Guthrie was a racing groundbreaker

On the gloriously sunny days in south Florida she was already flying. Literally, she was flying planes. But 16-year-old Janet Guthrie wanted more. She wanted to be an aviation engineer and an astronaut and for a time she was headed in that direction.

She wanted to fix cars and build engines. And she did that, too.

There was always something special deep inside the heart of a young girl with big dreams and endless ambition. There was a yearning to go faster and farther.

“I always knew I wanted to race,” to rebuild it so that it would be able to compete. coupe and began competing in hill climbs and other minor races. That led to the - ster that she used in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) races. By 1972, she was involved in racing on a full-time basis, posting wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring and Daytona, Fla., endurance races.

Guthrie did all of the work on the car, spending endless hours in a rented barn in New York. All of the knowledge paid off.

In 1976, when lumber executive and longtime United States Auto Club (USAC) car owner Rolla Vollstedt decided to sponsor the first woman in the Indianapolis 500, he chose Guthrie. She passed the rookie test at Indy and was set to go. The criticism/sexism was “blistering,” Guthrie recalled.

“The preponderance of racing opinion stated firmly and passionately that no woman could possibly handle a 750-horsepower Indianapolis 500 race car,” she wrote. “There must surely have been moments when (Vollstedt) regretted it.” Fellow drivers weren’t Guthrie’s only critics. One Boston Globe newspaper story that appeared before Guthrie drove at Indy predicted that she would delay the race by “fishing in her three-feet-bytwo-feet handbag for her keys,” and that at the start she would be “working on her eyelashes in the rear-view mirror,” as the other drivers blew their horns.

Guthrie tried, but failed, to qualify for the 500 that year but she wasn’t done, not by a long shot.

In that same year, she became the first woman to compete in a National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) Winston Cup event. Guthrie took home a 15th-place finish in the Charlotte 600 in Charlotte, N.C.

The next year, she made history when she became the first woman to earn a starting spot in the Daytona 500, the first big race of the NASCAR season. She was running eighth with 10 laps to go when her engine lost power. She finished 12th and was the top rookie of the race. Of 19 NASCAR races she drove in that year there were 10 times when she finished 12th or better.

Guthrie gave Indy another shot in 1977 and on May 29 of that year became the first woman to compete in the yearly event.

Of course, there was one modification to the starting procedure.

“In company with the first lady ever to qualify at Indianapolis, Gentlemen, start your engines,” they said that day.

Twenty-seven laps into the race, though, Guthrie’s day was done when the car developed mechanical problems. she formed and managed herself and fin- despite driving with a broken wrist. “She did a helluva job,” said driver drove 500 miles with a broken wrist. I don’t know if I could have done it.”

There would be other big finishes including 11th at Daytona to begin the Guthrie kept banging away at the racing establishment, “seeking sponsorship realized that if I kept it up, I was likely to jump out of a high window.”

Hampered by a lack of funding, she eventually left the sport.

In her brief career at the top levels of racing, she proved she could be competitive. But she also proved so much more. Guthrie’s greatest pleasure was her gradual acceptance by drivers on the NASCAR and Indy-car circuits.

“Racing is a matter of spirit, not strength,” she once said.

No one would doubt she had both.