November 26, 2008

The Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located in Talladega, Alabama. It’s the largest (and second most steeply banked) oval track in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and has seating provisions for over 175,000 patrons.

Whether it has been mixing it up with the boys in stockcar competition or setting speed records, female drivers have a long and storied history at Talladega Superspeedway.

To mark 4o years of racing, Talladega takes a look back at what a number of women have accomplished at NASCAR’s Most Competitive Track over the years:

Lyn St. James
Lyn St. James set her first speed record at Talladega Superspeedway in 1985 when she broke the 200 mph mark in a Ford Mustang Probe Prototype. She followed up that feat with a 212.577 mph women’s national speed record in a Ford Thunderbird on Oct. 11, 1988.

Patty Moise
Moise trumped St. James’s speed records in 1989 by driving 216.607 mph around Talladega Superspeedway. She went on to set another record in 1990, moving the bar to 217.498 mph on Jan. 23rd. Moise also competed in the ARCA RE/MAX, NASCAR Nationwide and NASCAR Sprint Cup series’ at Talladega Superspeedway. She earned two pole awards in ARCA competition in April 1988 and July 1988. Her best finish at Talladega was seventh in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 1995.

Janet Guthrie
Guthrie competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series three times at Talladega Superspeedway, with an average starting position of 11th.

Shawna Robinson
Robinson had two top-ten starts in ARCA RE/MAX Series competition at Talladega Superspeedway, with a best finish of sixth in the 2000 ARCA RE/MAX Series 250.

Erin Crocker
Erin Crocker competed three times at Talladega Superspeedway; twice in the ARCA RE/MAX Series and once in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. She recorded top-20 finishes in each of her outings, with a best of fourth in the 2005 ARCA RE/MAX Series 250.

The next generation of famous female racers have already begun competing at Talladega Superspeedway. The ARCA RE/MAX Series 250 in October featured three female drivers, with Chrissy Wallace (daughter of Mike Wallace and niece of Rusty Wallace) scoring a best among the women ninth-place finish.

“There is more interest in female drivers than when we first held this event in 2003,” said founder Lyn St. James, 1992 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. “More and more, women are receiving opportunities to prove themselves on the track. And, increasingly, women are rising to higher levels of racing and earning their place on the podium.

“This year we have several exciting announcements to share including the first recipients of the Foundation’s Project Podium matching grant program, which was launched at last year’s luncheon. We will also announce the recipients of our inaugural Leadership Award given to individuals who have shown singular support to women’s motorsports programs. And we have a special announcement about our partnership with The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, that I am very excited about.

”In addition to the Leadership Award, the Mildred Marcum Pioneer Award will be presented two women drivers who represented what it takes to be successful: show up, work hard, love what you’re doing, and be the best at what you do; the USAC Kara Hendrick Spirit Award honoring a woman driver whose spirit, determination and driving ability are reminiscent of the excellence demonstrated by Kara Hendrick during her brief career; and the Opportunity Award honoring a race team or sponsor that created a significant opportunity for a woman driver to excel in the industry.

Posted: 2008-06-08 01:29:45

JOLIET, Ill. (June - Melanie Troxel became the first female to top Funny Car qualifying in NHRA history Saturday night, covering a quarter-mile in 4.752 seconds at 327.27 mph in the ProCare Rx Dodge Charger.

High temperatures and humidity produced a string of strong thunderstorms and at least one powerful tornado near Route 66 Raceway, delaying the final round of qualifying for Funny Car at the Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals.

“You come into any given race and it’s such a tight field, you know it’s going to be a struggle just to qualify,” Troxel said. “We got down the track on Friday, but not in the nighttime session and came into today not even in the field, so that’s always a stressful way to start out the weekend.

“We laid a good number down out there in the third qualifying session, especially for the heat of the day, and we were pretty happy with that, but to be honest with you I thought we’re coming up to try a few different things, get down the track.

“Honestly, I’d never run a .70 before, so I wasn’t really anticipating that we were going to take that No. 1 spot away. But I knew the second I hit the throttle the car was on seriously good run, and it was quite a handful out there. At the same time that I’m trying to wrestle it and keep it in the center of my lane, I see Tony (Pedregon) in the other lane going up in a ball of flames. It was a pretty wild ride.”

Troxel but would rather celebrate her accomplishments with a focus on her driving career, not her gender.

“I think for any driver it is definitely the goal, you want to be the No. 1 qualifier,” Troxel said. “You want to win races. The female aspect of it really isn’t that important to me. I understand it’s noteworthy and I don’t have a problem with it, but personally for me, as far as goals I set out, I’m not trying to measure up to the other females in the sport, I’m trying to measure up to everybody out there.”

Last Sunday’s 92nd Indy 500 had a decidedly feminine feel with three of the 33 starters in possession of a xx chromosome. Unfortunately, all of them were knocked from the race in crashes, and all were a result of carelessness by their male counterparts.

When a crash happens on the track, the perpetrator often emerges unscathed while the innocent victim is penalized with a costly repair bill. This seems to be the case on lap 105 when Marco Andretti tried an ill-advised pass on teammate Tony Kanaan, who turned into the path of Sarah Fisher, who was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Fisher, who not only drives, but also runs her own race team on a shoestring budget, was obviously distraught. In an interview after the race, “We were hoping to go to Kentucky (the next Indycar stop),” she said, haltingly, “but I don’t think we can.”

Danica Patrick’s exit was as innocent as Fisher’s. Driving for Andretti Green Racing, she was merely exiting the pits when Ryan Briscoe, driving for Team Penske, clipped her while coming out of his own stall. With 29 laps to go, she broke the left rear suspension on a car that had run in the top 10 most of the race.

Patrick ended up finishing 22nd and was steamed after the bang. The passionate driver climbed from her disabled car and strode purposefully toward the offending driver ’s pit seemingly ready to rumble before Indy security intercepted her. 

Milka Duno, the third woman in the field, did a nice job staying on the lead lap for most of the race before spinning out in a a four-tire-flattening single-car spinout caused when she was squeezed out on a pass.  Better luck next year ladies!

Patrick, as has been the case at every race since her debut in 2005, diligently posed for snapshots and signed the latest magazine spreads featuring her photo.

Fisher, meanwhile, signed a few autographs and posed for pictures, but this time had the added duty of collecting checks and wads of cash — gifts from devotees desperate to help her raise enough funds to enter her car in the race.

The scene underscored the stark contrast between the two drivers, who, despite being women working in the same male-dominated sport, have had wildly different experiences in the months leading up to Sunday’s Indy 500 race.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com …

May 19, 2008

With her weekend funny car  win at the 8th annual O’Reilly Thunder Valley Nationals in Bristol, Tenn., Melanie Troxel became the first female driver to win in both nitro classes (funny car and top fuel).

Last month, Ashley Force made drag-racing history by becoming the first woman to win a NHRA funny car race. This weekend, Troxel had to defeat Force in a historic second round matchup to get her Gotham City Racing Dodge Charger to the finals, where she beat Mike Neff with a pass of 310.27 mph to win the event.  To date, Troxel and Force are the only female event winners in funny car history.

Troxel’s win underlines the driver diversity in the National Hot Rod Assn., arguably the broadest among the premier levels of professional motor sports. The Denver native, who now lives in Indiana, grew up playing in pit areas at racetracks where her late father was a drag racer and her mother helped out as a mechanic. Troxel drove in her first race at 16 in a car with an engine she built as a high school project.

Troxel was already an established driver, having won four times driving top-fuel dragsters in 2006-07, before switching to funny cars this season — where her husband, Tommy Johnson Jr., also competes. With her victory Sunday, Troxel joins 13 other drivers who have won in both funny cars and top-fuel dragsters — her husband among them.

Janet, Shirley, Lyn, Sarah, Danica, Ashley, Melanie - the club keeps growing. What’s the next record to be smashed and by whom?

April 28, 2008

If you know anything about motorports, you know Funny Cars are considered to be the wildest class of drag racing.  Funny Car fuel systems are key to their immense power and these babies go fast - up to 350 mph. The cars have forward-mounted engines and they’re usually powered by methanol or ethanol.

The first Funny Cars were built in the mid-’60s and were named because the rear wheels had been moved forward on the chassis and the tires were over sized compared to stock. Looking at the cars, they didn’t quite look stock, hence the name “funny.”

Funny Cars must meet a whole bunch of automotive specifications: Like they must weigh at least 2,400 pounds, driver included, and have a wheelbase of 124 to 125 inches. They must have a flame-retardant covering or coating and most important, they must have twin parachutes to help them stop.

When fully deployed, parachutes catch the air behind the Funny Car causing a wind drag that aids the driver to come to a complete and safe stop. Kinda important when barrelling down the track at race with an elapsed time of under 5 seconds at a top speed of about 320 miles per hour.

Women of the Racing World

Shirley Muldowney was the first woman to receive a license to drive a top fuel dragster by the NHRA and the first Top Fuel driver to win three NHRA titles. The “First Lady of Drag Racing” is heralded for breaking the gender barrier over 30 years ago. 

In 2006, Melanie Troxel became the first NHRA Top Fuel driver to reach the final round in the first five events of a season. Troxel is a also two-time NHRA champion and record holder in the Alcohol Dragster class.

Ashley Force is the daughter of 14-time NHRA Funny Car division champion John Force.  She and her father made NHRA history in Atlanta in April 2007, when they became the first father and daughter to race against each other.  A year later, she made history again when she became the first female racer ever to lead the NHRA Funny Car  point standings and she claimed her first-ever NHRA Funny Car win.

Ashley had a winning run of 4.837 seconds at 320.36 mph in her Castrol GTX Ford Mustang to take a 59-point lead over Tim Wilkerson in the season standings.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

April 25, 2008

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich proclaimed Saturday April 26th 2008 ”Danica Patrick Day” in the state and called her “a new hero in Illinois.”

The race car driver from the small town of Roscoe is something of a phenom in Indy Racing, being named Rookie of the Year in 2005 and claiming the title of “Most Popular IndyCar Series Driver” for three straight years.

The Illinois governor also said in Friday’s proclamation that he was honoring Patrick for her “sparkling achievements.”

Danica is finishing up a whirlwind week of media appearances including appearances on The Late Show, Good Morning America, CNN’s American Morning, The View, and ESPN’s First Take. One of the reasons this has gone beyond a racing story is that it reaches out and speaks to girls and women breaking the mold and making history. She’s certainly doing that! 

Tomorrow may be “Danica Patrick Day” in Illinois, but that doesn’t mean you can race your car 200 miles an hour in celebration. In fact it’s probably never a good idea to do that. Unless, of course, you’re Danica Patrick.

Danica next takes the wheel on Sunday, when she competes at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, in the RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300.

April 20, 2008

“It’s a long time coming. Finally,” Danica said tearfully. “It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I knew I was on the same strategy as Helio and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn’t believe it. This is fabulous.”

The 26-year-old Danica won in her 50th career IndyCar start, taking the lead from Castroneves on the 198th lap in the 200-lap race. Danica, who started from the third row and made her final pit stop on lap 148, stayed close to the leaders throughout the race. 

The champagne on the winner’s podium must have tasted even sweeter for Danica, given recent rule changes in the Indy Racing League. With some drivers complaining her petite stature gave her an advantage–lighter cars can be quicker and use less fuel; the IRL amended its rules so that the minimum weight for the car must now include the driver. Many thought Danica’s hopes of winning a race had disappeared forever. But Danica proved the doubters wrong, doing an awesome job of conserving fuel for when it really mattered.

Her victory represents a zenith that the sport has been unable to reach for quite some time and hopefully it won’t be too long before she notches another top podium finish. This is exactly what the IRL has been waiting for since Danica exploded into the mainstream at Indy in 2005.

Her tears increased when she met up with her parents and husband as she got out of the car. “That was clearly girlie of me,” she said with a smile.

With Danica finally able to put one in the win column, she has run OVER the monkey that was on her back.   One thing is for sure: she won’t have to answer those pesky questions about if she’s ever going to win anymore.  Well done Danica, well done!!