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Kelly Clarkson partners with NASCAR

Former ‘Idol’ will be ‘integrated into all aspects’ of the sports franchise

Kelly Clarkson will soon be showing her racing stripes in the biggest partnership NASCAR has ever made with a music artist, the sports franchise announced Thursday, Jan. 18.

Current Women In NASCAR

Only two women are currently in NASCAR's top three series.
In 2005 there are no women competing in the NEXTEL Cup or Busch Series. However two women are regular competitors in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.


Deborah Renshaw drives the #8 Easy Care Dodge for car owner Ray Montgomery. Her best finish of 2005 was a 12th place effort in Dover and she has struggled some including a disappointing failure to qualify at Lowes Motor Speedway in May.


Renshaw Plans Uncertain for 2006

"Driver Continues Sponsorship Search"

BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY (December 5, 2005) � The 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season was filled with highs and lows for driver Deborah Renshaw. Piloting the No. 8 DODGE out of the BHR2 stable, the female racer finished 24th in the seasons final point�s standings. Now the Bowling Green, Kentucky native waits anxiously to see what the future holds for her.

�This year was a great learning period for me in this sport,� stated Deborah. �I had the support of some great veterans such as Bobby Hamilton and this BHR2 team supplied me great trucks each week. This Craftsman Truck Series is arguably the most competitive series in NASCAR and I think that showed with our Nextel Cup Champion Tony Stewart failing to qualify for the race in Richmond. I had some great runs but also some that were not so great this past year and I think a lot of that was part of the learning process for me. I would love to compete in the series again in 2006 but we are uncertain what we are going to do at this point. We need to secure some sponsorship and we are working on that hard.�

In 24 starts this past season, Renshaw scored a career best 12th place finish in her career debut at the challenging track in Dover. She also posted a career best qualifying effort of eighth at her home track of the Nashville Superspeedway. In all, Renshaw accumulated six top-20 finishes and 13 top-25 finishes during the season.

Renshaw stayed busy off the track as well in 2005. The highlight was the taping of a segment at the California Speedway for the highly acclaimed DVD release of the hit movie �Herbie Fully Loaded�. The female racer was highlighted in a featurette where she takes the audience for a ride to show them what it is actually like driving 180 mph. Additionally, Deborah will appear on an upcoming episode of 2 Guys Garage on the Speed Channel which was taped while she made an appearance at her alma mater � Northwood University � for their annual International Outdoor Auto Show. The episode will first appear on Speed on December 25th at 10:30 a.m. EST.

�This has been a very busy and exciting year for me and we are working hard during this off season to put something together for next year,� said Renshaw. �But honestly, we need some more help on the sponsorship side. We are also talking to a handful of teams about next season and it sure would be nice if something came together here soon. We have a tremendous marketing package to provide on the sponsorship side and with the 2005 season under my belt I think we will be even more competitive next season. I am keeping my fingers crossed that something happens soon.�
 



Kelly Sutton is also running the Craftsman Truck Series in 2005. She drives the #02 Team Copaxone Chevy for car owner Ed Sutton. While she has qualified for every event so far in 2005 she has not had any top ten finishes. Her best run of the year so far is a 15th place effort at Lowes Motor Speedway.

Kelly �Girl� Sutton

Kelly �Girl� Sutton is one of a kind. She is one of very few women, and the only person with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), known to race in NASCAR. Now in her second full season in the Goody�s Dash Series, a NASCAR Touring series, Sutton has established a reputation as a formidable competitor � finishing her rookie season third in rookie points and 12th overall, beating out 75 other drivers.

A third generation racecar driver, Sutton has racing in her blood. Even as a toddler, it was no surprise to find her under the hood of one of her father�s racecars. Her own racing career began at the early age of 10, progressing steadily for six years until it came to a screeching halt with Sutton�s diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 1988.

Initial symptoms of tingling and numbness on her right side, combined with overwhelming fatigue were just the first indications something was wrong. By the time Sutton was 25, she found herself in a wheelchair. Her dreams of racing seemed to have slipped away.

But Sutton did not give up. Her family would not let her. Together they found the right balance of diet, exercise, and a daily injection of COPAXONE� (glatiramer acetate injection), that allowed Sutton to regain the life she had always wanted.

Today, in addition to driving at speeds of up to 160 miles per hour in the #02 Team COPAXONE� Pontiac Sunbird, Sutton is a busy mother of two and an inspirational speaker. Away from the track, she travels across the United States, sharing her story with others living with MS. She is a testament to the power of attitude and determination.

Sutton has big plans to continue impacting NASCAR through her speed, her drive, and her inspiration for many years to come.

Personal Information
� Full Name: Kelly Renae Sutton
� Born: Sept. 24, 1971
� Family: Lives in Crownsville, Md., with husband, Butch, and daughters, Ashlee and Nicole
� Hobbies: Cross-stitch, softball

Kelly Sutton and Multiple Sclerosis
� Diagnosed: Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, February 1988, age 16
� Initial Symptoms: Numbness on right side; spinal tap and MRI revealed
multiple sclerosis
� Prognosis: The frequency of relapses have been reduced with lifestyle changes and
drug therapy

Professional Career
� 2002 GOODY�S DASH SERIES, NASCAR TOURING DIVISION
Competed in 14 races
Finished 12th in overall points
Most Popular Driver Award 2002
Finished third in Rookie of the Year standings

� 2001 GOODY�S DASH SERIES, NASCAR TOURING DIVISION
Competed in six races, led laps in one race, best finish 10th

� 2000 GOODY�S DASH SERIES, NASCAR TOURING DIVISION
Competed in two races, best finish 16th

� 1998 PARTS PRO TRUCK SERIES
Won one qualifying race
Won Oral B Close Brush Award

� 1997 ALLISON NATIONAL LEGACY SERIES
First woman to win regionally or nationally
Finished 25th in national point standings
Competed in four races

� 1997 ALLISON LEGACY PENNSYLVANIA SERIES
Won two feature and three pole positions
Finished sixth in regional point standings
Won Most Popular Driver Award

� 1992�1994 OLD DOMINION SPEEDWAY/PRO MINI-STOCK SERIES
Won seven feature races, 20 qualifiers, and five pole positions
Average finish of fifth in final point standings
Most Popular Driver Award 1992, 1993, 1994
Metropolitan Auto Racing Fan Club of Maryland, Delaware, and Virginia Award 1994
Sportsmanship Award 1992
Hard Charger Award 1992



Neither of these women currently seems to have the complete package necessary to create the media frenzy that Danica Patrick has. While they are both capable of solid careers in motorsports NASCAR does not currently have "The" woman to set the world on fire in any of the top three touring series.

Does this woman exist? Danica Patrick has brought excellent exposure to herself, her team, her sponsor and her sport so now every talent scout in NASCAR is looking for the "new" Danica. While I agree that Danica Patrick is truly unique, somewhere in America right now is a girl setting records at her local track and impressing the locals with her maturity and intelligence. I hope she is discovered soon and set on the path to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing.


Prior women of NASCAR:


 

Lisa Smokstad

Lisa Smokstad never thought she'd have a career in auto racing.

Lisa Smokstad never thought she'd have a career in auto racing.

By Troy Fletcher, Special to Turner Sports Interactive December 22, 2002
2:20 PM EST (1920 GMT)

Growing up, Lisa Smokstad never considered herself a tomboy.

"I would go in the garage when my dad and brother were in there, and I would try to impress my dad with what I could do," she said. "But, I really didn't think much about it back then."

Little did she know that those trips to the garage were the building blocks to a future career.

For the past 12 years, Smokstad has been involved in auto racing and since 1999 she has served as a tire specialist for Hendrick Motorsports driver Jack Sprague in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Grand National ranks.

"I never thought this would be a full-time career, absolutely not," Smokstad said. "I received a degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota, I thought I would be doing something in that field."

Actually, Smokstad first started working in auto racing while she was attending Minnesota.

"My brother-in-law used to race Late Models at Raceway Park (in Shakopee, Minn.) and at Elko (Minn.) Speedway," Smokstad said. "I used to go to the races and one day they were shorthanded with their crew, so they asked me to help out with the tires. It was a lot of trial and error back then, but luckily my brother-in-law was very patient."

Smokstad continued to work with cars on the weekends while going to college.

By 1992, she had a psychology degree in hand, and she began working in the field.

Yet, she never lost her love for racing.

In 1996, Smokstad moved up to be a tire specialist for her brother-in-law's American Speed Association car.

Around that same time, her husband Craig was hired to work with Ken Schrader's ASA team.

Lisa's work kept turning heads and in '99 she joined Hendrick Motorsports and Sprague.

As for Craig, he also works at Hendrick as the car chief on Ricky Hendrick's No. 5 Chevrolet.

"When we are at the track, we don't hang out or anything like that," said Lisa, who met Craig in 1989. "We are both there to do jobs and we are completely business."

Lisa's job duties with Sprague's No. 24 NetZero Chevy include ordering tires, checking out the quality of the tires, putting them in sets and monitoring everything they do in practice and in the race.

"Winning is the major goal with this team," Lisa said. "But, there are 34 races in the Busch season and I know we can't win them all. So, I just want to know at the end of every weekend that I did my job and didn't forget anything. If I can put all the pieces together and we win that is even better."

Lisa has nothing but praise for the tire Goodyear has given her to work with in the Busch Series.

"We are using the same compound as the Winston Cup cars and we have had a stellar tire this year," Lisa said. "Goodyear keeps getting better and better each year they are involved with NASCAR and they have a durable compound now, that also is a lot safer."

If working as a tire specialist in the Busch Series wasn't enough, she also coaches for the Cabarrus County Gymnastics Club in Concord.

"This is the best gymnastic club I have ever worked for," said Lisa, who started gymnastics when she was 6 and has been coaching in the sport off and on since she was 16. "I get to coach their competitive team on Monday and Tuesdays. It is a lot of fun."


Carolyn Carrier
December 22, 2002
3:16 PM EST (2016 GMT)
Her first exposure to the world of motorsports came from atop a stack of soft drink cases that she stood on to sell tickets to events at Bristol Raceway when it opened in 1960. From that point on, Carolyn Carrier was a promoter at heart and a racing promoter by trade.

Carrier has the bloodlines. Her dad, Larry Carrier, built the Bristol track, and owned it until 1996. She grew up doing whatever was needed for the track to operate smoothly, from selling tickets to preparing press releases to pinch-hitting for an absent Miss Bristol Raceway.

After attending college and working in a non-racing job, she was hired as an assistant to H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, the president of Lowe's Motor Speedway. During her five years at Lowe's, Carrier's duties included overseeing corporate sales, sponsor activities and functions, Wheeler's famous pre-race shows, celebrity guests and special projects.

In 1985, Carrier moved to Alabama as the director of sales & marketing at Talladega Superspeedway, under the direction of track president Mike Helton. There, she handled setup and sales of the hospitality chalets and VIP suites, oversaw the Grand Marshal's dinners and handled other special projects.

One such special project was being the NASCAR liaison on the Tom Cruise movie "Days of Thunder" for eight months in 1989-90.

From 1991-1996, Carrier was the marketing/public relations director for Bobby Allison Motorsports, handling the myriad of details required to keep sponsors as well as team members happy and effective.

Carrier has continued her involvement in NASCAR racing and is now in business for herself, having opened her own agency, THAT'S RACIN'!, Inc., in 1996. She has counted among her clients Brett Bodine's Ford NASCAR Winston Cup Series team, NASCAR Cafes, the Official Directory of NASCAR, the Ertl Company, Stock Car Racing Magazine and a NASCAR Weekly Racing Series team.


Jody Deery
February 6, 2002
10:49 PM EST (0349 GMT)
Jody Deery is the matriarch of one of the "first families" in NASCAR short track racing. Mrs. Deery, 77, is CEO of the Deery Companies, Inc.; which include Rockford Speedway, a nationally acclaimed NASCAR Weekly Racing Series quarter-mile oval; Forest Hills Lodge, a banquet and convention center in Rockford; Uncle Jack's, Inc., an off premise concession sale and wholesale racing supply distributor; and Deery Properties, which owns and manages commercial and residential rental property.

But it is her leadership of Rockford Speedway for which she is best known. The speedway celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1997. Mrs. Deery's husband, the late Hugh Deery, built and opened the track, which has operated continuously since.

Mr. Deery was a visionary in the short track motorsports industry. He was among the first to recognize "Saturday night" short track racing as an entertainment business, and the first to introduce an economical Late Model division.

Mr. Deery passed away suddenly in 1984, and immediately thrust leadership of family and business to Jody. Ten years later, Mrs. Deery was selected as the Racing Promotion Monthly (RPM) Auto Racing Promoter of the Year, an award she received in February 1995. The award, voted on by short track operators around the country, had twice gone to Hugh Deery: In 1976, and posthumously in 1984.

Jody Deery continued Rockford Speedway's heritage of great racing and entertainment, and expanded it. In recent years, a modern aluminum and steel structure replaced the track's main grandstand, based on the wooden structure built when the track was constructed. The new state-of the-art seating added to the track's modern, family atmosphere.

"I considered Hugh Deery to be the greatest promoter ever, and now the legacy continues with you taking your rightful place as the nation's top promoter," Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler said to Mrs. Deery upon her RPM award. "You are an inspiration to all of us in the community of auto racing."



Corinne Economaki
December 22, 2002
3:18 PM EST (2018 GMT)
National Speed Sport News publisher Corinne Economaki has worked for "America's Weekly Motorsports Authority" for 14 years, but she's actually in her third career.

America has known National Speed Sport News editor and publisher emeritus Chris Economaki, 79, for decades for his work with the publication, as well as on television as a motorsports commentator for ABC and CBS. Corinne Economaki, 46, never aspired to join her father at the newspaper.

"I've never worked for another paper," she said. "I had a lot of marketing-type jobs (including marketing airplane parts as well as direct mail projects). Then I managed restaurants. I worked my way up the old fashioned way, with hard work. I started as a dishwasher.

"I had very minimal exposure to motorsports. I would occasionally go to a race and that was about it.

"Being in restaurant management is a seven day a week job at 10 to 15 hours a day. I loved the restaurant business, but I had done it for seven years. I was burnt out and tired."

By coincidence, Jerry Gappens, then the associate publisher of NSSN called her to ask if she would be interested in interviewing for a job at the paper. Her father was not involved in the interview or hiring process. He wanted Corinne to be hired on her own merits, if Gappens thought she was good enough to hire.

Fourteen years ago last November, Corinne hired on at the newspaper as an advertising coordinator. She sold ads, set the type, did the "dummy," classifieds and billing. "I took the job because it was good timing, not because I was dying to do it," she said.

"I thought I would have more structure and less turmoil and some semblance of a normal life, which is not the way it turned out to be," she said, laughing. "After six months, my biggest surprise was that I didn't know what I was doing. I was so far under water. It was all I could do to keep from going down for the third time. "Some time in the second year, I knew what was going on in the business and industry. Then I found my grasp of the company, without any formal training."

Later, after Gappens departed to join the staff of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Corinne was promoted to associate publisher, which includes administrative operations duties. Eleven years ago, she was promoted to publisher.

She oversees the paper's staff and operations. During the summer of 1997, she oversaw the move of the National Speed Sport News headquarters from its longtime home base in New Jersey to Charlotte, N.C. She made several appearances on CNN/fn network's "The Most Toys" program, discussing business in motorsports.

She does not foresee having the dual roles of newspaper publisher and motorsports commentator that her father had for decades. "I'll never be able to do what he did on camera," Corinne said. "So many people can and want to, but it takes tremendous homework. I don't think I have the ability for TV that Chris had. Being a contributor to a program like I was on CNN though, is well within my capabilities."

What are her future goals for National Speed Sport News? "We want to continue to be known as a national newspaper telling it like it is," she said. "We have a reputation as the industry's 'bible' that can only get stronger. What's happening off the track today is more important than ever. Five years ago, you'd have to look long and hard to find a business story in NSSN. Now we may have four or five business stories a week."



Juanita "Lightnin'" Epton
December 22, 2002
3:23 PM EST (2023 GMT)
A charter member of "Annie's Army" is perhaps the most fitting description of Juanita "Lightnin'" Epton, who has worked in the Daytona International Speedway ticket office since 1958 -- A charter member of "Annie's Army" is perhaps the most fitting description of Juanita "Lightnin'" Epton, who has worked in the Daytona International Speedway ticket office since 1958 -- or before the "World Center of Racing" opened with Speedweeks 1959.

William H.G. "Big Bill" France, the founder of NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation and the mastermind behind Daytona International Speedway, coined the phrase "Annie's Army" to refer to the loyal cadre of employees who worked for his wife, Anne B. France, the head of the ticket office.

As with many other jobs in racing, laboring in the ticket office is vital, yet behind-the-scenes work. Through the years Epton has only seen one race "live" at the speedway, the 1998 Bud Shootout, when she sat in the Winston Tower.

That doesn't mean she's been insulated from the "atmosphere." Although she's only seen one, she's heard them all, saying at times the noise is nerve wracking. The counterpoint to the crackling intensity of race day is human contact. Fans often come down to the ticket office during the race to order next year's tickets and talk to Lightnin'. She considers these fans, some of which have held tickets since the first race, as family.

The fans also bring updates from the track to Lightnin', who is a Sterling Marlin fan. Sometimes the action comes right to her. In a 1960 100-mile qualifying race for the Daytona 500, Lee Petty and Johnny Beauchamp went over the wall coming out of Turn 4. Epton says it sounded like a bomb went off, as the speedway's old ticket office was less than 200 yards from where the cars landed.

Juanita's husband Joe Epton was also involved in racing as the chief scorer for NASCAR, going back to the days of the beach-road course in Daytona Beach. Lightnin' started coming to Daytona in 1946 with Joe, to help score the beach races.

Joe Epton, who is still a fixture at a variety of speedway and NASCAR functions, coined his wife's nickname, as legend has it, because "you never knew where she would strike next."

Lightnin' says the nickname fits because she has been striking around Joe, with whom she celebrated 59 years of marriage in December 2002, and NASCAR for more than 50 years.



 

Anne B. France
December 22, 2002
3:23 PM EST (2023 GMT)
Anne Bledsoe was born in Nathan's Creek, a tiny North Carolina mountain community, in 1904. She was in Washington, D.C., studying to become a nurse when she met Washington native Bill France. He was also a student and part-time bank clerk. They met at a dance at Children's Hospital in the nation's capital, and were married in 1931. They arrived in Daytona Beach, Fla., in 1934.

Anne France, an expert at figures, finance and general business procedure, played a huge role in her husband's business enterprises. He organized and promoted races and she took care of business.

She first served as secretary and treasurer of NASCAR, and when Daytona International Speedway opened in 1959, she served in the same roles for International Speedway Corporation.

She also managed the speedway's ticket office. She remained active in family and business life until her passing in 1992.

"My brother, Jim and I can readily attest that dad had his vision and dreams. But make no bones about it, mom was his reality," said NASCAR chairman of the board Bill France of his parents' partnership.

"While he was climbing to reach lofty goals, mom firmly held the ladder and provided him with a rock-solid foundation. Vision, dreams and reality. This is the true legacy they left."



Janet Guthrie
December 22, 2002
2:25 PM EST (1925 GMT)
Flying obviously didn't provide enough of a thrill for a 17-year-old girl in 1955.

After earning a pilot's license, working as an aviation engineer and passing the first round of eliminations for NASA's Scientist-Astronaut program, Janet Guthrie wanted more -- so she turned turned more seriously to racing.

Guthrie began racing in 1963 after graduating in 1960 from the University of Michigan, where she studied physics.

Guthrie, now 64, competed for 13 years in Sports Car Club of America races, as well as in international endurance races, such as the Sebring 12-Hour (where she was twice first in class,) the Daytona 24-Hour, and the Watkins Glen 500.

At both Sebring and Daytona, her teammates were women.

After plenty of SCCA wins, Guthrie tried -- but failed -- to qualify for the 1976 Indianapolis 500. In that same year, the Iowa City, Iowa native became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup event. Louise Smith was the first to compete at NASCAR's highest level in 1949 when Winston Cup was known as Strictly Stock.

Guthrie took home a 15th-place finish in the Charlotte 600, driving a Chevy for First Union National Bank vice president Lynda Ferreri at what was then known as Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Guthrie made history in 1977 when she became the first woman to earn a starting spot in the Daytona 500. She was running eighth ten laps from the end when her engine went sour -- she finished 12th and was the top rookie of the race.

She gave the Indy 500 another shot in 1977 and on May 29 became the first woman to compete in the Indy 500. Twenty-seven laps into the race, though, Guthrie's day was finished when the car had mechanical problems.

In 1978, however, when she finished ninth at Indy with a team that she formed and managed herself. With 11 starts in Indy-car events, Guthrie earned more than $84,000. In her last Indy-car race, the 1979 Milwaukee 200, she would exit with the best finish -- fifth place -- of her open-wheel career.

Guthrie's greatest pleasure was her gradual acceptance by drivers on the NASCAR and Indy-car circuits. Hampered by lack of sponsorship, she continued racing, with a best Winston Cup finish of sixth at Bristol in 1977.

To complement her accomplishments as a pilot, a flight instructor and an aerospace engineer, Guthrie's induction in 1980 into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame made it official: She was an accomplished, successful driver and is a credit to her sport.




Tammy Jo Kirk
December 22, 2002
3:24 PM EST (2024 GMT)
Tammy Jo Kirk is a racer. A sponsor once touted her as "a woman with a lot of drive." And because she's a she, the driver has received a lot of notice. Tammy Jo prefers to be considered as "just another driver."

That said, Kirk became the first female NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series driver (in 1991 when the series was known as the NASCAR Winston All American Challenge Series) and later, the first woman to win one, then two, Busch Pole Awards in the series in 1996. She also finished seventh in the series' 1996 championship points race, and was selected as the series' Most Popular Driver Award winner.

Kirk, the owner of a motorcycle shop in her hometown, has been racing since the age of nine, first on motorcycles in motocross and flat-track competition. At 18, she shifted to oval dirt track racing. Later, she moved to NASCAR Weekly Racing Series competition at Lanier National Speedway outside Gainesville, Ga.

A year later, in 1991, she moved to the NASCAR Slim Jim All Pro Series, a touring division for Late Model cars. Kirk won the end-of-season Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., in 1994.

Kirk made history from the beginning of her racing career on two wheels. Kirk entered the heretofore all-male world of AMA flat track motorcycle racing and became the first female rider to gain Expert status. In 1986, Kirk went into the record book again as she won an event at Knoxville, Tenn.

She became the first -- and to date only -- female driver to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1997, qualifying for the Chevy Trucks Challenge at Walt Disney World Speedway driving a Ford prepared by Geoff Bodine Racing. While Kirk failed to post a top-10 finish in 1997, she qualified third for the Craftsman 200 at Portland (Ore.) Speedway and scored a number of lead-lap finishes. A sponsorship shortfall meant she could compete in only 19 of the series' 26 events, but she still won more than $134,000 in prize money.

The 38-year-old competitor finished 20th in the final NCTS championship standings and seventh among 29 Cintas Rookie of the Year candidates.

"I just want to be a racer and just another driver," said Kirk, who later co-owned her own NCTS team before running her last race in the 1998 season finale. "There are a lot of nice people and in the garage area and NASCAR has really accepted me well. I feel welcome and more accepted than in past situations. People who know me know I'm just another driver like the rest of them."




Patty Moise
December 22, 2002
3:26 PM EST (2026 GMT)
For Patty Moise, racing is a way of life. Born in this North Florida city to a racing family, Moise's childhood had always involved racing. Her father was a road racer so she has had racing in her blood since birth.

She was never interested to become involved in the sport however, until she got her driver's license at the age of 16. From then on she started racing road courses with the former IMSA Series.

In 1986, Moise ran her first NASCAR Busch Series race, where she became the first woman to lead a NBS event. It was a major starting point that began Moise's NASCAR career.

She has been involved in numerous races since then and has set many racing records, some of which include the first woman to win a NASCAR Busch Grand National qualifying race and best NASCAR Busch Series finish for a woman.

So with all these accomplishments, you might wonder how Moise feels about being a woman driver?

"Well, I never really looked at it from that point of view since I always see myself as a race car driver, not as a woman driving a car," she said. "This series is so highly competitive that my concerns are more about how my car is working as opposed to if I am the only woman competing."

In 1990, Moise married fellow NASCAR Busch Series driver Elton Sawyer. They met at an auto show and have been together ever since. Their time together was especially intense when they both raced in the Busch Series.

"I think it's great for us to be able to work together," Moise said. "It allows us to spend time with each other, share information and support one another. As for racing on the track with Elton, this sport takes such a high level of concentration that you really don't have time to think of other drivers, including my husband. But deep down inside I can tell you that passing Elton for a win would make for some interesting conversation during the ride home from the race."

Moise, who has mostly switched her love of horsepower to the four-legged variety of late, last raced in the Busch Series in 1998, when she made 19 starts in a Ford Taurus owned by NASCAR Winston Cup driver Michael Waltrip and his wife, Buffy.


Shawna Robinson
December 22, 2002
2:49 PM EST (1949 GMT)
In the late 1980s and early 1990s Shawna Robinson was more than just a pretty face behind the wheel. Born a racer, Shawna drove anything from snowmobiles to diesel trucks competitively until she began to race in NASCAR sanctioned events.

In 1988 she made her NASCAR debut finishing third in the Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway. Robinson was the first woman ever to win a NASCAR Touring event when she took home the checkered flag at New Asheville Speedway in 1988, her rookie season.

The same year she won her first race in what is now the Goody's Dash Series, she also captured the Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series' Most Popular Driver Award and Rookie of the Year honors. Robinson repeated as the Series' most popular driver in 1989, becoming only the second driver to win the award in consecutive years. NASCAR Winston Cup standout Michael Waltrip is the other, when he accomplished the feat in 1982 and 1983.

In her first two years in NASCAR, Shawna started all 30 races in the Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series winning three of them and finishing in the top 10 a remarkable 21 times.

In 1991 Shawna moved into NASCAR's Busch Series, Grand National Division. The crown jewel of Robinson's NASCAR Busch Series career came three years later at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Shawna became the first and only woman ever to win the pole position in the NASCAR Busch Series with a track record of 174.330 mph. The weekend wasn't all roses for Robinson though, on the first lap of the race Mike Wallace moved alongside of Robinson's car, making it three abreast in the third turn. Wallace's car disrupted the air around Robinson's causing her to come into contact with Joe Nemechek. Robinson's best finish in a NASCAR Busch Series race was 10th just a little less than a year before her last series race in 1995.

Shawna temporarily retired as a driver with her first pregnancy. While she married and raised a family, she was still involved in NASCAR as an interior decorator in the Charlotte, N.C., area, where many of her clients are NASCAR drivers and car owners.

Robinson returned to the sport in 2000 driving a Ford for former Winston Cup car owner Michael Kranefuss in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, where she finished in the top-10 in points. In 2001

In 2002, Robinson made seven Winston Cup starts. Her best finish was 24th at the Daytona 500 in February. She had four finishes of 40th or worse and finished the year 52nd in the Winston Cup standings.




Louise Smith
December 22, 2002
3:27 PM EST (2027 GMT)
Louise Smith still has that twinkle in her eye when talking about the "good ol' days" of racing.

Known as racing's "Good ol' Gal," Smith experienced life to the fullest, trying her hand at the "good ol' boys," in NASCAR's fledgling days, and she's the first to admit she wishes she was still young enough to strap on a helmet and go fender-to-fender with NASCAR's best.

In an era when no one thought it possible for a lady to get behind the wheel of a race car Smith, a Greenville native proved everyone wrong. She was defiantly ahead of her time. She raced anything that had wheels, from Modifieds, to Sportsman cars and the Grand Nationals (now NASCAR Winston Cup). From 1946 through 1956, Smith was widely known throughout the racing world.

"I enjoyed every minute of it," Smith says of her career. "I traveled all over North America, racing everywhere I could, and I had fun with it. Didn't make a whole lot of money, but if I could do it again today, I'd do it, and I think I'd make it."

Those who knew her thought Smith was crazy. In the early years of NASCAR, Bill France Sr., NASCAR's founder, used Smith to promote races from the Southeast to Canada. She was a novelty and had talent.

Once when NASCAR was having a race at Greenville-Pickens Speedway -- her home track -- a gimmick was needed to promote the event. Someone suggested that woman driver -- Smith -- because she'd "outrun every highway patrol and lawman in Greenville." Thus, began her driving career.

"They told me if I saw a red flag to stop," remembers Smith. "They didn't say anything about the checkered flag. I wondered where all the cars were and then as I was all alone on the track, I noticed them all in the pits. They finally threw the red flag and I pulled in. I had finished third."

In her career, she captured 38 victories. In the mid-1970s she became involved in the sport again, sponsoring such drivers as Ronnie Thomas, Bobby Wawak and Larry Pearson. She remains involved in the sport today as part of the Miss Southern 500 Scholarship Pageant at Darlington Raceway.



Julie Stefanik
December 22, 2002
3:28 PM EST (2028 GMT)
Julie Stefanik, 42, is a partner in her husband, Mike's, racing career and its success. Mike Stefanik won an unprecedented two NASCAR Touring Division championships in consecutive years, 1997 and 1998, on the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series and the NASCAR Busch North Series.

Since then, she has supported him in moves to the Busch Series, a Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year campaign in 1999 and now a return to his Modified Series roots. Julie's efforts behind the scenes were as heroic as her husband's dual series athletics. She coordinated travel and administrative duties in relation to Mike's racing schedule, including travel between events and tracks when the tours were running on the same weekend.

In addition, the couple also had to balance family life with their two children: Nicole and Christine, who were 9 and 5, respectively, when Stefanik scored his first double. Julie was not new to the racing business when she met Mike. She had worked for her father, Sonny Koszela, who owned a NASCAR Modified team and a racing parts business.

"She understands racing," Mike said. "She's been around racing her entire life. She's probably my toughest critic, too. If I have a bad race, I know it will be a long ride home. "She's a great mother, a super partner and she's irreplaceable in my life."


 

Patti Wheeler
December 22, 2002
3:29 PM EST (2029 GMT)
Patti Wheeler is a young executive on the corporate fast track.

She started her own television production company after World Sports Enterprises, one of America's top production companies producing live motorsports events for cable and network television, closed its shop.

Wheeler accessed all the right channels for a television production career, graduating from North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College, interning with the local CBS Television affiliate and working herself through all levels of production, until being offered the position of Director of Motorsports for TNN: The Nashville Network.

TNN's motorsports programming grew from an original five NASCAR telecasts to over 50 live events during the three years of Wheeler's tenure. Gaylord Communications, then parent company on TNN, bought into World Sports Enterprises in 1994, subsequently bringing Wheeler on board as its chief executive.

As president of Word Sports, Wheeler positioned the firm as a premier production company for NASCAR, SCCA, CART, IROC and IMSA live race telecasts for both network and cable.

Upon its closure she used her expertise to form her own company.

Wheeler, the daughter of Lowe's Motor Speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, is married to Jack Marchant. The couple lives here with their son Jake and daughter Adele.
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