Toni Breidinger

Toni Breidinger races in the NASCAR Truck series and has been a regular in the ARCA Menards Series for several seasons.

She made her ARCA debut in 2018, aged 19, driving a Toyota for Venturini Motorsports. Her first race was at Madison and she finished tenth. She was then twelfth at Gateway and 18th at Chicago. Her team-mate was Natalie Decker, and they were joined by Leilani Munter at Chicago, making up the first three-woman team in the series. She made one appearance in the CARS Super Late Model Tour in 2019, finishing 15th at Radford. Away from ARCA, Toni raced in the USAC Silver Crown championship for dirt cars and in Late Models.

In an attempt at a sideways move, she tried to qualify for the inaugural W Series championship in 2019. She made the list of 55 drivers who were assessed, but was rejected at this stage.

In 2021, she returned to ARCA, entering nine rounds of its main series. Her best finishes were two ninth places at Winchester and Springfield. She spent half the season with Tyler Young before going back to a Venturini car. In addittion to this, she contested one Menards Series West race in each car, both at Phoenix, finishing one and crashing out of the other on the opening lap.

An almost full ARCA season followed in 2022, driving Cathy Venturini's car. Six of her twenty races ended in top tens, with her best being an eighth place at Salem. She was sixth in the championship.

In 2023, she made her first starts in the Craftsman Truck championship, driving for David Gilliland and sponsored by Victoria's Secret. She finished all three races, the best of these being a 15th place at Kansas. This was combined with most of the main ARCA season, where she earned seven top-ten finishes, including a third place at her lucky track, Kansas.

This arrangement continued for 2024, with a part-season in Trucks and a regular spot in ARCA. Most of her time was spent in ARCA, with her qualifying pace improving and more top tens coming her way during a full season. She has had a variety of sponsors. The same team runs her in certain rounds of the East and West series, where she is also a top-ten regular. Her Truck schedule is more limited.

She finished in the ARCA top ten on eleven occasions in 2024, the best of these being a pair of sixth places at Berlin and Springfield. Her final championship position was fourth. Her best East series finish was a fourth place at Flat Rock.

She previously raced in sprintcars against her twin sister, Annie. She is the only female NASCAR driver of Arab descent in the world, having Lebanese heritage.

(Image copyright Roman Empire)

Amber Balcaen

 

Amber Balcaen is a Canadian driver who races stock cars in the USA. She did the full ARCA season in 2022. 

She is from a racing family, but is the first to race on asphalt rather than dirt. Her career began with dirt-track karting when she was 10, in around 2002. As soon as she was old enough to race sprint cars as a senior, she got her own car and started winning.

After two or three seasons in sprintcars, she took part in the NASCAR Drive for Diversity programme in 2014 and 2016, as well as competing in Late Model racing in 2016. She was third in the Whelen All-American Series, with one win and six more podiums. She was the first Canadian female driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned event. 

In 2017, she raced in the NASCAR K&N Series, in a Toyota Camry. She was 20th at New Smyrna in her only major outing. She took part in one race in the CARS Super Late Model Tour series in 2018, at Hickory. However, she crashed out early on. 

In 2019, she made another guest appearance in the same series, finishing fourteenth at Radford. She returned to competition in the 2021 ARCA Menards West Series, driving a Toyota. 

Although she only finished one of her three races, this was an eleventh at Irwindale. 

Her career took a hit in 2020 when she was injured in a midget car crash in July, at Valley Speedway. Her car turned over and she suffered burns, two collapsed lungs and broken bones.

Following several part-seasons, she put together a deal for a full ARCA programme in 2022, partly assisted by Busch beer’s Accelerate Her female driver sponsorship scheme. She was run by Mark Rette and usually drove a Ford, although this was substituted for a Toyota for a couple of races. When schedules allowed, she also made a few guest appearances in the East and West series, picking up one tenth place at Iowa in June.

It was her most successful ARCA main season ever, with six top-ten finishes. The best of these was a seventh at Kansas. 

A quieter year followed in 2023. She did three ARCA races for Bill Venturini's team, the best of these ending in sixth place at Daytona. She retired from the Talladega and Kansas races. She also made a guest appearance in the NASCAR Canada series. Her car overheated but she was classified in 17th place.

By contrast, she ran a full ARCA season in 2024, driving for Billy and Cathy Venturini. Her best finish was a sixth place at Kansas, one of seven top-tens she earned that year. She also did most of the ARCA East series in Cathy's car, but only finished once from five entries.

She did one West series race, and also made another guest appearance in NASCAR Canada, at Ohsweken. She did not finish due to brake problems.

Away from the driving seat, she has appeared on TV in the USA, most notably in the NASCAR Racing Wives reality series. Despite the title, she was shown as a driver rather than a partner.

(Image copyright Amber Balcaen)

Bridget Burgess

 

Bridget Burgess is an Australian stock car driver who lives and competes in the USA. 

The Burgess family moved to the States in 2008, when Bridget was seven. Both of her parents were involved in off-road racing and drifting and she grew up working on cars.

She raced in the Lucas Oil Off-Road series from the age of 16, alongside her mother Sarah, before switching to stock cars in 2019. Sarah Burgess remains integral to her daughter’s racing efforts, acting as car entrant and crew chief. The team, BMI Racing, is family-based, with Bridget’s father Adam spotting for her. Sarah is often Bridget’s chief (or only) mechanic during races too.

In her first year, she did two rounds of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series at Meridian and Roseville. Both times, she made her way up from the back of the grid. She was eleventh at Roseville and twelfth at Meridian. This was in spite of her car being an unreliable rented machine.

In 2020, she attempted to run in the ARCA Menards West series, although her season was curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic. She did not finish the first round at Las Vegas due to a broken rear gear. In the end, she managed nine races, with a best finish of seventh at Las Vegas.  

She did all rounds of the West series in 2021, driving a Chevrolet entered by her mother. The nine races yielded another two top-tens: eighth at Sonoma and ninth at Colorado.

The BMI team registered for a full season in the West series in 2022 and Bridget had a reliable but slightly inconsistent year. Things started to get going in the fourth round at Portland, where she was seventh, the first of four top-ten finishes. She was seventh in the championship. A single main ARCA series outing at Phoenix led to a 23rd place.

(Image copyright Meg Oliphant/ARCA)

Deborah Renshaw

Deborah Renshaw raced in NASCAR in the 2000s. She was most successful in the Truck series but her career was overshadowed by controversy. 

She began racing in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Series in 2001, quickly becoming successful. Between then and 2002, she achieved thirteen top-ten finishes and became the first female driver to lead a race in the series. 

In 2002, she had two serious brushes with trouble. The first was when some of her opponents protested about her car at Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville. The protesting team, which included driver Mark Day, had entered a car into the race with the intention of finishing behind her so the complaint could be lodged. Deborah was accused of being a “bad driver” when the question of sexism arose, and the protest also covered her team-mate Chevy White, a man. Deborah and her team were sanctioned for an engine irregularity, which apparently comprised a cylinder head that was 0.006 inches too wide. Day admitted to having been in a dispute with Deborah earlier in the season and had made various statements about the ability of women to race.

Later on, this would pale into insignificance. She entered the ARCA Series for six rounds, in a Ford, driving for Bob Schacht’s team. In September, at Charlotte, she was involved in a fatal accident during practice, in which Eric Martin died after being hit by Deborah’s car. He had crashed and was stranded in the middle of the track, although he was uninjured. Deborah came unsighted around the bend at high speed and collided with the driver’s side of the stricken car, killing Eric Martin instantly. Deborah was injured herself and needed surgery on her foot. She has always maintained that she cannot remember anything about the crash itself, other than sliding on fluid dumped by the stationary car. Investigations by ARCA led to recommendations that spotters be compulsory for qualifying as well as races; at the time of the accident, the team spotters were mostly not active. ARCA’s action indicates that spotter coverage was identified as the main cause of the accident, but Deborah came under attack from many sides, with some suggesting that she be tried for manslaughter and banned from racing again. She sat out the rest of the season.

Despite this, she made a small return in 2003, although she only finished one race. Her best result in the ARCA ReMax series the year before had been a seventh place at Nashville, one of three top-tens she picked up. On her return, she managed one 24th place at Daytona, despite having qualified tenth.

Prior to the October accident, she had had a deal with Rick Goodwin to race in the Busch Series in 2003, but these plans were shelved for reasons not made public. As well as losing her Busch drive, she had been dropped from a Dodge diversity programme, which had lost its main funding. 

In 2004, she moved over to the Camping World Truck Series after an ARCA drive with Braun Racing fell through, driving a Ford for Bob Keselowski’s team in the second half of the season. Her best finish was 15th, at Martinsville. 

She had another season in Trucks in 2005, managing a twelfth place at Dover, but her main sponsor, Easy Care Service Contracts, dropped out at the end of the year, leaving her without funding. She had run almost a full Truck season in Ray Montgomery’s Dodge.

In 2007, Deborah did some Late Model racing, and made a guest appearance in the Nashville ARCA race, in a Ford. She has not raced since and now pursues a retail business career under the name Deborah Renshaw-Parker.

(Image from http://bennysims.fanspace.com)

Angela Ruch (Cope)

Angela Ruch, previously known as Angela Cope, races in the NASCAR Truck series in the USA. She is one of the more controversial figures in the stock-car world. 

At the beginning of her career, she always raced alongside her twin sister, Amber Cope. The twins are the nieces of Derrike Cope, another divisive figure in US oval racing.

Angela and her sister began their forays into motorsport in a conventional way, growing up around the family workshop and racing karts from the age of nine. They both raced Late Models from the age of 15, before they had their road traffic licenses.

Angela and Amber had their first major races in 2006, when they started making occasional appearances in the ARCA REMAX series. Their relationship with Derrike Cope, indifferent pace and blonde, glamorous appearance rubbed many observers up the wrong way. A Bleacher Report article by Sandra McWatters from 2012 directly accuses both sisters of using NASCAR as a promotional tool for their other commercial interests, which at that time included a clothing line and a beauty salon. 

Angela took part in more races than Amber, due to her seven NASCAR Nationwide events in 2011 and 2012. Sadly, many of these ended in DNFs. Her best finish was in New Hampshire in 2011, where she was 25th. Prior to the Nationwide series, she did one race in the Camping World Truck series, and three ARCA events, between 2006 and 2010. Her Truck appearance in 2010 ended with her stopping on the circuit, the truck leaking fluid onto the track surface. This race was the NASCAR debut of both sisters and marked the first time that identical twins had taken to the track together.

The pair moved up to the NASCAR Xfinity (then Nationwide) Series together in 2011. Angela’s first race was at Iowa; she was 28th at the end, 20 laps down. Her next outing the Mark Smith-owned Chevrolet was Loudon, in which she did better, finishing only 6 laps down in 25th. She did not qualify at Chicago, then retired from the Kansas and Charlotte rounds due to a crash and vibration issues respectively.

Her 2012 season was a little worse, with her two races at Charlotte ending in non-finishes. The first was down to engine trouble, but later in the year, Angela managed to crash on the first lap, driving Jason Sciavicco’s Toyota. She had finished at Michigan in the same car earlier in the year in 28th place.

During their career as a twin sister duo, both Angela and Amber were accused of “start and park” antics during their races - pulling in nowhere near full race distance to be recorded as a starter. In fairness to Angela, she did not engage in this sort of behaviour and although she was not often on the lead lap, she carried on to the flag whenever she could. 

She made a comeback in 2017, initially as a charity fundraiser. Her car was a BJ Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro and she did four rounds of the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Two of these races ended in finishes, the best of them being a 30th place at Kentucky. 

She entered three Xfinity races in 2018, finishing one at Loudon. She was 30th, having begun from 40th on the grid. The others ended in an oil leak and a rare start-and-park.

2019 came around and it looked as if Angela was up to her old self-promotion tricks. After two rides in a Joe Nemechek-owned truck, she started racing a different truck promoting “The Ruch Life”, a new reality TV concept based around Angela’s life as a racing driver and as the new adoptive mother of a baby. 

Her early season with Nemechek proved that she could actually drive; in a hugely crash-afflicted Daytona season-opener, she kept her nerve and finished eighth. She was then a creditable 16th at Las Vegas, from 28 finishers. She even became the first female driver to lead a Truck race at Daytona.

After her switch to Al Niece’s truck in time for the Fort Worth race, she did not fare quite so well. At both Fort Worth races, she crashed out fairly early. She was 16th at Kansas, from 19 finishers, and 23rd at Charlotte, out of 26. Her contract with Niece was meant to be for ten races, of which she completed eight, never finishing higher than 16th and crashing four times.

She did a part-season in Trucks in 2020, driving for Josh Reaume. She crashed out at the Daytona opener and the Chevy truck was replaced with a Toyota for the Las Vegas race. She was 24th at the Vegas circuit, ahead of Reaume himself. Charlotte was also relatively successful and she was 23rd out of 35 finishers, the first of three women drivers entered that day. The rest of her eight-race season was similar, with safe but unspectacular finishes.

Angela continues to be the subject of ridicule, particularly from the media. Her two races with in the Nemechek truck show an intriguing glimpse of what could be if she had access to decent equipment and probably, fewer distractions.

(Image copyright motorsport.com)

Natalie Decker

Natalie Decker made history in 2018 by becoming the first woman driver to start the Daytona ARCA race from pole. She was fifth overall.

This was the start of her second season in ARCA with the Venturini team, who ran her in seven races in 2017, driving a Toyota. Her best finish was seventh, at Elkhart Lake, and she also finished in the top ten at Pocono, the race before.

She did almost the full ARCA championship in 2018, nine top-ten finishes from 20 races, including two fifths at Daytona and Elko. She only missed the Michigan round after undergoing surgery for a hernia.

Her first attempt at a major race was in 2016. She tried to qualify for a Camping World Trucks race at Martinsville in 2016, after being supported by the Alan Kulwicki driver development programme. She did not qualify. She was part of a three-woman Decker family team, with her older cousins Claire and Paige. The two sisters just managed to qualify.

She returned to the Trucks series in 2019, driving for David Gilliland. Her first race ended in a crash. By her third, at Las Vegas, she was into the top twenty for the first time with a thirteenth place.

At the end of 2018, she was announced as one of 60 drivers on the longlist for the women-only W Series Formula 3 championship, despite having no single-seater experience. She made the initial cut and went on to test an actual F3 car in Spain, although she was not selected for the races themselves..

It was back to Trucks for the 2019 season proper. 2019 was not a vintage year for Natalie or her N29 team; eight crashes dented her chances somewhat. Her best finish was a thirteenth place at Las Vegas.

She crashed out of her K&N Pro Series East guest appearance, but her first of two ARCA races gave her a sixth. This was at Daytona at the start of the year.

Daytona was her lucky track again in 2020. She entered the Gander Outdoors Truck series and qualified 30th for the first round at the Florida track, but she fought her way to fifth. Unfortunately, the rest of her thirteen-race season did not go to plan. Her next-best finish was a 20th place at the Daytona road course. Having admitted in 2019 that she was affected by juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, her illness kept her away from the track for part of the year and meant she was not racing at 100%.

2021 brought some new challenges. She moved up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for five rounds, usually in Chris Our's Chevrolet. It was a difficult season and her best finish was in her last race at Martinsville, where she was 25th.

Away from stock cars, she had more success with Trans Am, which she had tried in 2020. She raced an Audi R8 LMS at Watkins Glen and Circuit of the Americas, picking up two second places and a fourth.

Her Trans Am career continued in 2022 with her debut win in the Audi. The Charlotte victory was her only outing in the series. Her stock car activities were limited, sometimes by illness, but she continued to appear in the Xfinity Series. Although she did not qualify at Daytona or Talladega and her car was taken over by Chad Finchum at Dover, she did qualify for three races. These were at Martinsville, Nashville and Atlanta, with the best of these being Atlanta, where she was 27th.

There was limited racing for her in 2023, but two of her events were more outings in the Xfinity Series. She was 34th at Charlotte, driving for Bobby Dotter's team, but did not finish at Daytona after crashing out fairlt early. She was driving for Emerling-Gase Motorsports this time. Dotter gave her another drive at Homestead, but she did not qualify. 

Emerling had already run her once at Daytona. She did the season-opening ARCA race and was fourteenth overall. 

Her 2024 season was a short one, consisting of two Xfinity races, at Daytona and Charlotte. She was 18th at Daytona and 29th at Charlotte. She had different sponsors and car owners each time. Part-way through the year, she announced her pregnancy and took a break from competition.

She was part of the NASCAR Drive for Diversity programme in 2015 and has competed in late models and local truck and stock car events since 2013.

(Image from http://speedsport.com)

Leilani Munter

Leilani Münter has raced in stock cars and the Indy Pro Series (Indy Lights). She is unusual in that she combines a career in motorsport with environmental and animal rights work. Most of her racing has been in the ARCA stock car series.

She has a Hawaiian mother and a German father. Her childhood was not spent at the karting track; she was academic as well as being interested in animals and nature. She was 26 before she got into a racing car, having earned a degree in biology and worked as a film stunt double. Her first races were in her home state of California in 2001, then she moved to North Carolina to be closer to NASCAR action. By 2003, she was taking part in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series. Her programmes took in Late Models and the occasional single-seater race.

Out of 39 races between 2001 and 2007, she finished in the top ten 19 times, and the top five, nine times. Her highest finish was fourth, at Texas Motor Speedway in 2006. The same year, she passed her Daytona rookie test.

She decided against a run in ARCA stock cars in favour of a part-season of the Indy Pro Series in 2007. She only did two races, finishing thirteenth in Chicago and retiring at Kentucky, despite qualifying fifth. This was due to picking up a puncture during a multi-car pile-up. She had been running in fourth place. Her funding dried up after this, and she looked towards stock cars again.

It was 2010 before Leilani got back in a car. She drove Mark Gibson’s Dodge in two ARCA races: Daytona and Kansas. She did not finish either and retired very early on both times. In the case of the Daytona race, after a crash.

She took a break from the track and concentrated on environmental campaigning for a while. In 2012, she intended to compete for the whole ARCA series, in a Dodge Charger. Unfortunately, she only managed the first round, and was 36th. The Tony Marks-owned car was promoting the anti-dolphin hunting film, The Cove.

In 2014, she made a limited return to ARCA, beginning with a 28th place, at Daytona. She was driving an alternative-fuel car, and survived a crash early on. Later in the season, she managed two twelfth places, at Talladega and Kansas, driving a car promoting another protest film, Blackfish. This is about killer whales.

In 2015, she did one race, the Daytona ARCA round. She qualified tenth, but crashed out on the 53rd lap of 80. This was her first time driving for Bill Venturini, who would give her rides for the next couple of seasons.

In 2017, she started racing under the "Veganpower" banner, and entered two ARCA races, at Daytona and Talladega. She was 19th at Daytona but did not finish at Talladega.

The Veganpower team came back in 2018 and Leilani finished eighth in the Daytona 500. Shortly afterwards, it was announced that she would contest eight rounds of the ARCA series. Bill Venturini would be running her car. She was 20th in the ARCA championship, with two top-ten finishes: eighth at Daytona and ninth at Michigan.

Leilani has announced that 2019 will be her last year of competition and Daytona probably her last race. She qualified third in a Venturini-run Toyota and finished in 15th place.

(Image from www.arcaracing.com)

The Women of NASCAR: the 21st century

Natalie, Paige and Claire Decker

Below are profiles of some of the female NASCAR drivers who have tried to make their mark on the ovals, and began their careers after 2000. Earlier drivers can be found here. Leilani Munter, Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen and Bridget Burgess now have their own posts.

Mariah Boudrieau - stock car racer who entered her first Menards ARCA Series races in 2021. She was competing in the West series. Her first race was at Colorado and she was thirteenth overall, having started in eleventh. A start from 17th then gave her another thirteenth place at Irwindale, but her next race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ended in a crash. Before moving up to the ARCA championship, she raced Late Models and was eighth in her local championship at Colorado National Speedway in 2021. In 2023, she did the Las Vegas round of the ARCA West series, finishing 15th in a Toyota. She has raced since the age of eleven, beginning in midget cars.

Mandy Chick - races in the ARCA Menards Series, beginning in 2022. She entered the Indianapolis Raceway Park and Milwaukee rounds, finishing 16th at Milwaukee after a DNF at Indianapolis. Her car was a Toyota run by her family team; she is the third generation to compete. She and the team did four more ARCA races together in 2023. Her best race was the season opener at Daytona, where she was fifth. She was also ninth at Kansas. In 2024, she did three more ARCA races, with Kansas being her best track again. She was eleventh. Previously she raced Late Models and had an extensive career in midgets on dirt, beginning when she was six alongside karting.

Amber Cope - occasional racer in NASCAR and other stock-car series, always alongside her twin sister, Angela Cope. Between 2006 and 2008, she competed in three ARCA races in a Chevrolet. Since then, she has raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the NASCAR Nationwide series, averaging one race per season. In 2012, she finished 26th at Loudon, and got involved in a row with Kevin Harvick after he accused her of pushing him off the track. Prior to her NASCAR activities, she raced Late Model stock cars from the age of 15, and before that, karts, with some degree of success. She and Angela are also models, and use their profile to promote themselves as drivers.

Sarah Cornett-Ching – Canadian driver who races in both ARCA and NASCAR junior series events. In 2015, she achieved five top-ten finishes in the ARCA Series, the best of these being two eighth places, at Talladega and Chicagoland. She was seventh in the championship. Driving the same Chevrolet, she has had less success in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, with two DNFs from three races. In 2011, she raced in the Canadian NASCAR series, and before that, in Sportsman events in Canada. In 2015, she was selected for the Race 101 team on a multi-year contract. Her 2016 season was partly spent in ARCA, where she earned a ninth place at Pocono, plus six other finishes from eight races. Again, she did not perform quite as well in the K&N Pro Series, with an eleventh at Mobile the best result from her five races. She had to sit out the last part of the season due to suffering a concussion in September, picked up in a crash at Kentucky. In 2017, she returned in March and did some local-level Late Model racing. She did one major Late Model race in 2018, the CARS Super Late Model Tour event at Carteret County Speedway. Her final classification was tenth, although she crashed 25 laps from the end. In 2019, she entered the Hickory and Rougemont races, with a best finish of 15th in the latter.

Erin Crocker - took part in ARCA and Craftsman Truck races between 2005 and 2007. She was quite successful in ARCA in 2005, with a best finish of second and five top tens from six starts. After a couple of Busch Series outings, she moved full-time to Trucks in 2006. Unfortunately, she did not do as well, and was only 25th at the end of the year. She returned to ARCA and achieved one pole position, but could not convert it into a race result. Her NASCAR career ended badly after a series of allegations made against her team manager, who later became her husband. Prior to her stock car career, she was a multiple race winner in World of Outlaws sprintcar racing, and she made a low-key return to it in mid-2010.

Claire Decker - sister of Paige Decker, who also races in Craftsman Trucks. She took part in two races in 2016, driving for Jennifer Jo Cobb’s team, and finished one, at Martinsville. She was 27th. In June, she also attempted to qualify for the Iowa Xfinity race, but did not make the final cut. Paige was in action too, making them the second sister pairing to race against one another, after Amber and Angela Cope. Claire began, like her sister, by racing snowmobiles, and on short tracks.

Paige Decker - raced in Craftsman Trucks in 2015 and 2016. Both times, she entered the Martinsville rounds. Her best finish came in 2016, when she was 25th. That year, she also did two Xfinity Series races, at Iowa and Road America, finishing 31st both times. Previously, she raced in the Whelen All-American Series, and in short-track stock cars in 2010 and 2011. Her earliest motorsport experiences were racing snowmobiles, from the age of three. She is from a motorsport family, and has a sister, Claire, and a cousin, Natalie, who also race.

Gabi DiCarlo – began her stock car career in ARCA in 2007, driving a Ford. She did well in her first year of major competition, finishing eleventh in the championship. In 2008, she gained sponsorship from Great Clips, a hair salon chain, and raced a Chevrolet in the ARCA Series. She scored three top ten finishes, at Pocono and Kansas, the best of these being a ninth at Kansas. She was fourteenth overall. In 2009, she was approved to race in NASCAR-sanctioned events, and Stringer Motorsports contracted her for a seven-race deal in the Camping World Truck series. Unfortunately, her programme was cut to three races, early in the year. Her best finish was 19th, at California. For the rest of the year, the team ran her in selected ARCA races. Her best finish was eleventh, at Salem. After a part-season, she was 31st overall. She does not appear to have raced at all since then.

Maryeve Dufault - Canadian driver who switched to stock car racing full-time in 2011. She drove a Dodge Charger in the ARCA series, supported by Mad Croc and Dodge Motorsports. After seven top-twenty finishes, she was sixteenth overall, with a best finish of tenth at Chicagoland. She also secured entry into one NASCAR Nationwide race, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In 2012, she put together a budget for three ARCA races, driving a Dodge for Carter 2 Motorsports. She finished two of them, with a best result of 19th, at Kansas. In 2013, she drove in one NASCAR Nationwide Series race, finishing 31st, at Chicagoland. Previously, in 2010, she competed in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Much earlier, she raced karts and snowmobiles, and motocross bikes. She is currently better-known as a model. In 2014, she did three Nationwide Series races for Team Stange, in a Ford. Her best finish was 17th, at Mobile. She did not race in 2015 or 2016.

Allison Duncan (Bormann) - has been working her way through the NASCAR ranks since 2003. Although she has shown considerable pace, and achieved top-five finishes, her big break has yet to come. Her early racing experiences were in sportscars, where she won SCCA championships in a Mazda RX7 and drove in the WGGTS. She was Daytona’s youngest female driver at the 2000 24-Hour race, aged eighteen, and she and her Chamberlain team-mates were sixth overall in their Dodge Viper. After that, she was co-opted into a NASCAR driver development programme, and subsequently, she has driven Craftsman Trucks and Late Model stock cars. Her best result in NASCAR is probably her fifth place in the NASCAR Late Model Division cahmpionship, which came in 2004. In 2005, she recorded two wins in this championship. She has not raced since 2006, and now works as a precision driving instructor.

Cassie Gannis – active in NASCAR-sanctioned events in the USA. Her first NASCAR outings were in the ACDelco Super Late Models series; at sixteen, she was the youngest driver to hold a full NASCAR competition license. After a break, she moved up to the K&N Pro Series in 2011, for three races. The best of these were at Colorado and Spokane, where she was sixteenth. In 2012, she did five races in her Ford, and was fifteenth in one, at Havasu. Although she was not able to mount any championship challenge, she was voted the “Most Popular Driver” in the series. Prior to this, she had been part of NASCAR’s much-vaunted “Drive For Diversity” programme. Another break from competition followed. Cassie entered the PEAK Stock Car Dream Challenge, attempting to win a race seat with Michael Waltrip’s team. She was a finalist, but did not win. In 2015, she tried to get her career going again, signing up for the Camping World Truck series with Mike Harmon Racing. Sadly, her one race with the team led to a non-qualification, at Phoenix. She picked up another ride in ARCA, with the Carter 2 team, but the same thing happened, at Daytona. She was linked to another Truck drive for 2016, but this appears to have fallen through. In 2018, she made a small comeback, entering three K&N Pro Series races and finishing one at Tucson. She was 16th. At the start of 2019, she tried out for the all-female W Series but was eliminated after the first driver selection.

Holley Hollan - former junior sprintcar racer who began her senior stock car career in 2020. She combined midget racing with entries in both the East and West divisions of the ARCA Menards Series. She was fifteenth in the first round of the Eastern series at New Smyrna. She did slightly better at Las Vegas in the Western division, picking up a twelfth place in her Toyota Camry. Her career was stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, but she was able to continue in the West series and only missed one race. Her best finishes were a pair of sixth places at Roseville and Evergreen.

Johanna Long - drove in the NASCAR Camping World Truck series in 2011. Her best finish was eleventh, at Texas Motor Speedway. In addition to this, she was raced in other Truck races at her home tracks of Five Flags and Mobile, with five top-ten finishes to her name: two fifths and three ninths. She made her NASCAR Truck debut in 2010 and earned three top-twenty positions, alongside a string of excellent results in regional series, in a truck and in a Late Model car. Previously, she raced Late Models, since the age of fifteen, and is the only woman to have won a Late Model race in her local series. She also won the 2010 Snowflake Derby off-season race. In 2012, she raced a Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. She managed a large proportion of the championship - 21 races - and had a best finish of twelfth. She was 20th in the championship. She continued with the ML Chevrolet in 2013, with another best finish of twelfth, plus a few more top-twenty positions. She was 23rd overall. At the end of the season, the team folded, and Johanna did not have enough sponsorship to continue in top-level stock car competition, despite a win in the Snowball Derby. She returned to Late Model competition locally, and was the points leader of her championship for much of the year. In 2015, she made a small comeback, taking part in one NASCAR Xfinity Series race, at Iowa. She was 27th. She also entered the Richmond race, but did not qualify.

Logan Misuraca - races stock cars in America. She did her first ARCA race in 2022, finishing seventh at New Smyrna Speedway. This was a Menards Series East event and followed a couple of cancelled entries for Lira Motorsport in ARCA and the NASCAR Truck series. In 2023, she moved into the national ARCA series and did three races in a Chevrolet. Her best finish was 18th at Daytona in the opening round of the season. Another ARCA race at Bristol followed in 2024, but she crashed out. Previously, she raced in sprintcars, karts and Legends, having begun competing at the age of four.

Stephanie Moyer - races in the ARCA Menards Series in the USA. She moved up to the championship after winning a local Factory Stock championship in 2020. In 2021, she did six of the eight Menards Series East rounds, finishing in the top ten twice. She was eighth at Pensacola and tenth at Nashville. Her four main series outings gave her two finishes, the best being a 15th place at Pocono at the start of the season. Reliability has been a problem for her in 2022, with only one finish from five races in the East series, a ninth spot at New Smyrna. Pocono has been her best circuit again in the main championship, giving her a 19th place. She did a few more races in 2023, scoring one tenth place at Toledo in the Menards series from three finishes.

Molly Rhoads - raced in a number of US series on and off in the 2000s and 2010s. She began competing seriously at Raceway Park in Minnesota in 2004 and was Late Model Rookie of the Year. Two years later, she was fourth in the Raceway Late Model points and ninth in the Minnesota Late Model Challenge, leading to a spot in NASCAR’s Drive For Diversity programme. In 2007, she raced on the ASA Midwest Tour, alongside her brother. She competed on and off in this category until 2011. As well as driving, Molly has worked as a crew chief for Bryan Roach, who raced on the ASA Midwest Tour. She now devotes most of her time to animal care.

Kenzie Ruston - raced in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East between 2013 and 2015. During this time, she did three full seasons, and scored top-five finishes on seven occasions. The best of these was a third at Greenville, in 2013. It was one of four top-five places, and Kenzie was sixth in the championship, in her Chevrolet. In 2014, she was ninth, and she did not do quite as well in 2015, in a Toyota. She did get into the top ten four times, the best of these being a sixth place at Smithton. In 2016, she returned to short-oval competition.

Kristi Schmitt - raced in NASCAR’s regional and entry-level series between 2001 and 2005. She raced in both the Southwest and Northwest series in 2001, starting three races overall, with a best finish of 18th, at Irwindale. She was fourteenth at Evergreen in 2002, driving a Chevrolet, but it was the only race she qualified for. 2004 was the last time she qualified, in the K&N West Series this time. She was fourteenth again, at Mesa Marin. She attempted to qualify for the same race in 2005, but did not make it.

Amber Slagle - made her ARCA debut in 2021 after some time racing in Late Models. Her first race in the ARCA Menards West Series at Irwindale. She qualified fourth and finished fourteenth. A non-finish at Las Vegas followed due to a broken radiator, but she was then tenth at Roseville, her best finish of the season. She is also a NASCAR mechanic for the Cook Racing Technologies team. 

Rita (Ritamarie) Thomason (Goulet) - races in the ARCA Menards Series. After not growing up in a motorsport family and enduring financial hardship, she first competed in autocross in 2018, driving a Mazda Miata. She used this car in SCCA events the following year. Using an Alex Clubb-run Chevrolet, she made her ARCA debut in 2022. She was classified 12th, although she did not finish. Neither the Chevrolet or a different Ford got to the end of any of her four races. In 2023, she did four more Menards Series events, finishing all four wiht a best finish of fourteenth at Elko and Toledo. This was combined most of the Eastern series, in a Chevrolet again. She only finished three races. In 2024, she managed to finish twice in ARCA, including a thirteenth place at Salem. She had more luck in the East division, scoring four to-twenty finishes from seven starts. The best of these were two more thirteenths at Nashville and Pensacola. Away from the track, she is a serving police officer in Alabama.

Gracie Trotter - began racing as a senior in the Menards ARCA Series in 2020. Her first race in the main ARCA championship was at Phoenix, and she was thirteenth overall. She has also competed in both the East and West divisions, finishing 16th at New Smyrna (East) and a promising fourth at Las Vegas (West). She was one of three female drivers at Vegas and there were 17 entrants. Her career in 2020 curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic, but she ran a full season in the West series and impressed greatly. She scored her first win at Las Vegas, having already come third at Irwindale and second at Douglas County. Her final championship position was third. She did nine rounds in 2021, with some guest appearances in both the East and West series as well. Driving a Toyota, she usually qualified well, in the top ten, although she was not always able to convert that to good results. Her best one was a third at Elko, and she was later fifth at Salem. She is a former junior karter and has also raced Legends and Late Models.

Chrissy Wallace - raced in the second-tier Nationwide NASCAR series in 2010. She competed in the Daytona 500 and Talladega Superspeedway rounds, with a best finish of 24th at Talladega. This followed part-seasons in Craftsman Trucks in 2008 and 2009. She was usually driving for the Germain Racing team in a Toyota and managed three top-twenty finishes in 2008 at Martinsville, Milwaukee and Gateway. The following year, she improved this record with a thirteenth place at Talladega, driving a Rick Ware-run Chevrolet. She also made occasional ARCA appearances in 2008 and 2011, earning a ninth place at Talladega in 2008, driving a Germain Toyota. Early in her career, she raced at her local Hickory Speedway in North Carolina and won her first race in 2007. She is a member of the noted Wallace NASCAR clan.

Dominique van Wieringen - Canadian driver who has mostly competed in Late Model stock cars. In 2012 and 2013, she won both races and championships in Late Models. In 2014, she set her sights on NASCAR. In preparation, she did some ARCA races, achieving one second place at the Lucas Oil I10 Speedway, and another fifth, in 2015. In 2016, she took part in the NASCAR K&N Series East, for Rette Jones Racing. Towards the end of the season, she recorded two third places, at Greenville and Dover, and was ninth in the championship. She also made a guest appearance in the Camping World Truck series at Phoenix, but she did not finish. She raced in Trucks again in 2017, but only made one major appearance. She was third at Langley.

Jolynn Wilkinson - began racing in ARCA in 2021, aged 17. Her best finish was her first one, at Colorado, where she started and finished in eighth place. She was then 17th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and fifteenth at Roseville. Previously, she raced in Late Models from the age of 13, with a year in Super Late Models in 2020. She was the youngest female driver to do so. In 2019 she had to take a break due to concussion and other injuries sustained in a crash. As well as cars, she also raced karts. She is from a racing family and her father John Boy Wilkinson competed extensively in Late Models.

(Image copyright espn.com)

The women of NASCAR

Tammy Jo Kirk and crew

Female drivers have been a feature of NASCAR and its associated series since 1949. A few pioneering drivers achieved success early on, but the NASCAR route has proved a challenging one for most of the women who have tried it. Below are short profiles of some of the ladies of NASCAR. Sara Christian, Louise Smith, Shawna Robinson, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Kat Teasdale, Diane Teel, Deborah Renshaw, Robin McCall, Hila Paulson Sweet and Patty Moise have their own profiles. Drivers who started their careers after 2000 can be found here. Although it is not part of the NASCAR family, the ARCA stock car series is included here, due to its similarity of machinery and venues.

Sherry Blakley - attempted to qualify for the Charlotte 250 round of the NASCAR Busch Series in 1994, but did not make the grid. Prior to this, she started 29 Goody’s Dash series races between 1991 and 1994, with a best championship finish of eighth in 1993, with two top-five finishes. She had been racing Late Models since at least 1988. During her career she was always adept at finding sponsorship, including Ramses condoms in 1994. Their publicity campaign involved promoting safe sex and giving out condoms at races and it was banned by NASCAR. Sherry retired a couple of years later and worked in a car dealership. She died in 2011, aged 48.

Ann Chester - one of NASCAR’s early female drivers, who took part in two Grand National races in 1950. She drove a Plymouth at the Vernon and Hamburg rounds, but did not finish either of them. The Plymouth’s engine failed at Vernon, and she crashed out of the Hamburg race. The Hamburg event was special, in that it was one of a handful of times that three women have raced in a top-level NASCAR event.

Tammy Jo Kirk - took part in NASCAR Craftsman Truck and regional events in the 1990s. She first came to prominence when she won the 1994 Snowball Derby in Florida, a NASCAR All Pro Series race. By 1996, she had moved up to the Busch Series, and won two pole positions. She was seventh overall. In 1997 and 1998, she drove in Craftsman Trucks, with a best finish of eleventh at Portland in 1997. Her sponsorship ended at the end of 1998, and she did not race again in NASCAR until 2003, when she returned to the Busch Series for Jay Robinson Racing. Her best finish was 21st, and she was not retained for the 2004 season. As well as NASCAR, she took part in some sportscar races, most notably the 1994 Daytona 24 Hours. She was 34th in a Porsche 911 with David Murry, Angelo Cilli and Anthony Lazzaro. Initially, she raced motorcycles on short tracks.

Teri MacDonald (Cadieux) - raced in a number of NASCAR and associated series between 1998 and 2005. During this time, she had part-seasons in ARCA and Craftsman Trucks, plus a single full season in CASCAR in 2001. Her best year in Trucks was 2002, with four races. Her CASCAR season yielded two top-ten finishes. In between, she drove in various ASA events, with rather a lot of non-finishes, but one top-twenty finish. Previously, she was involved in long-circuit racing in the USA and Canada, achieving some success at National level and earning awards as the highest-ranked woman driver in Canada. She retired in 2006 after the birth of her son, and now works in various motorsport-related fields.

Ethel Flock Mobley - early NASCAR racer and contemporary of Sara Christian. She began racing cars in “Powderpuff Derby” events for women drivers in the late 1940s. Her career began in earnest in 1949, when she entered and finished two NASCAR races, with a best finish of eleventh. In the other race, at Langhorn, she could only manage 44th. In addition to this, she took part in approximately 100 other races in the early 1950s, usually in the NASCAR Modified category. Her local track was the Atlanta Speedway, built by her brother, Bob Flock, and she normally competed there. She died in 1984.

Christi Passmore - has raced on and off in the ARCA series since 2002. In 2003 and 2004, she undertook major campaigns in this series, finishing eighth both times, driving a Ford. In 2004, she scored her only podium finish. In 2005, she only did thirteen races, which was not enough to mount any sort of challenge, and this dropped to one guest appearance in 2006. After that, she returned to ASCS events. This was how she began her career in 1998, based around the Knoxville track and its 410 Sprint series. She does not appear to have raced since 2010.

Arlene Pittman - started racing stock cars in 1985, aged fifteen. She worked her way up the local racing ladder, winning a championship in 1999. She started taking her racing more seriously after that, and began racing trucks in 2000. In 2002, she competed in both Truck races and the car-based NASCAR Goody’s Dash series. She was fifteenth in Goody’s Dash, out of 68 drivers. She retired from racing in 2003 after a serious accident during a Goody’s Dash event, although she did attempt to return, entering one more race after her crash. Now, she manages her own track and works extensively in motorsport PR.

FiFi Scott - took part in two Winston Cup races in 1955, at Phoenix and Tucson. She went out with a puncture before half-distance in the first race, but was classified in thirteenth place in the second. Her car was a Hudson, which she had previously used in Late Model races in 1954 and 1955, on the East Coast. Her best finish was twelfth, in the 1955 Walnut Creek race, driving a self-entered car.

Kelly Sutton – raced in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series between 2003 and 2007, following a long career in club stock car racing and the NASCAR Goody’s Dash series, which included overall race wins at junior and senior level. Her first Truck season only consisted of four races, with a best finish of 19^th, at Homestead. In 2004, she expanded her programme to 19 races, and broke into the top twenty once, at Mansfield. This season was marred by accidents and mechanical problems. 2005 was a better year, with three top-twenty finishes, including a fifteenth place at Charlotte. Despite a shorter season in 2006, with fewer good finishes, she still managed to lead her first lap, at Kansas, although she crashed out later. In her final year of Trucks, she only took part in three races, and was 20^th at Milwaukee. Since then, she has not raced. Throughout her career, she has raced for her family team, Sutton Racing. She is notable for being the only NASCAR driver who competed actively with MS.

Bonnie West - possibly the first woman to win a NASCAR-sanctioned Late Model race in 1975. She won a feature race at Langley Speedway, Virginia in June. She was the biggest female rival to Diane Teel and the two squared up in a match race together at Langley in 1977. Both were regulars at Langley, although they often competed in different divisions. Bonnie’s career ended abruptly in 1977 when she was convicted of car theft, alongside her husband, and jailed for five years.

Martha Wideman - raced stock cars in the USA in the 1970s. She competed in one round of the USAC Stock Car Series in 1976, finishing 20th at Texas World Speedway in a 1974 Dodge Charger. She was meant to race at Mid-America Raceways the following month, but did not start. She had been driving in short-oval stock car races on her own account since 1972, having been active for some years previously racing her husband’s car under his license, as women were not allowed and the “powder puff derby” events for women no longer challenged her. IMCA allowed her to race and she did eventually earn a NASCAR license, although she never took part in a NASCAR race.   

(Image copyright Fox News)