Who are your favorite Female Race Car Drivers?

[Luccia at Pelican Parts]

Pelicans!

In honor of international woman's day I wanted to share one my favorite of all time racers, Michele Mouton. Who are some of your all time favorite female race car drivers? Share videos, pictures and anything else to showcase them below!




Forward to 1:20 for some driving action!



And of course her setting records at PPIHC in my home state!

[RonDent]

Amy Ruman, 2 Time SCCA Trans Am Champ


Amy Ruman - RUMAN RACING

[Admin at Pelican Parts]

My all-time favorite? Denise McCluggage.

[JackDidley]

Current Favorite. Leah Pritchett.

[URY914]

To just look at would be any for the Force sisters.

[KFC911]

Danica Patrick

[dienstuhr]

Sabine Schmitz

[Deschodt]

All good but I'm with Lucia on account of Rally drivers being the most talented of all, and certainly the craziest ! The era when Michelle Mouton drove was the nutcase era of crowds in the middle of the roads opening up at the last minute... Driving blind, sideways, at those speeds, wow !!

[stevej37]

[chapo]

McCluggage , Moulton, Lynn St James.

[Jeff Higgins]

[Deschodt]

Not sure I'd count dragster pilots as "drivers" per se... more like rocket riders... I'm not saying they have no talent, I'm certain they do, on top of giant attachments, but those aren't the skills one thinks of when thinking race car driver.... no turns, at all.... braking with a parachute! She's cute though, Graham Rahal must be happy guy!

[Eric 951]

Maybe because she was (somewhat) local but Donna Mae Mims

[Craig T]

Danica Patrick...I know most of you don't like her, but she's a damned good driver. Don't forget, she did win an Indy race, with many top ten's.

Out of respect for the nature of this thread and National Woman's day, I edited out the photos. I apologize to the OP.

Sincerely, Craig

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Denise McCluggage. She spoke at the Lars Anderson museum back in 2012, very inspiring woman.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

All good but I'm with Lucia on account of Rally drivers being the most talented of all, and certainly the craziest ! The era when Michelle Mouton drove was the nutcase era of crowds in the middle of the roads opening up at the last minute... Driving blind, sideways, at those speeds, wow !!

Agree. I remember watching the Group B cars when ESPN used to air the WRC races. Those guys (and Michelle) had balls.

I did get to watch (in person) Lynn St. James a few times at a few IMSA races in the '80s.

[BXR12NT]

Simona Di Silvestro http://simonadesilvestro.com


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by Deschodt

Not sure I'd count dragster pilots as "drivers" per se... more like rocket riders... I'm not saying they have no talent, I'm certain they do, on top of giant attachments, but those aren't the skills one thinks of when thinking race car driver.... no turns, at all.... braking with a parachute! She's cute though, Graham Rahal must be happy guy!

Yeah, drag race drivers have suffered this kind of separation from "real" race car drivers for decades. While there is a good deal of cross-over between the various road racing and oval racing disciplines, you will notice, however, that virtually none of these "real" race car drivers ever hop into a Top Fuel car. Come to think of it, I can't come up with one. The only exception that comes readily to mind is Danny Ongais, and he actually went from Funny Car and Top Fuel to Indy car.

I've got honest mid nine second passes under my belt. Granted, in today's world, that does not sound like much, and I cannot fathom what it must be like in a Top Fuel car. As an avid DE day participant in my '72 911 hot-rod, I will say this much: I would put any driver I ever drag raced with, stone cold with no training, in my 911 and let them lap a road course. I would never even consider letting anyone at a typical DE event hop into even a nine second drag car and just let 'er rip, without some very extensive training and practice. It's a lot harder than it looks.

[Deschodt]

No argument from me, I was trying to make the distinction respectfully.... I've gone to see top fuel stuff at Ocala and it blew my mind, but it IS a totally different set of skills... I don't think Courtney Force could hustle a rally car like a rally driver or a GT3 like a Patrick Long.. And vice versa. To me she's a top level downshill skier, say, but doesn't mean she'd necessarily be any good at tennis...

On the other hand we've seen more crossover between racing disciplines where turns and braking are involved (Indy/F1/Nascar/Rally/GT). Seb Loeb (9x WRC champ) was very respectable in F1 tests and won in GT and touring cars (though not as much, to be sure), Kimi did OK in a Rally car (but crashed a lot), Kubica did well in rallying until he cuts of his arm in the process, Jeff gordon/Montoya swap....

Not saying a NHRA "driver" (I still think of them as pilots) cannot drive a race car, just that there is nothing in the curriculum to get them there that is super relevant to high level track/dirt road, except maybe reflexes and big attachments... For that matter I'm making a point towards Rally, because that is the only other discipline I saw live (WRC) where I thought "No way I can ever do this, even with 20y of training and a cojones transplant". Even top level track racers have a special place in their heart for rally drivers that do it between trees ;-)

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

Yeah, drag race drivers have suffered this kind of separation from "real" race car drivers for decades. While there is a good deal of cross-over between the various road racing and oval racing disciplines, you will notice, however, that virtually none of these "real" race car drivers ever hop into a Top Fuel car. Come to think of it, I can't come up with one. The only exception that comes readily to mind is Danny Ongais, and he actually went from Funny Car and Top Fuel to Indy car..

About 20 years ago John Andretti ran a Top Fuel car for Jack Clark the NYY baseball player. Didnt last long due to a lack of sponsorship. A few years ago Kurt Bush ran a Pro Stock car at a race or 2.