is a list of top 10 talented female race car drivers. Natalie Decker sits in her truck during practice for the NASCAR Gander Outdoor Truck Series World of Westgate Las Vegas 200 in Las Vegas Sept. 13, 2019. [17][21], In 2012, Danica Patrick was voted NASCAR's Most Popular Nationwide Driver, becoming the first woman to receive that award in NASCAR's top three divisions. She's continued to set records: In 2013, she became the first female NASCAR driver to take a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole in the 2013 Daytona 500; her eighth place finish is the highest finish . The sister of early NASCAR racers Tim (Class of 2014), Bob and Fonty Flock, Ethel Mobley Flock competed in two NASCAR races in 1949, posting a best finish of 11th on the Daytona Beach-Road Course in July. Then in 2018, Trotter was chosen as one of the 12 racers for NASCARS Drive for Diversity. You can check out her Instagram, where she keeps posting pictures of her family. Although diagnosed with cancer in 2014, Robinson underwent several treatments and finally became cancer-free in 2015. She would break the record weeks later and she would finish the season as the first woman to make 100 starts in NASCARs Cup series. In June 2020, Wallace, another NASCAR driver who also broke racial barriers in the sport, spoke out about racism after one of his crew members reported what looked like a noose hanging in the team's garage stall. Toni Breidinger says that when she sat behind the wheel of a go-kart at age 9, she knew she would become a race car driver. Driver Jennifer Jo Cobb poses for a photo during at Clutch Studios on January 19, 2022, in Concord, North Carolina. Some of her other awards are the 2005 Indianapolis 500 Rookie and the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sara Christian was the first female driver in NASCAR history. "Girl, you are crazy" she told ABC News about what the person she was at 17 would think about her now, a NASCAR pit crew member. IndyCar series driver Danica Patrick joined NASCAR in 2010. Young's also announced that she would make her debut in the Truck Series with them in their new part-time No. Fifi Scott (2 / 1955) Indianapolis 500 career earnings: $2,865,240. In September, Trotter became the 4th woman to win a late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway. Marie-Claude Charmasson. Ann Chester (2 / 1950) Drivers say more funding is key to supporting women on the track. Dominique won Super Late Model Track Champion in 2012 Springport Motor Speedway Outlaw. She started racing by driving road course races at the age of 16 in the IMSA series. The following year, Guthrie became the first female racer to qualify for the Daytona 500, where she finished 12th, and the Indianapolis 500. But it was in 2016 she changed her tracks towards asphalt races and made her asphalt professional beginning in 2017. Female NASCAR drivers are proof that stereotypes are often distorted. Most recently, she was also featured in the video for Maroon 5s Girls Like You single. In 2013, Patrick became the first woman in Sprint Cup history to race full-time in the series. "Let's elevate these women and get them the opportunity and the time and the visibility that they need.". "It's really difficult to gain respect, be trusted and for someone to really understand that you know what you're doing. She was 42nd in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2020 and her best finish was 31st in 2019. Erin Mary Crocker Evernham gave birth to a daughter, Cate Susan Evernham, on July 25, 2015. Brittney Zamora. Quick Facts Known as The Fastest Woman in Racing, Vicki Wood never competed in a Cup Series race, but in the 1950s, she set speed records on Daytona Beach during NASCAR time trials. In the male-dominated sport of car racing, some women have chosen this sport as their career, proved they can compete, and even won the pole position. She got the title of the first female driver who won with number one in 2013 racing series. Danica Patrick is the most successful woman in the history of American open wheel racing. Named for the type of gasoline her father used in his taxi, Ethel Flock Mobley competed in more than 100 Modified stock car races in her career. Furthermore, she's not the first NASCAR driver to have faced arrest. Ethel Flock Mobley. She found out about the NASCAR tryout from a friend . Sara Christian was the first woman driver in NASCAR history. In the NASCAR Cup Series, which began racing in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, women competed in the very first race at the old 0.75-mile Charlotte Speedway dirt track, near where Charlotte-Douglas International Airport stands today. She signed with Black Cat Racing the same year but ended her tenure during Speedweeks. 5. That was until recruiters from NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program showed up on her college campus in 2016 and introduced her to the sport. "When I saw Danica Patrick in the Cup Series, that made me believe that I could somehow, someday be in the Cup series," Balcaen said. In that first Strictly Stock season of 1949, Christian competed in six of the eight races. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program also aims for diversity across the sport, including the crew. Top-Ten Finishes by a female driver in the NASCAR Cup Series: Sara Christian, Pittsburgh, 10-2-1949, 5th (out of 23 cars) . For the 2021 ARCA Menards Series, Grace has decided to race ten races in total but a part-time, driving Number 15 and 25. Credit Suisse First Boston Will Have Goldman Sachs-like Partners . Their No. Then she started working for GIC-Mixon in 2005. [32], Formerly Strictly Stock Series (1949), Grand National Series (195070), Winston Cup Series (19712003), Nextel Cup Series (200407), Sprint Cup Series (200816), and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (201719), Formerly Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series (198283), Busch Grand National Series (198494), Busch Grand National Division (19952003), Busch Series (200407), Nationwide Series (200814) and Xfinity Series (2015), Formerly SuperTruck Series by Craftsman (1995), Craftsman Truck Series (19962008), Camping World Truck Series (20092018), and Gander Outdoors Truck Series (2019). That year she had three top 10 finishes with her best finish of sixth at Atlanta. Lella Lombardi (1 / 1977) There are two straight-shooting, let's-take-NASCAR-seriously flicks on this list, and "The Last American Hero" is one of them. Plan a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and purchase tickets at NASCARHall.com/tickets. Relatively few women have contested a full season in any of NASCAR's touring series, although this is increasingly common. Brehanna Daniels is breaking down barriers in NASCAR.