Janet Guthrie (1976-1980) 33 races

* born on March 7, 1938 in Iowa City, Iowa as the eldest of five children
* her father, William Lain Guthrie was a pilot
* she attended Miss Harris' Florida School for girls in Miami
* she first flew a plane when she was 13
* first flew solo at age 16
* earned her pilot's license at age 17
* by the age of 21 she was capable of flying more than 20 types of aircrafts
* she received a bachelor's degree in physics in 1960 at the University of Michigan
* for the next seven years she worked in aerospace research and engineer for Republic Aviation Corporation in Farmingdale, Long Island
* in 1965 NASA considering making her an astronaut-- She was one of four women who passed NASA's first tests but was eliminated because she didn't have a Ph. D. degree.
* she began racing in 1961 and high speed racing in 1963
* in 1967 she quit her job at RAC and until 1971 she worked as one of the Macmillan Ring-Free Motor Maids
* with her co-drivers they finished 31st in the 24 hour endurance race at Daytona in 1966
* in 1975 she started work for Toyota as a consumer information specialist
* first women to qualify for a major American automobile race, the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway
* she raced a 1975 Chevrolet Laguna provided by Lynda Ferrari and finished 15th in the World 600 in May 1976
* competed regularly on the Winston Cup circuit
* posted 10 top-12 finishes in 1977
* Finished 9th in the Indy 500 in 1978. She was at the disadvantage because she raced with a broken wrist and had to reach across the cockpit to shift gears
* first time since 1949 that three women competed in a race together: Janet Guthrie, Lella Lombardi, and Christine Beckers
* had 33 career starts including 19 in her rookie season (1977) driving the Kelly Girl sponsored Chevrolet Laguna owned by Lynda Ferrari
* she outqualified Bill Elliot, Ricky Rudd, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Neil Bonnett and Johnny Rutherford for the Talladega 500 in August of 1977
* she qualifed and/or finished ahead of Bill Elliott in 7 out of 10 races they ran together
* she qualifed and/or finished ahead of Dale Earnhard in 2 out of 3 races they ran together
* she qualifed and/or finished ahead of Johnny Rutherford in 3 out of 3 races they ran together
* she was the first woman to qualify for the Daytona 500 finishing 11 and 12 (1980, 1977 respectively)
* she also lead the Times 500 in Ontario California in November 1977
* in 1977 she qualified as the first woman in the Indianapolis 500
* inducted into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980
* currently lives in Aspen Colorado