Arlene Hiss

Arlene Hiss was the first woman to qualify for and complete an Indycar race, in 1976. 

Her single Indycar outing was at Phoenix. Although badly off the pace, she reached the finish in fourteenth. Plans had been set out for Arlene to compete in the Indy 500, but they never came to fruition and the honour of being the first woman at Indy went to Janet Guthrie. 

At the time of the Phoenix race, Arlene was 35 and divorced from racer and crew chief Mike Hiss. She had raced as an amateur for almost 13 years previously, winning three consecutive SCCA Showroom Stock championships in the 1970s. Despite her long association with motor racing, she was never a professional driver and made her living teaching high school, mainly dance but later on, car maintenance.

As Arlene Lanzieri, she began racing in 1964, in an Austin-Healey Sprite that she sometimes shared with Shirley van Kleeck until 1966. Among her early rivals was Donna Mae Mims. Arlene and Shirley competed that year as “The Female Racing Team” and were sponsored by Stan Engleman Enterprises. They were competitive in the H-Production class, with Arlene normally the faster driver.

This was when she and Mike got together at a race circuit in Connecticut, according to a 1970 article in the Monrovia Daily News Post. Arlene helped to crew his junior single-seaters as he progressed through the pro ranks, as well as racing her own Sprite in the H-Production championships. Due to her crew commitments, she was unable to contest full championships although she was a quick driver. 

Her switch from sportscars to stock cars was partly due to Mike’s increasing success. He was named as the 1972 Indy Rookie of the Year and was subsequently unavailable to act as her crew chief. Arlene responded by buying an Opel 51 which she could drive to and from the tracks herself, according to the Indianapolis Star in 1973. 

She had been entered into the Phoenix event by Copper State Racing, in a 1974 Offenhauser previously used by Lloyd Ruby. Her USAC license, earned during a stock car race, would have allowed her to also take part in the second round of the Indycar championship at Trenton, but Lloyd Ruby drove instead.

Her single-seater debut was well-received by the press but not so much her fellow drivers. After the Phoenix race, Bobby Unser, Gary Bettenhausen and Bill Vukovich II were all scathing in their criticism of Arlene, accusing her of dangerous driving by going too slowly and taking the wrong lines. Unser blamed the media for pressuring USAC into licensing a female driver who was not ready. Neither Bettenhausen or Vukovich had qualified.

Arlene’s testing times were acceptable if not world-beating and she had managed to qualify for the race in the 21st of 22 grid spots, from 24 qualifiers. Her qualifying times were slower than her test times and her race pace was even slower.

Much later, in her autobiography, Janet Guthrie tells of how established male drivers encouraged her to hold her line when being passed by faster drivers, instead of moving off the racing line and allowing them to pass. In practice, this was a foolish idea, which she soon found out. Having watched Arlene race, Janet is convinced that she was acting on similar bad advice. A newspaper reported that the car’s owner Mike Devin had admitted giving her this guidance.

Janet also observed that Arlene’s head was bent over at an angle as she cornered. Most other drivers of the time used some sort of headrest or strap, but Arlene did not. This may have caused discomfort and affected her pace.

Arlene attended another test with Copper State at Ontario, but this was her last involvement with the team. She claimed in the papers that this was down to a lack of funding, rather than the criticisms she had received.

After her retreat from single-seater racing, she attempted to break into NASCAR, entering the Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in a Chevrolet sponsored by Let’s Eat Out. Sadly, despite her previous stock car experience, she was one of a large number of drivers who did not make the 40-car grid.

She did manage to qualify for a round of the USAC Stock Car series in June. Arlene was one of two women to enter the Texas 500, alongside Martha Wideman. She finished ninth overall and would have been even higher up without tyre trouble early on. This time, AJ Foyt was complimentary about her driving. In October, she was invited to the Long Beach street circuit by Toyota to race a Celica in a forerunner of the Toyota Pro-Celebrity race. 

She retired from the circuits in 1978, having struggled to find sponsorship.

(Image from flashbak.com)

Martine Renier

Martine Renier is a rather enigmatic driver who competed in both circuit racing and rallying in and around France in the 1970s.

She was probably a more prolific rally driver, but she showed considerable skill on the track and was trusted in major endurance races.

She entered Le Mans twice, in 1974 and 1976, driving a Porsche both times. She was thirteenth in 1974, driving with Anny-Charlotte Verney and Pierre Mauroy. Her second attempt gave her an 18th place, fourth in class, with Thierry Perrier and Guy de Saint-Pierre. 

In 1973, 1974 and 1975, she piloted an Alfa Romeo on the Tour de France. Her car in 1973 was a 2000 GTV. Despite it being a rather underpowered Group 1 model, she was 32nd overall and second in the Ladies’ standings. Earlier in her career, she had won the Coupe des Dames on the Tour, driving an Alpine in 1971. 

Her association with the Alfa marque was quite a long one and encompassed circuit racing as well as rallying. In 1974, she drove in two separate 2000 GTVs in the Spa 24 Hours, finishing fourteenth with Eric Mandron and Edgar Gillessen, and seventh with Guy Deschamps and Jeannot Sauvage. Both cars were run by Promoteam. She raced the same car in a round of the 1974 French touring car series at La Chatre, finishing fourth in Group 2.

Her rallying career is harder to follow, mainly because she did not often enter under her own name. Throughout her career, she used the nickname “Tintin”, a moniker she still uses when posting online about her experiences. Her regular co-driver Marie-Dominique Cousin went by “Marie Do”. “Tintin” also appeared on the circuits and it is under that name that her 1974 Spa achievements are recorded.

Alfa Romeo features in her rallying history but her first car seems to have been a Renault 8 Gordini, which she used in 1970. She and Joelle Godart were 16th in that year’s Chauny National rally.

In 1974, “Tintin” and “Marie Do” finished the Criterium International Saint-Amand-les-Eaux in a familiar Alfa. They were 35th overall.  This was far from their only rally together.

The following year, Martine made a rare foray outside France for the Morocco Rally, driving an equally unfamiliar car: an Opel Ascona. She and co-driver G Nault did not finish.

Unusually for a French female driver of the time, she never seems to have driven for Team Aseptogyl, although Marie-Dominique Cousin certainly did later.

Although quite a prolific driver, a lot of Martine’s rally experience came from the navigation side. She finished the 1973 Monte Carlo Rally with Jean-Claude Lagniez, driving another Alfa GTV, having already sat alongside him in an Alpine-Renault for French rallies. Her first experience of the Ascona came as a co-driver to Bernard Vautrin on the 1973 Le Touquet Rally. In 1976, she was hired by Ford France to sit alongside Anny-Charlotte Verney in an Escort, and they did the 1000 Lakes Rally together. Her last major stage event seems to have been the 1976 Bandama Rally, which she failed to finish in a Toyota Trueno with Alain Cerf driving.

Towards the end of her international career, she entered the 1974 Paris-St. Raphael women’s rally, finishing ninth in an Alfa 2000 GTV with Marie-Madeleine Fouquet, driving as herself for a change. 

Her last attempt at a big international race was Le Mans in 1978. She attempted to qualify in a Lola T296/7 with Pascale Guerie and Anna Cambiaghi. This would have been her first race in a prototype, but they were only on the reserve list and did not actually race. Only Anna Cambiaghi drove the car.

She also competed in early runnings of the Paris-Dakar rally, as a motorcyclist and driver. Her experience in Morocco and the Ivory Coast would have helped her, although her first attempt in 1979, riding for the Moto Guzzi team, ended in a crash.

She co-drove for Catherine Dufresne the following year in a Range Rover, again not finishing. Back in the driving seat, she piloted a VW-engined Sunhill buggy in 1983, navigated by Babette Schily. Neither of the two Sunhill buggies finished that year. 

(Image from motor.rocabal.com)

The VW Polo Ladies' Cup Turkey

Ann Tahincioglu, Nuray Esener and Melis Ceker

The Volkswagen Polo Ladies’ Cup was an all-female one-make series which ran in Turkey between 2005 and 2006. It was announced as part of a package of new club championships for Turkey in the wake of the opening of the Istanbul grand prix circuit.

The entry list contained a mixture of experienced circuit racers, drivers from other disciplines (including rally co-drivers), women who had achieved fame in other sports and a few celebrities. 2005 champion Ann Tahincioglu had been involved in Turkish motorsport for years and was the oldest driver at 49. Nuray Esener and Sanem Celik also had circuit experience. Didem Coksayar and Melis Ceker had co-driven in rallies; 2006 entrant Burcu Cetinkaya had been a Turkish ladies’ rally champion. Yasemin Dalkilic had set records in freediving and Zeynep Ozenc had represented Turkey in volleyball. The celebrity drivers included fashion designer Secilay Du Pre. 2006 champion Gunes Ippekan started the 2005 Cup as a complete novice and was also the youngest driver, at 25.

Seventeen cars lined up for the first race at Izmit Bay. The championship’s other three rounds were held at Istanbul. An additional race was held at Lausitz in Germany as a guest support for the DTM.

A 1900cc turbodiesel version of the Polo was used. Cars were run by various teams with different sponsorship deals.

In 2006, two drivers in the championship received a guest entry into a round of the DTM-supporting German Polo Cup. Champion Gunes Ippekan and fifth-placed Melis Ceker made the trip to the Netherlands for their two races.

Championship results

2005

1. Ann Tahincioglu
2.  Nuray Esener
3.  Melis Ceker

2006

1. Gunes Ippekan
2. Ann Tahincioglu
3. Nuray Esener
4. Ebru Sile
5. Melis Ceker
6. Ayse Sule Bilgic
7. Demet Kapani
8. Yasemin Dalkilic
9. Didem Coksayar
10. Aysa Alparslan

(Image copyright nurayurkmez.com)

Bianca Steiner

Bianca Steiner is an Austrian driver who has competed across Europe in almost all categories of single-seaters. 

She began racing in 2004 in Hungary, in the E-2000 Championship for 2000cc single-seaters. Despite being only fourteen years old at the time, she came fourth, driving a Formula Renault. 

She was ninth in 2005, and that year, she branched out into Formula Junior in Italy, driving for the Hungarian Szsasz team. At that time, Italian Formula Junior was a Formula Renault 1600 series. This arrangement continued in 2006, and she was tenth in the championship. As well as the Italian Junior series, she entered a Formula Renault Winter series. Never scared of ccs or horsepower, she even did a few Italian Formula 3000 races with the Coloni Rookies team. She was ninth and tenth at Misano, the closing rounds of the season.

For 2007, her programme was more focused, and she now had her own team. She drove to a disappointing 31st place in Italian Formula Renault, and made a few outings in the Eurocup at the Hungaroring. 

In 2008, she moved to the Northern Europe Championship, but did not fare much better. 

After four races back in the Italian championship in 2009, with a best finish of fourth, she appears to have left the series. She also did some hillclimbing in a Formula Nippon car in 2009. She had borrowed the car from a French driver called Lionel Regal, who died in 2010.

A long time on the sidelines followed while Bianca and her family saved money for a more powerful and better car.

In 2018 she made a comeback in the BOSS GP series for major single-seaters. She drove an ex-Timo Glock Dallara GP2 car in five rounds and scored one podium, a third at the Red Bull Ring. From the very beginning of the season she had been on the pace, finishing fourth in only her second race. She was eleventh in the championship. 

In the same car, she did the first two rounds of the 2019 Maxx Formula series at Zandvoort, finishing fourth and third. She had followed her Top Speed team-mate Veronika Cicha to the new championship.

Her 2020 plans were affected by the coronavirus crisis, but she did manage one outing in BOSS GP. Her GP2 car took her to a eighth place at Brno. She entered the first two 2021 BOSS rounds but had to withdraw, then missed the rest of the championship.

In 2022, she returned for the first four rounds, again competing in the Formula Car class in the GP2 car. Her best finish was fifth at the Red Bull Ring and she was eighth in the championship.

(Image copyright noen.at)

Mira Erda

Mira Erda is an Indian racer who is the youngest Indian woman to race cars. She was only fourteen years old when she made her debut in LGB Formula 4 in 2014. 

She continued to race in LGB F4  (not the same thing as FIA F4) in 2015, as part of India’s JK Tyre Racing Championship. Previously, she was active in karting all over Asia from 2010, when she was nine. She won her first kart race in 2012. Her family owns a kart track.

In one of her first races in cars, the season-opener at Coimbatore, she was fifth overall. 

She won one Rookie class LGB F4 race in 2016, at Greater Noida, following three rookie podiums at Coimbatore. This made her the series’ female champion. 

In 2017, she was in the media again as the first Indian woman to race in the Euro JK single-seater series, a step higher than her previous experience. Her results were steady rather than spectacular; she was a consistent presence in the lower part of the top ten and was tenth in the championship.

She was the leading woman driver in the JK Racing India Series in 2018, driving its standard 1200cc bike-engined Formula BMW car. Her final championship position was tenth. Coimbatore was once again her best circuit, giving her a fifth place.

She attempted to qualify for the all-female W Series at the start of 2019, but did not make the first cut. She spent much of the rest of the year in the Southeast Asia Formula 4 championship with Meritus GP. Her best circuit was her home Madras track, where she earned her best finish of sixth. 

Domestically, she returned to LGB F4 and was ninth in the championship. Yet again, Coimbatore was her best circuit and she scored points in all of her races during round three. She was the championship’s leading female driver, ahead of the less experienced all-female Ahura team, which fielded seven cars.

At the end of the year, she was drafted in to the AD Racing Delhi team for the X1 Racing League, a new Indian championship with city-based teams. She was brought in to replace Christina Nielsen. The team's car was not competitive and failed to finish the first round’s two races, leading to the departure of Nielsen and Mathias Lauda. Mira does not seem to have taken part in either of the two races of the second meeting.

She helps to train other female drivers in India and is involved in the Red Bull Catch-Up series of events for female amateurs.

Her racing in 2020 was limited to karting. In 2021 she also competed in esports. She returned to the tracks in 2022, going back to the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Series, which uses the LGB F4 car.

(Image copyright styleandrace.com)