Linda Ludemann

Linda Ludemann raced in IMSA between 1987 and 1990, alongside Scott Schubot. She is the first recorded female winner of an IMSA title, having won the Lights class in 1989, but she is more widely known due to the 1989 “Linda Ludemann rule” which allowed a second driver in IMSA races to take a very limited role in order to get round the compulsory pitstops.

She and Scott Schubot, who was her boyfriend as well as her team-mate, competed in the Lights class in 1987, under the “S&L Racing” banner.  Both had earned their racing licenses a couple of years previously and this was their first major championship together. Initially, they drove a Tiga GT285, with a best finish of eighth at Watkins Glen. They were also 16th at Daytona, with Jim Brown. For the shorter races, normally three-hour events, they usually drove together, but Schubot sometimes drove alone.

The car was changed for a Spice SE88P in 1988, which was less reliable, and gave them a highest position of 15th, at the San Antonio street circuit and Lime Rock. 

The rule changes that brought in the “Linda Ludemann Rule” happened in time for the 1989 season. Prior to then, most IMSA races could be completed safely by a solo driver, although many teams depended on a paying amateur co-driver to cover their costs. In order to appease the teams and remove the single-driver advantage, a driver change became compulsory.

The rules stated that the second driver only had to cover a minimum of two laps and did not specify that these laps had to be during a green-flag period. 

Linda was never regarded as a slow or unskilled driver, but she was not as fast as Schubot. In newspaper interviews of the time, she admits to being a couple of seconds per lap slower around the track and often claims that she is not quite aggressive enough when passing. 

In a 1987 interview with the Fort Lauderdale News, she describes her role in the team as “to bring the car back safe and sound. Scott’s job is to drive as hard as he can. He’s just more aggressive. I’ve had to work awfully hard to learn to be aggressive.”

Even so, in the same interview, she talks of having to show her partner how to downshift correctly with a manual gearbox, something she had learned working as pit crew for her father.

Her peers were often more complimentary. Writing in 2015, Marshall Pruett said he was “semi-confident” that she and Schubot could have won without “playing games”. The same article quotes IMSA’s chief steward at the time, Marty Kaufman, calling Linda “a good shoe.”

In order to maximise his time in the car, their driver changes would generally happen during a caution period, during which Linda would jump in, complete a few token laps and then hand the car back to her boyfriend when the flag went green.

Reliability improved in 1989, and Linda became the first woman to win the Lights class, after victories at West Palm Beach, San Antonio, Topeka and Sears Point. The team were also top-ten finishers three times, with a high point of sixth. 

Linda only did a part-season in 1990, still in the Spice, but proved she was still competitive with an eighth at Miami and a class win at Topeka. Her season was affected by a fire during qualifying at Sebring, which destroyed their car. Linda initially found a seat in another SE88 run by Essex Racing, but did not start the race.

As well as sportscars, she occasionally raced single-seaters, becoming the first woman to race a Barber Saab in 1989. Early in her career, both she and Schubot raced Formula Fords and Linda did at least one season in Sports 2000. 

She did not compete in 1991. Schubot switched his attention to single-seater racing for several seasons after that and they may have split up.

Away from the track, Linda worked as a florist and owned her own flower shop.

(Image copyright racer.com)