NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
Story © 2006 Dwight Drum
Web work by Gary Larsen

Janet Guthrie
Legendary NASCAR and IndyCar Driver,

"Off the track, happy to fade into the wallpaper. On the track, I was sort of controlled ferocity."

Janet Guthries's recently released book is available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com

It must have been tough to be the only woman behind the wheel of a high-speed race car at any racetrack in the 1970s. It's always tough to drive any fast race car, but when all the other drivers are male the feat takes on another dimension. Janet Guthrie was the first woman to race in the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500, opening doors for women in motorsports and proving that engines don't know gender.

Guthrie recently joined Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Jack Roush and H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler as inductees into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama. Here too, she represents resolve and her gender.

A few moments of conversation with Guthrie reveals an articulate lady with spirited demeanor. She would have done well in today's sponsor-enriched environment. Securing sponsorship is no easy task now, but Guthrie claims it even tougher back then.

Zoomster.com welcomes Janet Guthrie, a history-making race car driver. Her determination and fervor arrived long before the Internet, and her zeal has lost no energy over time.

Time: Spring 2006
Place: Internet and telephone
Event: International Motorsports Hall of Fame

Dwight asked Janet Guthrie:
Can you describe yourself to a fan?

"Off the track, I am very shy, perfectly happy to fade into the wallpaper. On the track, I was a different person--sort of controlled ferocity."

"The essentials are concentration, judgment, emotional detachment (not getting angry or excited on the track), and a very strong desire, a certain wildness of heart."

"Yes, it was measured so."

"I'm always looking, almost unconsciously, for situations that might develop into something needing attention--a driver approaching a stop sign too fast, unusual dust four cars ahead, someone looking for an unfamiliar destination who might suddenly do something odd."

"I think it's born into you."

"That people come to see the crashes, to see someone get killed. I think fans come to see drivers take chances and get away with it, and that this enhances their own sense of immortality."

"I hear tell it's over now, because of new technology, but drafting and the slingshot pass were enormous fun."

Comment about racing: "It is a passion and an obsession for a long time."

"Well like I used t say back when, everybody wants to make their little mark like Daniel Boone killed a bar on this tree. Really though I was in it for the racing itself. That's what I loved. I didn't particularly care about the fame and the publicity and all that. It was as I said a passion and an obsession."

"Oh I was born that way."

"Buddy Baker complained to me about putting new asphalt on Darlington Raceway which is treacherous anyway, he said, 'It was like putting a coat and tie on a rattlesnake.'"

"A guy on my crew, I used to go jogging in the morning, said to me one day, 'I saw you out the window his morning, your sneakers were smoking.'"

"A journalist traveled to report on a NASCAR race said, 'They cut the ham so thin you had to roll it up before you could see it and then went on to complain that they fed the whole airplane on one pineapple.'"

About sponsorships: "Much tougher back then."

Janet Guthrie enters International Motorsports Hall of Fame

The first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and in the Daytona 500, was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame on Thursday, April 27, in Talladega, Alabama. Guthrie is in a class that includes the late seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR driver Harry Gant, team owner Jack Roush, and promoter Humpy Wheeler.

"Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle" is available through bookstores such as Barnes & Noble and on line at amazon.com. Autographed copies are available through her website, www.janetguthrie.com, which contains excerpts from the book as well as other data from her career.

Guthrie's ninth-place finish in the 1978 Indianapolis 500, with a team she formed and managed herself, was the highest by a woman until 2005. In her total of 11 Indy-car races, her 5th-place finish at Milwaukee and her 4th-place qualifying run at Pocono in 1979 were the best by a woman for more than 20 years. In her 33 NASCAR Cup races, she was Top Rookie at the Daytona 500 and four other races in 1977. Her 6th-place Cup finish at Bristol remains the best by a woman in NASCAR Cup's superspeedway era. She placed among the top dozen in ten Cup races. She led the Cup race at Ontario, CA, in 1977.