Logan Hannah

 

Logan Hannah is a Scottish single-seater driver who won a round of the 2020 Scottish Formula Ford championship outright.

She made her senior motorsport debut in 2017, racing a Formula 4 in the UAE Championship, which runs over the winter season. Logan is a British national but mostly competed in the Middle East to begin with, first as a junior karter.

She was only sixteen when she did her first race at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. Her results were two sevenths and one eighth place, having finished three of her four races. 

In 2018, she trained for more F4 races with the Arden team, but her actual races were with Graham Brunton’s Formula Ford team. She travelled to the UK for the Walter Hayes Trophy but ran into car trouble with her Ray GR10.

In 2019, she raced in the Scottish Formula Ford championship with Graham Brunton Racing and was fourth overall, with three podium finishes in her 2015-spec Ray. She also raced FF1600 in England, in two Champion of Brands races and the season-ending Walter Hayes Trophy, which has become a regular event for her. Back in the UAE and F4 in December, she took part in the non-championship support race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and was eighth and ninth. 

She won the David Leslie Trophy at Knockhill in 2020, the first time a Scottish woman had won a national Formula Ford race. Later, she qualified for the Walter Hayes Trophy final, finishing 15th.

Her Formula Ford season in 2021 was restricted to the Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy, but she announced that in 2022 she would be contesting the GB4 (formerly British F4) championship. This was a new series and GBR was one of the first teams to commit to it.

She took advantage of the reverse grid for Race 3 during a GB4 meeting to win a race at Donington, the fourth weekend of her season. This followed a second place in the reverse-grid race at Silverstone. The rest of the season was consistent rather than spectacular, and she was tenth in the championship.

After her traditional appearance in the Walter Hayes Trophy in November, she hinted that this had been her last single-seater race as she was looking to switch to sportscars, possibly Porsches. Mid-season in 2023, she entered a round of the GT Cup at Snetterton, sharing a Lamborghini with Iain Loggie. Loggie crashed the car before she got to drive.

(Image copyright Laser Tools Racing)

Louise Smith

 

Louise after a crash at Occoneechee in 1949

Louise Smith was a successful NASCAR driver from its earliest days, who has become part of the legend of the series. 

Born in Greenville, South Carolina, 1916, she made her NASCAR debut at Daytona in 1949, although had driven in some local, informal races before that.

Her driving style was aggressive and she often crashed, endearing her to spectators. Her nickname was “The Good Ol’ Gal” and she became the subject of NASCAR legends; it has proved impossible to work out which stories about her are true. For example, she is supposed to have come third in her first race, but failed to stop at the chequered flag, because the team owner had told her only to stop in the event of a red flag. She may also have destroyed her husband’s car in a beach race during her first competition. Neither of these was the 1949 Daytona event, although some reports say that she did flip her car during that race, only to be helped by spectators and carry on. Some sources suggest that this happened in 1946.

Other rumours abounded about her background, with some claiming that she was a moonshine runner who could drive faster than all of the local police.

A newspaper report from May 1950 claims that she “became a driver only last winter”. Searches of newspaper archives bring up nothing from before 1949, so this could be the truth. Other reports suggest that she started racing a little earlier, perhaps in 1948. 

Evidence comes from before Daytona in 1949, she was recorded as entering a ladies-only race at Greenville Speedway with her “student” Barbara Peigler in two cars. Barbara had apparently been taught to drive by Louise and was having her first race. This does suggest that Louise had been driving for longer than a couple of months.

 She won 38 races during her seven-year career, taking in most of the NASCAR categories, including Grand Nationals (now the Sprint Cup). Most of her wins (28 of them) came in the Modified class. She did eleven Grand National races between 1949 and 1952, with a best finish of 16th at Langhorne in 1949. Langhorne was later described as her favourite track. This was one of three races she entered that year, normally competing against either Sara Christian or Ethel Flock Mobley as well as the male drivers of the time. Both of these women were also present at Greenville when Louise and Barbara raced there, along with Sara Christian’s sister, Mildred Williams. NASCAR’s founder, Bill France, was keen for the three women to race as it was good publicity for his fledgling series.

She never ran even close to a full Grand National season, with 1950 being her biggest campaign. She entered six rounds, qualifying for all except Darlington and finishing two. Both of these were 19th places, at Dayton and Hillsboro. Her second Daytona start ended in a first-lap crash. 

After not racing in 1951, she did three races in 1952, but did not finish any of them, two due to mechanical problems and one due to her falling ill early in the race itself at Morristown.

Among the other drivers she raced were Buckshot Morris, Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Bob and Fonty Flock, Ethel Flock Mobley’s brothers.

As well as mixed events, she often raced against other women. In 1954, she travelled to Knoxville, Tennessee and took on local drivers Mildred Beets and Joyce Gunter, among others. At the time, she was described as “the 1953 Southeastern States women’s stock car champion.” She travelled widely during her career, racing in the northern and eastern states.

This part of her racing life is not particularly well-documented, as her novelty value had worn off somewhat by now and Bill France was no longer promoting her.

Her career ended very suddenly in 1956. She had just finished a race at Bronx, New York and was on her way to Daytona when her husband decided to “rededicate himself to the Lord” with the help of a local preacher. After speaking to her husband and the preacher, Louise decided to follow suit and pulled out of the Daytona event.

After a long period away from motorsport completely, she returned as a car owner in 1971, continuing for some years. She also oversaw the beauty contest attached to the Southern 500 race. The drivers who used her car included Ronnie Thomas in 1978, the year he won Rookie of the Year. While she was racing, she often ran a car for another driver at the same time.

She died of cancer in 2006, aged 89.

Chelsea Angelo

 

Chelsea Angelo races single-seaters and touring cars in Australia. Her career began in Formula Ford and she almost won a National class Formula 3 championship in 2014, but she now races saloons.

She has been involved in senior-level motorsport since 2012, when she was 16. At first, she raced a Formula Ford in the Victoria state championship,  but that turned into an attack on both the Victorian and Australian championships in 2013. She scored her first outright win in the Victorian series. Her best finishes in the Australian championship were sixth places at Surfers Paradise and Sydney. She was thirteenth overall. Despite her win in the Victorian championship, she was only 15th overall as she did not do the whole calendar. 

She raced in Australian Formula 3 in 2014, in the National class, where she was a front-runner. She was either first or second in all of her races, winning seven times, and missed out quite narrowly on the championship. This was the high point of her single-seater career, although the issue of finances was beginning to rear its head.

As well as single-seaters, she has also tested Supercars, and this led to a last-minute race seat for 2015 with the THR Developments team. However, this only stretched to the first round and Adelaide, and she sat the rest of the season out. She finished 18th and 22nd in her two races. 

She signed with the Dragon team for the 2016 Supercar Dunlop championship. After almost a full season she was 21st overall, getting into the top ten once at Sandown. This was impressive, as it followed a DNF due to contact with another car. Her car was a Prodrive Ford Falcon FG and the only known Supercar to be fitted with a cup holder, a nod to her sponsor, Rush Iced Coffee.

Her programme was very limited in 2017, with only one major race. The Dragon team had signed Renee Gracie in her place. She drove a Ford Falcon in the Winton 300 but did not finish. 

2018 was spent in the Australian Porsche Supercup with Wall Racing, who won the championship the year before. Sportscars suited her and she was fifth overall. Her best finish was second at Sandown, one of four podium places including one third place at Phillip Island. 

Hoping to resurrect her single-seater career, she put her name down to try out for the inaugural season of W Series. She was long-listed and attended the winter selection event at Melk in Austria, but was not selected. Chelsea took to social media to express her anger and lack of confidence in the W selection criteria, which she claimed were very unclear and not fully related to on-track performance.

After her W Series disappointment, she threw herself into the Australian TCR Series, driving a Holden Astra for Kelly Racing. It was not the easiest of seasons and she had car problems to contend with, as well as being taken out by another competitor in the third race. She sat out the middle part of the season while the team sorted out the car troubles and returned in November at The Bend. Sadly, a first-race crash put her out for the weekend. Her best finish was twelfth and she was 25th in the championship. Among her team-mates that year was Molly Taylor. 

She also raced a Hyundai Excel in some one-make endurance races with the Brett Parrish Race Organisation, finishing tenth and sixth. Her co-drivers were Ashley Izod and Tim Slade. The sixth spot was with Ashley Izod and was a charge through the field from 20th to sixth.

She planned to race in TCR again in 2020, but the season was cancelled due to coronavirus. 

The following season ran and Chelsea did most of it in a Volkswagen Golf. It was a hard year for her and her best finish was eleventh at Phillip Island. She was 20th overall.

At the beginning of 2022, she posted on her social media that she did not have sponsorship to race, although she has not retired and has not ruled out a return later in the year. She works as a driver coach and personal trainer.

(Image copyright Chelsea Angelo)