Suzy with her MG TC
Suzy Dietrich raced sportscars in and around the USA in the
1950s and 1960s. In the later part of her career, she took part in major races
such as the Daytona 24 Hours.
Suzy began racing in 1953, after
her marriage to Charles (Chuck) Dietrich, another racer. Away from the track,
she worked as a school librarian, and the Dietrichs ran their own car
dealership together.
Her first car was a supercharged
MG TC, built in 1948. Her first race was at the Chanute Air Force base circuit.
It was a ladies’ race, and she was fourth, winning her class. A month later,
she entered another ladies’ race at Cumberland, and was second, behind the more
experienced Margaret Wyllie in a Jaguar, who had started racing at the same
time as Suzy.
In 1954, she scored two more
second places in ladies’ races, at Cumberland and Akron. Both times, she was
beaten by Margaret Wyllie again. This year, she branched out into mixed
competition, entering some SCCA races at Chanute and a hillclimb at Brynfan
Tyddyn. The results are not forthcoming.
Still in the MG, she achieved her
first win in 1955, seeing off Margaret Wyllie in her Jaguar C-Type in a
Cumberland ladies’ race. At the same meeting, she started a mixed Novices race,
but did not finish. This was down to a mechanical failure. Later in the year,
she ventured to Elkhart Lake for an SCCA National race at Road America, and was
eleventh.
Her racing repertoire expanded
further in 1956, with a new car and a first international outing. She drove a
Porsche 550 in competition for the first time at the Nassau Speed Week in the
Bahamas. In the Ladies’ event, she scored a third and a fourth place. The 550
was probably not hers, although she seems to have picked up its workings quite
well. She would later claim that this was her favourite of all of her racing
cars.
Among the other women she
encountered on the Ladies’ racing scene was Denise
McCluggage, who later described her as “an enormously cute librarian”. The
two became lifelong friends.
She had some more races in at
least two different Porsche 550s in 1957, earning three second places in
Ladies’ races, and a twelfth in mixed competition at Watkins Glen, during the
SCCA Nationals. This year, she had another new car, in the shape of an Elva
MkII which belonged to Chuck. Suzy won a Ladies’ race at Watkins Glen in this
car, as well as contesting some SCCA races. At the end of the season, when
Nassau Speed Week rolled round again, Chuck and Suzy were supported by the Elva
factory. Suzy was fifth in one of the Ladies’ races, but crashed out of
another, damaging the car but escaping serious injury herself. She attempted to
race again the next day, despite Chuck having to help her out of bed.
The Elva served her well again in
1958, helping her to Ladies’ wins at Dunkirk and Watkins Glen. This was the car
she used in the Road America 500 Miles, sharing it with Charles Kurtz. They
were eleventh overall, and second in class. At various times, she also raced
Bernard Vihl’s 550; her best result in this car was a third in a Ladies’ race
at Cumberland.
The next two seasons were much
quieter for Suzy. The Dietrichs took delivery of at least two new Elva models,
a IV and a V, which she used to good effect in a select few Ladies’ races.
It was back to a fuller
competition schedule for 1961, and with a new car. The Dietrichs had acquired a
Porsche 356, in which Suzy attacked the SCCA National championship. This time,
it was mostly in the main races, rather than against the other women. Her best
finish was fifth, at her lucky circuit, Watkins Glen. Mid-season, she dusted
off the Elva and won the Ladies’ race at Dunkirk in it.
In 1962, she switched to
single-seaters and campaigned a Cooper in Formula Junior in the States, among
other cars. She used an Elva FJ much of the time, and was eleventh in the
Governor’s Cup at Marlboro in this car.
The Cooper proved to be another
good car for Suzy; she won a Formula Junior race outright at Dunkirk in it, in
June 1963.
For the next couple of seasons,
things were quieter on the racing front for Suzy. She was absent from the major
entry lists until 1966, when she made quite a dramatic comeback, entering her
first Daytona 24 Hours. She was part of an all-female team with Janet
Guthrie and Donna Mae
Mims, driving a Sunbeam Alpine for the Autosport team. Suzy enjoyed driving
European cars, like the Porsches and the Cooper, so the Alpine probably suited
her. The car was not a highly-tuned race machine, being barely more than
showroom trim. Suzy and her team-mates finished the race in 32nd
place, and were the only team in their class to finish at all.
In 1967, the all-woman team had become the “Ring Free Motor
Maids”, sponsored by the Ring Free oil company. Suzy narrowly missed out on a
spot in the main “Motor Maids” car for Daytona, a Ford Mustang, but raced a
satellite Jim Baker ASA 411, which was another production car, albeit provided
by the factory. Her team-mate was Donna Mae Mims. They were not classified. They
raced the same car together in the Sebring 12 Hours, and were 25th,
not far behind Liane
Engeman and Anita
Taylor in a Matra Djet, the other Ring Free ladies’ car.
Ring Free also supported Suzy in some single-seater races,
driving a Lotus 20. She raced in Formula A and Formula Continental. She had
been competing in the Lotus since at least 1965.
At about this time, Suzy and Chuck went their separate ways
and eventually divorced. This was one of the reasons why Suzy’s racing career
really wound down after 1967. According to friends, she regretted the end of
her relationship. She went back to working as a librarian, although she did
make a comeback as a team owner in 1970, running a Brabham BT21 in Formula
Continental under the “Team Suzy” banner.
She died in 2015 after a stroke,
at the age of 88. For the last few years of her life, she lived in a care home,
and in 2011, she auctioned off her memorabilia collection to pay for this.
(Image from http://www.rokemneedlearts.com/)
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