Janet Guthrie
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Janet Guthrie
By Jenny Zimmerman, Special to Turner Sports Interactive
September 27, 2001
11:36 AM EDT (1536 GMT)
Flying obviously didn't provide enough of a thrill for a 17-year-old girl in 1955. After earning a pilot's license, working as an aviation engineer and qualifying for NASA's astronaut program, Janet Guthrie wanted more -- so she became a race car driver.
Guthrie began racing in 1963 after graduating in 1960 from the University of Michigan, where she studied physics. Guthrie, now 63, also competed in the Sports Car Club of America series and open-wheel racing, boasting an all-women team for much of her career.
After plenty of SCCA wins, Guthrie tried -- but failed -- to qualify for the 1976 Indianapolis 500. In that same year, the spitfire from Iowa City, Iowa, became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup event. Louise Smith was the first to compete at NASCAR's highest level in 1949 when Winston Cup was known as the Grand National series.
Guthrie took home a 15th-place finish in the Charlotte 600, driving a Chevy for First Union National Bank vice president Lynda Ferreri at what was then known as Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Guthrie made history with Lella Lombardi and Christine Beckers when they competed in the July 4, 1977, Firecracker 400 (now the Pepsi 400) at Daytona International Speedway, marking the first time three women entered a single Winston Cup event.
Guthrie was twice the top rookie finisher that year and wound up third in the Rookie of the Year race.
Gravitating to the open-wheel circuit, she gave the Indy 500 another shot in 1977 and on May 29 became the first woman to enter the grandaddy of them all. Twenty-seven laps into the race, though, Guthrie's day was finished when the car had mechanical problems.
She fulfilled a goal in 1978, however, when she finished ninth at Indy. With 11 starts in Indy-car events, Guthrie earned more than $84,000. In her last Indy-car race, the 1979 Milwaukee 200, she would exit with the best finish -- fifth place -- of her open-wheel career.
Despite many drivers' attempts to make her feel unwelcome in the sport, Guthrie continued racing on NASCAR's most popular circuit until 1980, grabbing an 11th-place finish in the Super Bowl of stock-car racing, the Daytona 500, to add to her career stats.
To complement her accomplishments as a pilot, a flight instructor and an aerospace engineer, Guthrie's induction in 1980 into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame made it official: She was an accomplished, successful driver and is a credit to her sport.
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