NASCAR Female Driver History

Female racing car drivers gained some popularity during WWII when male attendees to these events dropped significantly due to military service requirements. When NASCAR was established around 1947 the organizers did not exclude women drivers, which to date have always had a minority presence in the organization. This article showcases those female drivers who have gone down in history for their remarkable achievements within the sport.

  1. Louise Smith

    • Known as the first woman NASCAR driver, Louise Smith is reputed to have won more than 30 races in the late 1940s ("Sports Illustrated," 2004). For being the first female representative of the the Sport Smith was inducted into the International Motosports Hall of Fame in 1999. Smith died in 1997 at age 89.

    Janet Guthrie

    • In 1978 Guthie placed ninth in the Indianapolis 500. That had been the highest placing ever for a female participant. She could have placed higher if she had not fractured her wrist just a couple of days before the race. As revealed in her autobiography, "Janet Guthrie: a life at full throttle," she had to overcome harsh criticism from her male competitors in order to forge a place for herself and for women in general within the sport ("Sports Illustrated," 2005).

    Shawna Robinson

    • In 1994, Robinson became the first woman in history to win a pole position in a major NASCAR national event, the Busch Light 300. Unfortunately, Robinson was forced to abandon the competition as a result of a controversial crash with one of her male competitors, Mike Wallace. Robinson took some time off to raise a family and staged a return to the sport in 2000, and she continued to set records for female drivers.

    Danica Patrick

    • On May 24, 2009, Patrick finished third in the Indianapolis 500, becoming the highest-placed female finisher in history. In an interview conducted by "Sports Illustrated" after the race, Danica expressed that she is looking to take home an achievement that, aside from immortalizing her, would promote more dominant female involvement in the sport. In 2005, Patrick finished fourth at Indy and was mistakenly instructed by her crew to slow down due to lack of fuel. Had the mistake not happened she easily could have won the race.

    Chrissy Wallace

    • Hailed by "The Wall Street Journal" as representing the "changing face" of NASCAR, Chrissy Wallace was born into racing as it has been a tradition in her family. Wallace made history in 2007 as the first female winner at a Hickory Motor Speedway race. The experts say that Wallace, given her racing pedigree and natural talent, could be the first female to achieve super stardom. "The Wall Street Journal" suggests that many of her female predecessors did not achieve greatness because they may have lacked the appropriate inroads into the sport.