You did stock car racing….How did you get into that? What was the scene like at that time?
I competed in SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) Showroom Stock. I was always obsessed with racing. I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and went to Indy 500 every year with my parents as well as numerous smaller tracks in Southern Indiana. My father had several friends who were racers. Surprisingly, there were several series for women (called "groan" Powder Puff racing) back then, so I didn't find it strange to think of myself racing although I thought it weird that they separated men and women.
How were you able to learn and practice the driving skills?
After I grew up and moved to New York City I still thought about racing but did nothing. I saw there were racing schools in California and dreamed of going "sometime." Then in 1980, we moved from New York to northern California. I still thought about it and I saved enough money to go to one of the commercial schools (Jim Russell Racing School, then located at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California) and then I was hooked. I joined the SCCA and tried Solo I which is time trials, but not actual racing, on a race track. Your car has to be race prepared (full roll cage, fire suppression system, race seat with 5 point harness). I did that for a couple of years and then went through the SCCA driver training to get my racing license and started racing for real.
What was it like being a female in the racing community?
There were a few women racing in SCCA and there was really no sexism, it was very collegial. During the racing season you go from track to track for races every two to three weeks and it is all the same people and you watch out for each other, help with car prep, sharing parts, etc. One year in Showroom Stock B (class is determined by engine size) the top three finishers for the year were women (I was second) and it was jokingly named Showroom Stock Bitches. I also raced in the early days of N.A.S.A. (National Auto Sport Association), another race sanctioning body, and I was the only female at that time in our region.
Do you see racing as more of a competition with your self, or with the other riders?
It is a combination of both, you want to do better than you did before and you definitely want to beat the other drivers.
What kind of car did you race? Was it customized? How did you customize it?
My first car was a Dodge Omni GLH. It was the first car Carroll Shelby customized when he went to Chrysler by putting a Charger engine and drive train into the little shoebox car. It didn't have a super high top speed but it could maintain that speed in any direction and it handled better than any car I have driven. I had to put a full roll cage, fire suppression system and race seat with five point harness. I was allowed to lower the suspension making it closer to the ground (and more aerodynamic). Showroom stock cars are supposed to be street legal with the race modifications and your car is inspected before every race to be sure you have not done something illegal or have some safety issue. I raced that car until it no longer qualified for Showroom Stock (and I conveniently blew the engine mid-season).
My second car was a a Dodge Neon ACR (American Club Racer edition). This was a race car you could actually buy in the showroom but you needed an SCCA racing license to buy. It was stripped down without a/c or stereo and all you needed was to bolt in a roll cage, race seat and harness and you were ready to go. It had a closer-spaced five-speed transmission, 4 wheel disc brakes without the anti-lock system, less sound deadening material and a larger radiator. The dealer I bought it from gave me minor sponsorship in the form of free parts and labor (very important!).
How have you seen stock car racing change over the years?
I think the major change is that it is even more expensive now (like everything)!
Are there any good stories from your racing days?
During the SCCA drivers' school, one of the guys went off the track, up a hill and into a small pond. After he and his car dried out he completed the training and showed up for graduation (getting your racing license) wearing a snorkel and flippers.
One time after a race, my partner David was driving my car in the paddock with me in passenger seat to get more gas and there was a racecar coming in the other direction (that I happened to have been blocking the entire race), he glared at David thinking it was him doing the blocking.
My sister-in-law's brother was an engine builder for a major NASCAR professional race team and they race on a couple of road courses a year, one of them being Sears Point (now Infineon) Raceway. At every track they allow one person to be a guest pit crew person. Since the brother had major stroke with the team I begged and begged to be the one and he finally relented. When I showed up at the required 4:00 am start to the day, the head of the pit crew looked at me with disgust and said "We ain't never had a girl before." They totally ran me ragged but at the end of the day they thought I was "OK." It was fun and a great look into real professional racing from the other side.
Photos by David Bumham