The Evolution of Women-Only Racing

Crew Chief Brad: [00:00:00] Breakfix’s History of Motorsports series is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Argettsinger family.

Crew Chief Eric: From Powderpuff to W Series, the evolution of women only racing by Chris Lezotte.

Throughout its storied history, motorsports has been unwelcoming to women. Consequently, it has been necessary for female racers to develop unique strategies to enter what has long existed as an exclusive masculine enclave. While entry can be facilitated through a familial relationship with a male driver, women without such connections often get their start through participating in women only racing events.

Although these races have provided women with the opportunity to enter the track, they have not been without controversy. Detractors argue that women will not be considered legitimate racers until they compete on the same track as men. Proponents view women only racing not only as a way to attract more women into the sport, but also as an important [00:01:00] source of skill development, support, and community building.

This paper investigates the evolution of women only racing from its early introduction as a media stunt to its current incarnation as providing ground for serious female open wheel racers informed by archival resources and motor sports scholarship. It considers how women only racing complicates, facilitates, and liberates women’s entries, participation, and recognition in the masculine world of motor sports.

A Motor City native, Chris Lizotte spent part of her life writing car commercials. After exiting her advertising career, she pursued a Master’s in Women’s and Gender Studies at Eastern Michigan University and was awarded a PhD in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. Now working as an independent scholar, Chris continues her research focused on the relationship between women and cars in a variety of contexts, including women’s participation in traditionally masculine car cultures, as well as representations of women and cars in popular culture.

Her work has been included in popular culture, women’s studies, transportation history, media studies, masculine studies, and [00:02:00] automotive history journals. Chris’s first book, Power Under Her Foot, Women Enthusiasts of American Muscle Cars, was published in 2018.

Chris Lezotte: Good morning, everyone. To introduce myself, I’m Chris Lizotte, an independent scholar.

My research focuses on the relationship between women and cars in a variety of contexts. This presentation from Powder Puff to W Series traces the complicated history of women only racing in Europe and the United States. In 2019, I was asked to contribute a chapter on the rather broad topic of women in motorsports, to be included in a compiled volume on the history and politics of motor racing.

At the time, the W Series, an all female, single seater racing championship, had just been introduced. This announcement created a fair amount of controversy in the racing community. WSeries proponents praised the racing championship as an important platform for women to showcase racing ability, as well for its potential to carve a pathway to higher level racing.

Opponents decried the series as aggressive and belittling to women, claiming [00:03:00] segregated racing carries the implication women aren’t capable of competing at the same level as men. The question of whether female racers are best served by separate or equal opportunities has long been a subject of discussion and unwavering opinion.

Thus, I thought an examination into the history of women only racing could perhaps provide some insight into the ongoing debate. This presentation is taken from the chapter that was eventually published in 2023. Although the W Series was suspended in 2022 due to financial issues, the question of how to best advance women in motorsport remains relevant today.

Women’s interest in motorsport began shortly after the automobile’s introduction. In the early auto age in both Europe and the United States, the horseless carriage was accessible primarily to those with considerable financial means. Although the association of the automobile and mass transit accepted as a given throughout automotive history, at the turn of the 20th century, it was wealth and status rather than gender that determined who could operate a motor vehicle.[00:04:00]

Thus, it was not unusual for well off women to join men as driving enthusiasts. The permission awarded to early women drivers allowed them to call upon the automobile to expand social, physical, and political horizons. Female motorists of significant means were, in fact, the first to engage in cross country automobile trips.

While these tours often served as auto company publicity stunts, they also effectively presented women on the national stage as legitimate motorists. Yet for some women, long distance tours were not enough. To satisfy a new pound passion for driving, they turned to racing. By the early 1900s, informal and formal racing events were being held in Europe and the United States in a variety of venues.

On both sides of the Atlantic, upper class women gained notoriety, if not success, as female racers. Camille Dugas of France was recognized as the first female star of motorsports. Through her impressive racing accomplishments, Britain’s Dorothy Leavitt earned the right to call herself the fastest woman on Earth.

Joan Newton Cuneo went on to [00:05:00] become perhaps the most well known female motorist in the U. S. until abruptly shut down in 1909 by the American Automobile Association, when women were officially forbidden to participate in the organization’s motorsport events. The situation differed in Europe, however.

Motor racing at Brooklyn’s was beginning to draw large crowds. Eyeing a potential for profit, race authorities relented and allowed women onto the track, albeit in special event women only races. Taking over the motor racing circuit after her husband’s death in 1926, Ethel Locke King created new opportunities for women.

Organizations such as the Ladies Automobile Club at Brooklyn and the Automobile Club Féminin de France became important networks for the development and promotion of female racers. In these European venues, women had the opportunity to demonstrate they could race as competitively as men. World War II altered the possibilities for female racers in both Europe and the United States in conflicting ways.

In Britain, the post war period witnessed a change in attitudes regarding female racers. New personnel at [00:06:00] Brooklands, the retirement of former female racers, and increased emphasis on the dangers of the sport contributed to the return of traditional opinions opposing women drivers involvement in motor racing.

The prevailing mood was no longer conducive to women on the track. Public spirit required that every woman look after her war veteran and produce children. In post war America, however, women, nearly invisible on the track since the AAA ban, were the beneficiaries of new motorsport opportunities.

Motorsport, which had long existed as an activity for the rich, soon became accessible to those of lesser means. These amateur competitions became fan favorites, as anyone with a vehicle and a bit of daring could participate. Women who accompanied boyfriends or husbands to the racetrack were soon offered the opportunity to compete in separate ladies races, most often referred to as powderpuff.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, powderpuff races were created to address a number of concerns. Women who accompanied male racers had little to do once arriving but [00:07:00] watch and wait. In the masculine world of motorsports, women served primarily as uniform washers, picnic lunchmakers, and cheerleaders.

Confined to the sidelines, female interest in the race experience soon began to wane. Race promoters, fearful women’s lack of enthusiasm would keep boyfriends and husbands from entering events, saw an opportunity to keep women occupied and in the process increase the gate. Role friends and wives were encouraged to borrow cars from male companions and race against each other as a special attraction.

Powderpuff participants often had limited driving experience, but were encouraged to take part to show support for a male companion’s motorsports hobby. While many women participated tentatively, there were some dissatisfied with roles as tag alongs. who desire to race competitively. But because most tracks prohibited women from racing against men, powderpuff competitions became the primary way to develop confidence behind the wheel, gain track experience, hone racing skills and strategies, and show the guys that they could do it too.

On most tracks, powderpuff races were often more spectacle than serious [00:08:00] competition. As an auto journalist recalls, the women also had to participate in a gong show type agenda. They might have to run so many laps. Stop to eat a piece of watermelon, roll up into the stands and kiss the man of their choice, then resume the race, or stop after so many laps to wrestle with a greased pig.

As another noted, Powder Puff were the type of events in which women were treated as less significant and where the men would kindly lend their race cars to women for just a few laps around the track. Clearly, women competitors were not taken very seriously. Yet despite the negative attitudes toward women racers, participation in Powderpuff often had a positive and powerful effect on women’s lives.

Women raced not only to support male companions, but also to expand social networks, gain confidence, and escape from everyday lives. Powderpuff provided women with the opportunity to develop advanced driving skills, make important contacts, gain a little notoriety, and prove themselves as serious racers.

Many, including those featured here, who went on to achieve a number of firsts in women’s [00:09:00] motorsport, began racing careers in powder puff. Other than premier events such as the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR championship, American post war racing was primarily an amateur pastime. Races were run for trophies.

Cash prizes were banned as were donations from sponsors, car makers, or local businesses. While the conditions under which men and women raced were not the same, women received less track time and had fewer and shorter races than male counterparts. All racers were held to the same restrictions in terms of sponsorships and financial remuneration.

As the decade concluded, top drivers from the sports car circuit were being lured by the considerable cash prizes of international competition. U. S. racing organizations fought back by creating racing events with comparable financial awards. Smaller venues, losing top drivers, and paying crowds. So it sponsors to stay in business while the move toward the commercialization of motorsports affected all amateur racers, regardless of gender, it was ultimately responsible for the decline of all female racing [00:10:00] without amateur ladies races.

Women lost an important platform from which to gain experience and exposure. While ladies races were often the subject of derision and disparagement, they were without question instrumental in bringing the racing experience to an increasing population of female motorsport enthusiasts. As the professionalism of racing resulted in reduced possibilities for female racers, women’s racing teams emerged as one of the few opportunities to fill the void.

During the 1970s, two racing organizations in Europe and the United States developed all female racing teams. While the primary motivation was the marketing and promotional potential of photogenic female racers, the very existence of these teams allowed for increased women’s motor sports participation.

During the early 1970s, Bob Mayrett, a French tennis and former rally competitor, convinced Aseptical, a brand of toothpaste created by his company, to sponsor a European all female rally team. As part of Aseptical’s wide reaching PR campaign, the team was composed of [00:11:00] attractive women with varying degrees of driving skills, outfitted in matching pink racing ensembles that complemented the red, white, and strawberry pink racing cars.

The team’s first outings in 1973 were early season alpine rally events in France and provided challenging competition, as well as all important promotional opportunities over the next 20 years. Team Aseptical had varying degrees of success. Team Aseptical inspired the formation of other all ladies rallies teams in Europe.

And while the women serve primarily as marketing tools for the owner sponsors and race promoters, it also brought attention, both positive and negative to individual drivers in particular. And motorsport women in general, many who spent a season or two driving for team aseptical were able to fashion solid careers as rally drivers get more significantly team aseptical and the all female racing teams inspired suggested that women in motorsports were not in fact exceptions to the rule, but we’re part of a growing population of serious and competent female racers.

Around the [00:12:00] same time in the United States, the Macmillan Oil Racing Team sponsored a group of female racers known as the Motor Maids. The team was first assembled in 1966 to compete in the Daytona 24 Hours. Yet much like the European racing scene, the focus was on the all female team was more promotional than professional.

Publicity focused not on driving skills, but personal appearance. A 1966 press release described motor maid Donna Mae Minns as a bubbling, bouncing blood bombshell of energy. Her famous pink wardrobe on the track has become her trademark. News devoted to Leanne Ingemann called attention to her clothing choices.

Leanne’s trademarks are her white turtleneck sweaters and a purple racing outfit that emphasizes the fact that this racing driver is all girl. Emphasis on physical appearance served two purposes. First, of course, was the utilization of attractive women as a promotional device. As women were a rarity in motorsports, female racers garbed in bright pink racing apparel made them stand out.

They were perceived as a novelty, eye candy for male [00:13:00] spectators, or an exciting diversion for speed enthusiasts. Secondly, it determinedly and purposefully framed female racers as appropriately feminine. Post war culture increasingly stereotyped female athletes as unfeminine in demeanor, masked in their appearance, and incapable of maintaining heterosexual relationships with men.

Calling attention to women’s sexual attractiveness implied that not only are unfeminine, code for lesbian, Women absent in motorsports but participating in motorsports will not move a woman’s sexual orientation in that direction. Selecting heterosexually appealing women and outfitting them to accentuate their femininity assured spectators and participants of both genders that female race car drivers were non threatening women who adhere to traditional female gender roles as attractive sexual partners.

Yet despite the focus on personal appearance, participation as a Motor Maid did create opportunities for a few of its members, including Janet Guthrie, who went on to become the first woman to qualify and compete in the 1977 Daytona [00:14:00] 500. She was also the first woman and top rookie at the Indianapolis 500 the same year.

Competing as a Motor Maid provided its drivers with experience, exposure, and future racing possibilities they were unlikely to have received otherwise. 50 years later, in September 2020, two all female crews, the Iron Dames and the Richard Mule racing team, competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world’s most famous endurance race.

Although faced with shortened training sessions due to COVID, both teams had modestly successful runs. The Iron Dames claimed ninth place from the 22 starters in the LMGTE AM category. The Mule team finished an impressive ninth of the 24 LMP2 crews. In their debut outing, the inclusion of these teams resulted in the highest female participation in the 24 hours since 10 women competed in 1935.

Unlike previous all female racing teams, promotional possibilities took a backseat to talent on the track. The teams were built around strong, experienced, and serious racers. The marketing focus [00:15:00] was on individual and collective ability rather than on femininity or the color of the racing suits. Within the historically masculine motorsport enterprise, there is perception that female only teams and the drivers that inhabit them are inherently second rate.

Many competitors expressed reluctance to join the teams for that reason. However, the talent and teamwork on display at Le Mans demonstrated that with support, sponsorship, and opportunity, women could achieve success and respect in the motorsports arena. In the early 2000s, the women’s racing series emerged as an alternative all female racing concept.

While the all female racing team expanded the opportunities for women’s participation in high performance racing events somewhat, women remained a significant minority. The Women’s Racing Series, therefore, was created to address the lack of women in the higher echelons of motorsport by providing more openings for more women to develop the skills and experience necessary to move on to the next level.

One of the earliest and more unconventional examples of this concept was [00:16:00] Formula Women, an all female based motor racing championship created and marketed in association with the British media from 2004 to 2007. More than a race series, Formula Women shared many of its components with the UK’s burgeoning reality television boom.

The promoters did not solicit established racers, rather a team of 16 finalists was selected from over 10, 000 applicants. Respective drivers were subject to a series of assessments in driving skill, physical fitness, and media and public relations management. The series was also promoted as a male free zone.

As the applicant invitation read, the charm of Club Formula Woman is that we operate in an entirely female environment, removing the stigma of intimidating male dominated driving days. Formula women drivers were initially intrigued by the prospect of participating in an all female motor racing series.

As relatively new to the racing scene, the women believed the unique experience would mold them for a possible career in the sport, and hoped the television exposure would create [00:17:00] lucrative promotional and sponsorship possibilities. However, problems with the format, organization, and financial backing led to difficulties on and off the track.

While Formula Women was created with the intent to provide increased motorsport opportunities for women, as well as to expand female interest in the sport, it ultimately failed to do either well. However, that over 10, 000 applied to Formula Women program certainly suggests a growing female interest in motorsport and despite its inability to capture a loyal audience in its original incarnation, the Formula Women series was relaunched in post COVID 2021.

The media attention brought to the W Series has unquestionably provided an impetus for various racing organizations, including Formula Women, to encourage female interests in motorsports. The W Series was introduced in October, 2018 as a unique groundbreaking free to enter single seater motor racing series.

For women drivers only, the formula three championship series was conceived to promote female drivers into [00:18:00] formula one. The objective was not only to produce top notch racing for spectators and viewers on a global scale, but also to equip its drivers with the experience and expertise with which they may progress their careers.

In its inaugural season, 18 drivers representing 13 countries, chosen from nearly 100 top female drivers across the globe, participated in six races at some of Europe’s premier F1 racing venues. Those selected are required to take part in rigorous training programs centered on driving techniques, simulator exposure, technical engineering approaches, fitness, and media conducted by instructors with Formula One experience.

Efforts were taken to address the inequalities that plague many of the world’s premier racing series. Drivers were not expected to attain sponsorships nor to shoulder any financial responsibility. All expenses were covered by the series organization. The 2019 series was a modest success. It experienced an increase in viewer interest and ratings after each race.

By the end of the first season, the [00:19:00] W Series was broadcast in over 50 countries, reaching up to 350 million households. At the end of the season, it was reported that in 2020, the top eight championship drivers would collect points toward an FIA super license, an important entryway into Formula One.

Despite the mostly positive press, W Series entered the racing arena under a cloud of controversy with much to prove. Not everyone, the media, racing organizations, race promoters, and the women themselves, was convinced a woman only series was a step forward. Opponents argued since motorsports is one of the few competitions in which women can compete directly with men, female racers should take every opportunity to do so.

Detractors claim that much like the all female racing competitions that preceded it, WSeries was primarily a PR move. As women’s success in these venues had little influence within the masculine effluent culture. The debate surrounding the W Series echoes that which has accompanied most configurations of the female motorsport since powderpuffs entered the racing arena.[00:20:00]

For much of its existence, women’s racing has been constructed as a frivolous sideshow, a trivial endeavor. A catwalk of second rate drivers in pink racing suits. Although women’s racing has come into its own in the 21st century, it cannot completely escape such long standing, disparaging associations. It is not surprising, therefore, that many choose to dismiss all female racing as a way to distance themselves from these pervasive sexist, stereotypical representations.

Secondly, throughout automotive history, critics have drawn on gender stereotypes, women as emotionally unstable, physically weak, and intellectually deficient, to frame women as interior drivers. These assumed biological character deficits have carried over into motorsports, where women are considered less able to perform in a competitive field.

The arguments against the W Series assume an either or position. Only one platform, segregated or non segregated, best serves female racers. However, the W Series framed itself as an addition to, rather than replacement [00:21:00] for, non segregated racing. The W Series objective was not to compete with non segregated events for female support and participation, but rather to increase opportunities for women throughout motorsports.

The COVID pandemic cancelled the 2020 W Series. The 2021 season featured eight races in support of the 2021 Formula One World Championship. The 2023 season was shortened due to financial issues and the W Series was ultimately dissolved. Britain’s Jamie Chadwick was the winner of all three seasons.

Chadwick went on to become a development driver for the Williams Formula One team and race for Andretti Global in Indy and XT. In November 2022, Formula 1 announced the creation of F1 Academy, a female only, junior level, single seater racing series aimed to develop and prepare young drivers for higher levels of competition.

Like Formula Women and the W Series that preceded it, it was established to address the lack of female drivers in other racing series. Now in its second season, the [00:22:00] Academy has already witnessed an increase in female participation, with a 265 percent increase in cadet age females qualifying for the British Carding Championships, the first step in a young woman’s racing journey.

In 2024, the F1 Academy Racing Series will compete across seven countries spanning three continents for the first time. Each side of the gender segregated versus integrated racing conundrum makes a compelling gaze for how women in motorsports are best served. Champions of integrated racing argue women will not be considered equal in motorsport until they compete head to head with men.

Those on the opposing side contend because women have traditionally had fewer avenues into motorsports than male peers. Female racing provides an important and necessary entryway into the higher echelons of competition. There can be little question that the history of motorsports is a masculine one, even in its earliest years, when well connected societal women were conditionally accepted into the racing arena, traditional assumptions and biologically deterministic attitudes toward women [00:23:00] frame motoring and motorsports as exclusive male preserves.

100 years later, the position of motorsports as a nearly impenetrable male enterprise remains. Women with an interest in racing, therefore, have had to devise particular strategies to enter what has long existed as an exclusive masculine fraternity. Without many of the connections available to male racers, rising through the ranks of karting, coming from a family of racing enthusiasts, having an intermediary in the racing community, and racing mentors, women must often rely on other methods, and one of those is participation in women only racing events.

This examination of female only racing over the past 75 years does not attempt to answer the question of whether or not women are best served by gender segregated racing. Rather, it offers insight into how women have and continue to construct alternative avenues into the historically masculine and often unwelcoming motorsports arena.

Through an inspection of women’s engagement in female racing venues, from Powder Puff to W Series, it provides an [00:24:00] opportunity to consider how segregated racing has both limited and empowered women’s motorsports participation. Thank you for your attention. The photographs in this presentation are from the following resources.

Kip Zeiter: Thank you, Chris. I have a question, actually. The two series that you talked about seem to be mostly, if I’m correct, European oriented. Is there any U. S. or North American equivalent that has been tried or is currently being run? Um,

Chris Lezotte: not recently. Not that I’m aware of.

Audience Q&A: In the early part of your presentation, you talk about how women were initially accepted into racing and then ultimately prohibited.

What was the sort of impetus or I guess more likely pretext for that prohibition? My theory is

Chris Lezotte: that the prohibition happened right around the time when the gasoline powered automobile was introduced. And before they were driving these low powered cars, society was opposed to women driving gasoline powered automobiles because they had too much power.

They liked them in electrics because they didn’t go very fast [00:25:00] and they didn’t go very far. I think that that’s one of the impetuses that said, you can’t race. It’s too dangerous. It’s too fast. Too much power.

Audience Q&A: I wonder when you looked at the 60s and 70s and all the promotion and advertising, clearly that was geared toward the male viewer.

We know that as we entered into the 2000s that the majority of financial decisions in a household is made by women. So do you think there could be an examination of how we advertise if we focused on Women and saying like I don’t think given that type of promotion. I would ever have steered my daughter into motor sports I know I wouldn’t have in fact I didn’t soccer.

Yes, basketball. Yes, and other sports. Absolutely I wonder if an examinations ever been on that.

Chris Lezotte: Well, I think part of the issue is that girls are not exposed to motorsports or even cars in the way that young boys are. They don’t even know that it’s something that they can pursue. It’s not even in their wavelength.

And by the time they want to do it, it’s usually too late. [00:26:00] If they’re 16, when they decide they want to become a race car driver, they’re already eight years behind the guys. So it’s really hard for them to catch up. And that’s why, like, the F1 Academy is helping. They’re starting with girls that are younger.

They’re also doing that in the United States. I’ve been to a couple of seminars that Lynn St. James has held. You know, her organization is doing a lot to promote young women. And they had a young girl there that was 15 that was also into carding and actually her family was moving to the south so that she could sort of do this all year round where the weather was better.

You know, that’s a really hard commitment to make.

Crew Chief Eric: We got one from John Summers. He says, Women buying the groceries and controlling the family finances. Wasn’t that why Tide got into NASCAR?

Chris Lezotte: Makes sense, but I couldn’t verify that. It’s

Kip Zeiter: always worked that way in my household, I’ll tell you that.

Audience Q&A: In, uh, SCCA sports car racing in the late 50s, they referred to them as the ladies race.

Then eventually they were able to run against the men and there was a picture of Donna Mae Mims there. She [00:27:00] was the first national champion in SCCA in the H production class. She, uh, built her own cars. She was an amazing lady.

Chris Lezotte: Thank you. Yes,

Audience Q&A: the one thing that they all seem to have in common, all of the women’s teams is that they’re all pink.

So the iron dames who are still racing in world endurance, their sister car or the brother car is iron links. And that is the same car but bright yellow. Even though the iron dames are much more about, as you say, opening the door to women races and giving them an avenue in. Can you foresee a woman’s only team not being pink?

Or do you think no matter what happens, that’s going to be part of it?

Chris Lezotte: I can foresee it, although now with the whole Barbie thing, I think pink’s going to be around for a while. Because, you know, she’s got that pink Corvette. With Lynn, if you recall, she was sort of torn with this question also of whether it’s better to race against men or to promote these all female racing teams.

When somebody raised the question of all female NASCAR, she said, no, no. But then she also said, you know, but I went to the W [00:28:00] Series, and I was on the panel, and they provide all of this for women, and it’s great for them. So again, there’s no right answer. I don’t have the answer. I think it’s just very individual.

These all women platforms are important. Just brings more women and increases the feel. Yes.

Audience Q&A: I just have a comment and then a question. Some years ago I was, I consider myself fortunate to have spent some time with Linda Vaughn, Ms. Hurst Golden Shifter.

Chris Lezotte: Yeah.

Audience Q&A: Given the general popular perception of her as being unintelligent and just a model, I found her a very warm, engaging person.

Which was just a remarkable contrast. So there was kind of some interplay between popular culture and the reality. More to my question though, these voices have been clearly silenced. As we saw in our literature review yesterday. How did you go about researching this and how did you bring those voices out?

Chris Lezotte: W Series was new, so that was just basically reading the journal, you know, the automotive press on the W Series. A lot of the stuff I found in secondary sources, I really didn’t go back into. to research all of these at the primary source. But I found it [00:29:00] through secondary sources in print and online.

Crew Chief Eric: Jay Hungerford writes, What do you think the future is for women in motorsports?

Is it normalizing or will it remain a novelty?

Chris Lezotte: I would like to see it normalized, but I think We’re still a ways away. We need a star, and I think that will bring more women into motorsports, they’ll become more aware of it. We need a star like Caitlin Clark, you know, she brought attention to women’s basketball.

Motorsports needs the same thing.

Audience Q&A: Do Girl Scouts of America have an automotive?

Chris Lezotte: I don’t know, but that

Audience Q&A: would be a

Chris Lezotte: good one,

Audience Q&A: yeah. With the promotion of STEM education among high schoolers, science, technology, engineering, and math, and the UNOH programs, when I see women in motorsports, I don’t just automatically think drivers.

I think, like what I do, I think about riders, and motors, and engineers, and the like. So I’d like to see you do some research on that. I think you’ve covered this one well.

Chris Lezotte: Well, thank you. I know that’s what the F1 Academy is doing, that they’re increasing opportunities for women in [00:30:00] all aspects of motorsports, like the ones that you mentioned, and when St.

James organization is doing the same thing, they’re not just concentrating on drivers, but they’re concentrating on all aspects.

Audience Q&A: I would say we’re starting to see a little bit more of that with the stars coming out, I mean, even through namesake Leah Block, who is obviously the daughter of Ken Block, the rally driver, all of that has started to make her way in the rally series and the F1 Academy series.

And then even in representation in Formula One, you have the strategist for Red Bull, who is a very prominent female figure in the sport.

Kip Zeiter: I would also say regarding stars and racing and probably because we showed the Shirley Muldowney movie. What some people consider kind of a niche sport is drag racing, but drag racing certainly has more than its fair share of stars that are female stars.

Yes, Erica Enders and John Force’s daughters. And well, I mean, Shirley Muldowney started it all years and years and years ago, but I think drag racing probably is as [00:31:00] well represented. In terms of stars for women in racing as, as any series.

Chris Lezotte: But again, like the daughters of John, I wonder if they would have gone into drag racing if he had had sons.

Kip Zeiter: Well, that’s a good point. Which I can’t answer that. They had a clear advantage. Yeah, and that’s a way that

Chris Lezotte: women get into this. A lot of women get into this is through family participation or if their family’s interested in motor sports. If they participate, they get into it too. It’s harder for women who don’t have that family connection.

Right.

Crew Chief Eric: So to add to that, John Summers says, It’s a great point about needing a star performer. The unfortunate issue with Danica was that she was just okay as drivers goes. She’s not Schumacher, Senna, Andretti, or a Foyt.

Chris Lezotte: Danica Patrick was also not a great promoter of women. She wasn’t a role model. So, I think that had some influence also.

She wasn’t like when I’m talking about how turning around and promoting women and young women into motorsport and Danica Patrick This is just my impression. [00:32:00] I don’t know really anything about her. I just don’t think she was interested in that

Kip Zeiter: I think Danica was more of a self promoter than a woman’s promoter.

Yes, honestly

Chris Lezotte: I was just wondering, who is Jaye Stanridge? She was a writer for Open Wheel back, I think that was the 60s. She was a columnist, and this was from one of her columns.

Kip Zeiter: Well, Chris, that was great. Thank you very much. Very informative.

IMRRC/SAH Promo: This episode is brought to you in part by the International Motor Racing Research Center. Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history of motorsports, spanning continents, eras, and race series. The Center’s collection embodies the speed, drama, and camaraderie of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.

The Center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike to share stories of race drivers, race series, and race [00:33:00] cars captured on their shelves and walls. And brought to life through a regular calendar of public lectures and special events. To learn more about the Center, visit www. racingarchives.

org. This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians. They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history. The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers, organizational records, print ephemera, and images to safeguard, as well as to broaden and deepen the understanding of motorized wheeled land transportation through the modern age and into the future.

For more information about the SAH, visit www. autohistory. org.

Crew Chief Eric: We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Brake Fix [00:34:00] Podcast, brought to you by Grand Touring Motorsports. If you’d like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure to follow us on all social media platforms at GrandTouringMotorsports. And if you’d like to learn more about the content of this episode, be sure to check out the follow on article at gtmotorsports.

org. We remain a commercial free and no annual fees organization through our sponsors, but also through the generous support of our fans, families, and friends through Patreon. For as little as 2. 50 a month, you can get access to more behind the scenes action, additional Pit Stop minisodes, and other VIP goodies, as well as keeping our team of creators fed on their strict diet of Fig Newtons, Gumby Bears, and Monster.

So consider signing up for Patreon today at www. patreon. com forward slash gtmotorsports. And remember, without you, None of this would be [00:35:00] possible.

Skip ahead if you must… Here’s the highlights from this episode you might be most interested in and their corresponding time stamps.

• 00:00 The Evolution of Women-Only Racing
• 03:34 Early History of Women in Motorsports
• 06:40 Powderpuff Racing and Its Impact
• 10:17 The Rise of All-Female Racing Teams
• 15:28 The W Series and Modern Developments
• 22:19 Debate on Gender Segregation in Racing
• 24:12 Q&A Session
• 32:27 Closing Remarks and Credits

Consider becoming a Patreon VIP and get behind the scenes content and schwag from the Motoring Podcast Network