For most female racecar drivers, breaking through asphalt ceiling proves elusive
Somewhere out there in the future, a woman will drive her racecar into victory lane at the end of a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race and lift the winner’s trophy high into the air.
That day will make history of a remarkable sort. Since 1949, when moonshine runners and various other hot-rodders gathered near Charlotte, N.C. to run the first race in what became the Cup series, the winner each time — 2,546 races — has been a man.
The asphalt ceiling in NASCAR is harder to break through than most.
Although 16 women have raced in the Cup series sporadically over the years, none has approached winning.
In fact, only one woman has scored a top-five finish, that being a fifth by Atlanta driver Sara Christian in the seventh race of the first season in 1949. Christian finished 10 laps behind winner Lee Petty in a field of 23 cars at Heidelberg Raceway, a half-mile dirt track in Pittsburgh.
The two women with the best opportunities to win in Cup have been Danica Patrick, whose NASCAR career ended with this year’s Daytona 500, and Janet Guthrie, who ran from 1976 to 1980. Patrick drove 191 races in equipment that was at or near top level; Guthrie ran 33 times in mid-range cars.
Patrick scored seven top 10s and Guthrie five. They are the only women to have started more than a dozen Cup races.
Patrick is scheduled to race for the final time in this year’s Indianapolis 500, closing her driving career in the event in which she made big news with strong runs before detouring to NASCAR.
With Patrick’s departure from stock car racing, there are no women in leading-edge rides in any of NASCAR’s three national series.
Despite Patrick’s failure to score a top-five finish in five-plus seasons at the Cup level, many consider her a landmark figure, primarily because she brought wider exposure to stock car racing and opened the gates for more participation by women.
Although her NASCAR adventure fell short of expectations, Patrick retains a special place in American motorsports history because she is the only woman to win an IndyCar race. That victory came April 20, 2008 at the Twin Ring Motegi race course in Japan. She also made considerable noise in the Indy 500, finishing third and scoring six top-10 runs in seven appearances.
Patrick’s impending departure from major-league auto racing prompts two big questions: Who will replace her as the next female driver to challenge male dominance? And how long will it be before women are consistently challenging for victories at NASCAR’s top level?
“Danica opened the door for a whole slew of female drivers – both for IndyCar and NASCAR,” said retired NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon. “My question is how long it will be before we see the effects. Five years? Maybe 10 or 20?
“You have to look at quarter-midgets and go-karts and Legends cars and look for girls competing. If the number of girls in those cars isn’t increasing, it will be a long time. Thousands of race car drivers are trying to get into the 40 who race Cup. Already it’s tough.”
There is no universally accepted route to a Cup series ride, but a popular version includes racing in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and/or West series, followed by the Automobile Racing Club of America (which races on some NASCAR tracks) and then the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Car companies and top NASCAR teams are investing time and money in developmental programs designed to give drivers who show talent in their teen years the best path toward success.
Toyota’s racing arm, responding to company-wide diversity initiatives, is heavily involved in finding the best young female drivers and pushing them along the way toward the big time.
“We spend a fair amount of time combing all the data and analytics we can get,” said Jack Irving, Toyota Racing Development’s director of team and support services. “We figure out who’s available and how they race and who we want to go after and try to support.”
After drivers are identified, Toyota tests them on short tracks on non-race days before aligning them with K&N teams for actual competition.
Among the female drivers currently in the Toyota timeline are Natalie Decker, 20, and Hailie Deegan, 16.
Deegan, daughter of motorcycle racing veteran Brian Deegan, races in K&N cars and has recorded three top-10 finishes in 2018. Decker has advanced to ARCA-level competition and won the pole for an ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway in February where she finished fifth.
DEEGAN:Being raised to be NASCAR's first female winner
PRITCHETT:NHRA star says NASCAR behind times with women drivers
DANICA:How to watch Patrick, IndyCar drivers practice for Indy 500
If Deegan and Decker show progress this season and next, they’re likely to earn spot appearances with Toyota teams in the Camping World Truck Series soon.
“Cup has been the goal since I was 7 years old,” Decker said. “I’m getting closer and closer. Danica paved the way for so many girls to come into the sport. My goal is to pave the way even more.”
Those advances won’t happen without support from key players, Irving said.
“There’s a large focus and an understanding that we need to provide a path,” Irving said. “The way we’ve been doing it for 30 years isn’t working. At some point, Danica gave people a path. It’s really on us to build on that and make sure we’re pushing them through.
“I think there probably were very good girls through the years who probably could have done quite well, but opportunities passed them by, for whatever reason. I think that is completely changing.”
How long before real results show at the national level? Irving estimates five to 10 years; TRD President David Wilson said maybe 10 or more.
“It comes down to changing cultural norms over time,” Wilson said. “It’s going to be very difficult.”
On the opposite end of the success scale from NASCAR and IndyCar as far as female drivers are concerned is the National Hot Rod Association, which has enjoyed decades of high-level competition from its women drivers. Women have won nine championships and 142 events in NHRA drag racing.
Legendary Shirley Muldowney broke through with quarter-mile success in the 1970s, and drivers such as Erica Enders, Leah Pritchett and sisters Courtney Force and Brittany Force have been big winners in recent years. Enders has won two NHRA Pro Stock championships, and Brittany Force won the Top Fuel season title last year. Pritchett and Courtney Force have been consistent winners in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively.
“The demands of doing NASCAR or IndyCar are different (from NHRA),” said Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage. “Obviously, they win world championships there. Maybe give it time, and we’ll see it happen here, too.”
PHOTO GALLERY:NHRA Top Fuel driver Brittany Force
PHOTO GALLERY:NHRA Funny Car driver Courtney Force
PHOTO GALLERY:NHRA Pro Stock driver Erica Enders
Gossage and others say the process is a long one.
“You can’t step into the batter’s box and hit a 100-mile-per-hour fastball,” Gossage said. “You’ve got to start in Little League and climb the ladder one rung at a time to weed out the pretenders. It’s the same here. You start at a Saturday night short track and start the weeding-out process. You can’t just throw somebody in a race car and expect them to perform well.”
Veteran female driver Leilani Munter, who plans an eight-race schedule in ARCA this year, said Patrick had a major impact on girls who might have an interest in motorsports. She compared the scenario to the Wonder Woman movie.
“That movie gave little girls a superhero to look up to,” she said. “When little boys walk out of movies, they feel like Superman or Spiderman. Women never had that character. There’s something definitely shifting in society right now. I hope it carries over to the racetrack.”
Former driver and ESPN analyst Ricky Craven said racing in the Truck series, NASCAR’s No. 3 tour, should provide solid evidence if female drivers can move on to Cup.
“The talented will be identified in the Truck series if they’re worthy,” he said.
