Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival - May 22

Danica, Ashley and Sarah the sexiest in auto racing.

It’s no secret that the IRL and NHRA have cornered the market on sexy, successful female stars.  There are just a few of the talented female drivers we’ve seen in the new millennium. Women drivers have been competing with men in organized racing in the modern era for more than 50 years.

In 1958, Maria Teresa de Filippis raced against men in the Formula 1 series. Lella Lombardi, the most proficient female racer in Formula 1, had competed in 12 races. Divina Galica, Desire Wilson, and Giovanna Amati, are three other women who also entered Formula 1 races. In the 1976 British Grand Prix, three female drivers had entered the event, but did not qualify for the event.


Perseverance has paid off for Sarah Fisher.
 
Her  qualification run that put the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Racing car solidly in the field for the 92nd Indianapolis 500. Fisher will start 22nd - one position lower than last year with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing -- in her seventh 500-Mile Race. But it's not the starting position that's all-encompassing, but veteran Fisher - who is a team owner for the first time - will be in the 33-car field.

"We're in, and we can keep moving forward," said Fisher, who posted a four-lap average of 221.246 mph. "Only having one car, we think about what the most tragic thing that could happen. It's nice to know that we don't have to work on those on-the-edge setups anymore. We've just been putting our heads down and plowing forward.

"It's not as fast as we wanted it to be, but we'll take it. We'll take a good, solid entrant, and just keep working on our car."


Danica Patrick will appear on the cover of the May 19 issue of Sports Illustrated, available at newsstands now.

Patrick and her chances of victory in the 92nd Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 25 are the subjects of a cover feature in the issue by SI motorsports writer Lars Anderson. Patrick will start fifth.






Milka Duno will start 27th making it the first time three women have raced in the Indy 500 at the same time.

She had a role in the movie adaptation of the 1960s animated cartoon Speed Racer, requiring her to travel to the movie set, preventing her from racing in the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway as originally planned. The movie debuted on May 9, 2008, one day before Pole Day qualifying for the 92nd Indianapolis 500.


This reporter asks isn’t it time women get the recognition they deserve in racing?

Well, Yeah.

Pete Evanow writes: Is this finally the time when women in motorsports can command the kind of attention they feel is appropriate? With the recent high profile accomplishments of Kathryn Legge having just completed a test in Minardi's F1 car, NHRA's Ashley Force and Rahal-Letterman driver Danica Patrick, among many others climbing the motorsports ladder, the closed-quarter race community has finally recognized that levels of athleticism are not bound by sex. Indeed, these women have helped raised the world's awareness of professional racing, not because of who they are, but because of what they have been and will continue to be accomplishing.


Watch Ashley Force’s interview with Oakley from her shop in Yorba Linda, Calif.

Recently, Force became the first female to ever win a Funny Car race in the NHRA.






by Linda Przygodski
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

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