User:Harrias/Janet Guthrie

Janet Guthrie (born March 7, 1938) is an American retired professional motor racing driver, who was the first woman to qualify and compete in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.

Guthrie started her racing career as a hobby in 1961, when she bought a Jaguar XK120. She raced in regional sports car competitions for a few years before taking part in more prominent events such as the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. In 1966, she was part of the first women's teams to finish an international-standard 24-hour race. Guthrie twice won her class at Sebring; in 1967 her and Liane Engeman won the GT1300 category, while in 1970 she won the Prototype 2.0 class, driving alongside Rosemary Smith and Judy Kondratiff. By 1975, she was running out of money due to a lack of sponsorship, and only a promotional role with Toyota allowed her to remain racing.

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Early and personal life
Janet Guthrie was born in Iowa City, Iowa on March 7, 1938. She was the daughter of William Lain Guthrie, who managed the Iowa City Municipal Airport, and Jean Ruth Midkiff. The eldest of five children, she had two sisters, Margaret and Anne, and two brothers, Walter and Stewart. When Janet was three, her father became a commercial pilot for Eastern Air Lines, and the family moved to the countryside near Miami. Guthrie described her childhood in Florida as isolated, and with only her siblings to play with, she "grew up insufficiently socialized." She attended Miss Harris' Florida School for Girls in Miami.

She developed an interest in aerospace; first piloting a plane aged 13, before gaining a pilot's license aged 17. Barred from a career as a pilot because she was female, Guthrie initially opted to study aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan, but transferred to physics during her first year when she realised that was where her interests lay. She graduated in 1960, and joined Republic Aviation's research and development department in Long Island, New York, by which time she had gained her commercial pilot's license and had qualified as a flight instructor. She applied to NASA's scientist-astronaut programme in 1964, in which she eliminated during the second round; Guthrie posited that it was possibly because she did not have the doctorate required by the admission criteria, but it was noted that all female applicants were eliminated at that stage. She studied for a Master's degree in physics in 1964, but quit when her final exams clashed with an engine build she needed to complete. In 1965, Republic Aviation was bought by Fairchild Hiller, who closed down the project Guthrie was working on. She worked for a time at a small aerospace company set up by some of her colleagues from Republic Aviation, but it did not last long, and Guthrie was left unemployed. She joined Sperry Systems Management in 1968 as a publications engineer where she remained until 1973, when she retired to focus full-time on motor racing.

After her retirement from motor racing in the early 1980s, Guthrie moved to Aspen, Colorado, and married Warren Levine, a commericial airline pilot in 1989. He died in December 2006; the couple did not have any children.

1960–1966
Guthrie's interest in cars developed during her early years at Republic Aviation; she could not fly as much as she wanted and also needed something for her work commute, so she bought a 1953 Jaguar XK120. In her autobiography, she described the first time she drove the XK120, "[the] sweet deep sound of the XK engine went straight to the center of my nervous system." She started competing in local racing events in her Jaguar in 1961, predominantly gymkhanas, which were time-trials around small courses with obstacles to navigate. She advanced onto other events such as hillclimbing and often had to rebuild her Jaguar after accidents; though she was considered one of the frontrunners in the events.

Guthrie upgraded from her XK120 in 1963, purchasing a race-specification Jaguar XK140. It was with this car that she enrolled in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) driver school and qualified for a race license. In October that year, she won a regional SCCA race, before becoming a series regular in 1964. She raced in her first national championship event in August 1964, finishing fifth overall and second in her class at the 500-mile race at Watkins Glen International. In her second race a couple of weeks later, Guthrie was involved in an opening lap crash at the Thompson Speedway, and despite restarting the race she was unable to finish. Guthrie returned to the Watkins Glen 500 in 1965, co-piloting Frank Dominianni's Chevrolet Corvette to twelfth place.

In 1966, Guthrie entered the 24 Hours of Daytona for the first time, one of five women taking part. Guthrie shared the driving of the number 80 Sunbeam Alpine with Donna Mae Mims and Suzy Dietrich, while Sierra Drolet and Rosemary Smith drove another Alpine. Both cars completed the race—Guthrie's car in 39th and the other in 36th—becoming the first women's teams to finish an international-standard 24-hour race. Guthrie continued to compete in regional races in her Jaguar, but without reliable sponsorship, she struggled to finance herself. She got help from her Republic Aviation colleagues, who acted as her pit crew at some races, and she generally carried out her own repairs and upgrades on her car.

1967–1975
Guthrie returned to the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1967, acting as a relief-driver for the all-female Ring-Free Oil Racing team. The team ran two cars; Mims and Dietrich in an ASA Ferrari, while Anita Taylor Matthews and Drolet drove a Shelby Mustang GT350. In the race, Guthrie only drove in the Mustang, helping them to finish 21st overall, and clinch the Nisonger-KLG International Trophy as the leading women's team. Driving alongside Liane Engeman in the 1967 12 Hours of Sebring, Guthrie finished in 23rd in a Matra Djet, but won their GT 1300 class. One of four female teams, Guthrie and Engeman were beaten by Denise McCluggage and Pinkie Rollo. In the 1968 race, Guthrie described herself as embarrassed by the AMC Javelin her and Engeman drove. The car had been delivered late, meaning that they did not have sufficient time to prepare it; Guthrie described the problems with the car; "it won't stop, it won't corner and it won't go." Missing the carburettor and manifold they needed to be competitive, they completed 144 laps to finish in 31st. After the race Paul Hawkins, who felt he had been forced off the road by the Javelin said "Those bloody birds don't belong on a race course, those bloody birds belong either in the kitchen or in the bedroom."

In 1969, Guthrie and Engeman were joined by Mims, driving an Austin-Healey Sprite provided by Baker Motor Company. Tensions between them and the male drivers were highlighted by the press, who quoted Mario Andretti, a two-time USAC Championship car champion and the 1967 Sebring winners, as saying "Those women haven't any business out there. Their minds aren't on driving, they will get hurt." The women freely admitted that their car was in a different, slower class, to that driven by Andretti, but that they had every right to take part in the race, in which they finished 23rd. The following year, Guthrie recorded her best result at Sebring; 19th overall, and first in their class, driving an Austin-Healey Sprite alongside Smith, Judy Kondratieff and Sharlene Seavey. The 1971 race was far less successful; Guthrie's prototype Chevron B16 Ford, which she was driving with Smith and Jennifer Birrell only lasted one lap before the engine failed.

Other than her partnership with the Ring Free Oil company which had allowed her to drive at Sebring, Guthrie struggled to find sponsorship. In 1971, Guthrie bought and began working on a Toyota Celica, which she entered into the 1972 2.5 Challenge Series for the Ray Clark racing team. The series was cancelled before she had finished working on the car. She continued to compete in national and regional SCCA races, and was the SCCA North Atlantic Road Racing champion in 1973 driving her Celica. Guthrie was recognised as one of, if not the, best women drivers in North America, and although she was generally complimentary of the attitude of other drivers towards her, she remained frustrated at the limited opportunities she was afforded. In fact, in 1972, the respected car designer Rolla Vollstedt had wanted Guthrie to drive one of his cars at the Indianapolis 500, but had not been able to make it happen. She was also on a list of the top female drivers drawn up that year for Andy Granatelli, who administered the STP oil company's Indianapolis 500 entrants. Despite this interest, having left her job at Sperry in 1972, by 1975 Guthrie was $5,000 in debt, driving an outdated Toyota Celica, and facing the prospect of having to quit racing. She managed to secure a one-year promotional role with Toyota, advertising the benefits of small cars, and giving talks on safe driving, which allowed her to keep racing.

1976: debut season
In February 1976, Guthrie was invited by Vollstedt to test one of his cars at the Ontario Motor Speedway, a similar track to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fellow driver Dick Simon was impressed with her laps, saying "she drove 90 per cent of her practice laps at speeds higher than the rookie requirements at Indianapolis." Guthrie's $1,000 entry fee was paid by sponsor Bryant Heating and Cooling, and she was given the car which Tom Bigelow had driven in 1975. She was not the only woman attempting to race at Indianapolis that year; Arlene Hiss became the first woman to start a USAC Championship Car race, doing so in March 1976 at the Jimmy Bryan 150 at Phoenix. In preparation for Indianapolis, Guthrie entered the Trenton 200; she engaged in a war of words in the press with then two-time USAC Champion Bobby Unser, who was dismissive of women's attempts to break into racing, describing it as a publicity stunt. In response, Guthrie suggested that Unser was a "male chauvinist pig." Guthrie qualified in 14th for the race, and was classified 15th in the race, though she did not finish due to a gearbox failure after 79 of the 134 laps. The reaction to her race was generally positive; race-winner Johnny Rutherford said that he thought that with a better car she could be competitive in the series, while USAC's executive director Dick King said "I thought she looked pretty good. She ran as well as any rookie in his first race."

Guthrie was cleared by USAC officials to run at Indianapolis shortly after the Trenton 200, but popular opinion was that she would not manage to qualify. In 1975, Bigelow had not managed to qualify the car, and was quoted as saying "I couldn't get it up to 180 no matter how hard I tried." Opposition to Guthrie's participation remained; women had not been allowed in the pits at all until a couple of years before, and still required special permission to do so. Guthrie's preparation for the race was beset by problems; first her luggage went missing, meaning that she had to borrow a race suit from Billy Vukovich. Mechanical issues with the car and poor weather delayed her attempts to pass the rookie test, which she had to do before she was allowed to try and set a qualifying time for the race. She was able to pass that test on the second Tuesday of practice, her fastest lap being at 171.4 mph, around 9 mph slower than was expected to be needed to qualify for the race. Over the subsequent practice days, Guthrie only managed to reach speeds of 173.6 mph, and opted not to officially attempt to qualify in the car, as it was clearly too slow. On the final day of practice, A. J. Foyt leant her his back-up car, and with only a few laps, she reached speeds of over the 181 mph that she would need to qualify. No deal had been reached to allow her to qualify and race in the car though; Foyt explained that he wanted "to let her prove she was good enough to get in the field."

Guthrie's attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, and the media attention it brought, attracted the interest of Lynda Ferreri, a vice-president at First Union National Bank in Charlotte, North Carolina. After Guthrie had failed to qualify for Indianapolis, Ferreri invited Guthrie to enter the World 600, a NASCAR race which took place in Charlotte on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. Ferreri, using her own private funding, purchased Guthrie a 1975 Chevrolet Chevelle Laguna for $21,000 along with a race-specification $6,000 engine; unlike the car she had driven at Indianapolis, the Laguna was considered a competitive car. After her drives at the Trenton 200 and during practice for the Indianapolis 500, attitudes towards her amongst the male drivers were generally improved. Guthrie qualified 27th out of 40 drivers for the race, (more cars competed in qualifying, but were not fast enough to make the race), Driving a conservative race, Guthrie finished in 15th, 21 laps down on the leaders. Prior to the race she had concerns about whether she would be able to manage to drive the entire 600 mile race, and whether she would need a relief driver, but ultimately she drove the whole race solo.

Despite making her debut in both series, Guthrie did not have contracts to drive any more races that year; she needed to find sponsorship. She was unable to secure a drive for the next Championship car race, the Rex Mays Classic, but she was invited to drive at the Riverside 400 Nascar race on the same day. Unfortunately for Guthrie, to do so would have invalidated her USAC license, which did not allow drivers to race in rival competitions when there was a USAC race taking place, and she reluctantly turned down the offer, saying "I recalled the fairness in which USAC treated my license application". Guthrie entered the next Championship car race of the year, the Schaefer 500, where she was forced to retire after 89 laps with a gearbox failure, and was classified 24th out of 33 cars. She switched back to Nascar the following weekend to take part in the Firecracker 400, having gained a sponsorship deal with Kelly Services until the end of the 1977 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. As she was racing on an FIA, rather than Nascar, license, she was ineligible for the driver's championship. After qualifying 34th, Guthrie spun with 26 laps remaining, but recovered to match her 15th place finish at the World 600.

Guthrie split her time between Championship cars and NASCAR for the remained of the season; at the Norton Twin 200s, she set a new women's closed-course record during qualifying, achieving an average speed of 186.080 mph. The race was also the first time she was running at the end of a Championship car race; she finished seven laps behind the leader to be classified 13th, her highest finish in the series that year. In the USAC stock car race, she also finished seven laps down, for 21st. She took part in two further Championship car weekends; finishing 15th on her return to Trenton, and failing to qualify at the California 500 due to a failed exhaust valve. She started three further Nascar races; but mechanical issues prevented her finishing two of them, and in the other she was running 21 laps down to finish 22nd.

1977
During the following season, she continued to balance both NASCAR and USAC Championship Car racing, though she prioritised the Championship Car races, "because he [Vollstedt] made it all possible by seeking me out in the first place." In February 1977, she became the first woman to enter the Daytona 500, and subsequently qualified in 40th for the race.

Old
The following season, she competed in her first Daytona 500, finishing 12th when her car's engine blew two cylinders with ten laps to go. For the race, though, she still earned the honor of Top Rookie. Overall, Guthrie went on to compete in 33 races in NASCAR over four seasons. Her highest finish, sixth place at Bristol in 1977, is the best finish by a woman in a top-tier NASCAR race, now currently tied with Danica Patrick in 2014.

Guthrie qualified for and competed in the 1977 Indianapolis 500, but finished 29th with engine troubles. She would compete in two more Indy 500s, finishing ninth in the 1978 race. Overall, she competed in 11 Indy car events with a best finish of fifth. During her unsuccessful bid to qualify for the 1976 race, many of the drivers in the male-dominated sport stated that the reason she did not qualify was mainly due to her gender. These comments angered then three-time champion A. J. Foyt to the point he lent Guthrie a back-up car to conduct a shake-down test. Her top practice lap in Foyt's car would have been adequate to qualify for the field. Largely because of her gender, she was unable to obtain funding through corporate sponsorship, and was forced into retirement.

Legacy
Nevertheless, Guthrie's place in history was secure. In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Guthrie's name and picture. Her helmet and race suit can be found in the Smithsonian Institution and Guthrie was one of the first elected to the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame on April 27, 2006. Her 2005 autobiography, Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle, has received critical praise in such publications as Sports Illustrated.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )