Marian (Mopsy) Pagan

Marian Pagan, often known as “Mopsy” was one of the first female drivers to try her hand in NASCAR. 

Residing in California, she was the first woman from outside NASCAR’s Southern heartlands to try her hand at one of its top-level events.

She only made one Cup start in 1954, finishing 18th out of 33 in the Oakland Grand National race in a Plymouth run by her husband Eddie. He also took part in the race. Some of her male rivals protested her entry, but responses from the media and the public were largely positive.

“Mopsy” had relatively little experience in motorsport, but she had been quite successful in horse-drawn buggy races and was a member of the Cheesecake Racing Association, a twelve-woman racing league that competed widely. Their main haunt was Culver City but they also made several appearances at Gardena, at least one of which featured Mopsy.

In a 1955 newspaper interview, Eddie Pagan claimed that Marian had got into motor racing through him and that she first competed in 1951 after seeing her first “powderpuff derby” ladies’ race. Further details of her pre-Oakland career have proved tricky to find; full results for powderpuff derby races were rarely published.

In 1957, she was one of nine women who competed in the Mobilgas Economy Run for the Ford team. This was not a race but a cross-country trial with the aim of covering the greatest distance on the least fuel. She was tenth in the “Low Price” class, driving a Ford Fairlane. This appears to be the last time she entered a large-scale motoring event.

Away from the track, Marian worked in the aircraft industry.

(Image copyright Oakland Tribune)

 

Greta Oakes

Greta Oakes was an Danish-born Bahamian driver who raced in her adopted home country and in the USA in the 1950s.

A noted socialite from a wealthy family of Danish extraction who spent a lot of time in London, she married Sydney Oakes, who was instrumental in bringing motorsport to the Bahamas. In marrying Sydney in 1948, she became Lady Oakes of Nassau and became an integral part of the emerging Bahamas motor racing scene.

She entered a number of American sportscar races between 1950 and 1959, including the Sebring 12 Hours in 1955 and 1959. She usually drove with her husband and their car was normally a 3000cc Austin-Healey 100. They did not finish the 1955 race and the Bahamas Motor Club entry was only a reserve in 1959. The pair were listed as drivers in an Alfa Romeo in 1957, but did not take the start.

Greta also competed in the Nassau Speed Weeks, driving solo. She and Sydney were the chief supporters of the event alongside Sherman “Red” Crise, its American creator. It always ran very late in the season during the Bahamas summer, functioning as an end-of-year party for a mix of East Coast sportscar racers and increasingly, international stars such as Stirling Moss and Phil Hill.

She only started racing at the advent of Speed Week in 1954. Her chief sporting interest before that had been horses. In 1954, she was fourth in the Production race, driving an Austin Healey 100M. Driving the same car, she was tenth in a 402m speed trial held as part of Speed Week. 

The following year, she used the Austin-Healey for the Locals race, unsuccessfully. A Miami Herald article claimed that she called the car “The Great Dane III”.

After that, she entered the 1956 Ladies’ and Local Residents’ races, in a Porsche 356. She took part in both heats for both events but does not seem to have made the final. Her best finish was fourth in a Locals heat. This was the first time that a Ladies’ race had been held in the Bahamas and the field was quite impressive, with Denise McCluggage, Evelyn Mull, Suzy Dietrich and Marion Lowe all making the trip from the States. 

Greta missed the 1957 event but came back in 1958. This year, she drove a motorcycle-engined Berkeley SE328 in the Ladies’ race and in a Berkeley one-make encounter. She was sixth out of eight Berkeleys and seventh in the women’s race, which included four Berkeleys. The best of these was driven by Gladys Cam, who also beat Greta in the one-make event. For the Locals race, she went back to the Healey but did not finish. 

Her preferred mount for the 1959 Ladies’ event was an Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. She was fourth out of six finishers. First and second placed Prudence Baxter and Marion Lowe both used lightweight Lotus Eleven sportscars and Greta got her hands on one for the following year. She was third, behind Smokey Drolet and Heather Bethell. Heather was another Bahamas resident who raced alongside her husband Peter, who in turn had been part of the Bahamas Motor Club team for the 1959 Sebring 12 Hours.

In 1961 she did not race, but she did drive the pace car for the Governor’s Trophy. She was accompanied in her Jaguar XK-E by the Governor himself, Sir Robert Stapledon. The Jaguar was a specially-modified show car with fins, aircraft lights, a TV and a bar for passengers, plus an early radar speed trap detector and a gold-plated tool kit. 

Her racing career ended at the start of the 1960s. The Oakeses divorced suddenly in 1961 and then Sydney was killed in a road traffic accident in 1966. Greta continued to be styled “Lady Oakes” and was a regular fixture on the upper-class US social scene. She also served as an honorary consul to Denmark for the Bahamas and stood for election to the Bahamian legislative assembly in 1963. Among her other exploits was writing and directing a calypso-themed musical in 1961. 

She died in 1977.

(Image copyright Miami Herald)

Regina Sirvent

 

Regina Sirvent races stock cars and trucks in Mexico. She is a racewinner in pickup racing. 

2017 was her first season and she started early. She was 14 when she had her first race in a NASCAR pickup, after seven years of karting in Mexico and the USA. Her best finish in trucks was seventh, at Pachuca, and she was eleventh overall. She also did a part-season in Mexican Super Touring, in the Light class. Her car was a Chevrolet. She was only 30th on the leaderboard due to missing most of the early rounds, but she did manage two top-ten finishes, the best of these being an eighth at Mexico City. 

In 2018, she continued to divide her time between cars and trucks, competing in Mexican Super Touring and the Mikel's Trucks series. Driving a Chevy, she scored two podiums in Super Touring, a second at Amozoc and a third at Mexico City. She was fourteenth overall. In Trucks, she was tenth overall, despite not being as quick. Her best finish was eighth at Queretaro, one of five top-ten positions. 

In 2018, she also made her single-seater debut, racing in the NACAM F4 series at Aguascalientes. She scored one fifth and two seventh places. This was a one-off appearance.

2019 was mostly spent racing in Mikel's Trucks, where she earned a fourth place at Aguascalientes and five further top-ten finishes. She also made guest appearances in TC2000 and Super Touring 1 in Mexico, driving a Ford. TC2000 was not one of her greatest moments; she only finished one of her three races in 26th place, at Mexico City. Super Touring 1 was more fruitful and she came close to a podium at Mexico City, finishing fourth.

When the 2020 season finally got under way, she won her first race in Mikel's Trucks. Her victory at Queretaro followed a start from pole and she also picked up a fastest lap. The second race of the meeting gave her a second place. After a few mechanical problems mid-season, she won again at Queretaro, then finished third in Race 2, on her way to third in the championship.

In June 2020 she was announced as one of four teenaged drivers taking part in a shootout for a place in NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity programme. She drove a Legend car against the other candidates. 

Her NASCAR Mexico season in 2021 took in races in the Peak and Challenge series. She did six Challenge races and finished tenth in four of them, earning a 16th place in the championship. Her two Peak races at Tuxtla and Queretaro were not as successful, earning her 21st and 18th places.

A deal to run in the Truck championship again seems to have fallen through and she did not return to Trucks in 2022 either. She remained active in both the NASCAR Mexico and Challenge series, with the Challenge giving her the best results. She finished in the top ten of three of her five races, coming tenth at Tuxtla Gutierrez, eighth at Queretaro and ninth at Puebla.

NASCAR Mexico proved more of a challenge. Queretaro was her best circuit; she finished 16th there.

She was thirteenth in the 2023 NASCAR Mexico series, only four points away from the top ten. Her popularity led to her winning a fan vote to compete in an away race in Los Angeles. This went a little way to making up for the rumours about an ARCA race seat with the Venturini team, which proved to be untrue.

2024 was spent in the NASCAR Peak Challenge, driving a Chevrolet. She earned her first podium in the series at San Luis Potosi, finishing second. It was an inconsistent season, but she showed some real speed and was eighth in the championship.

She did one NASCAR Mexico race at the Coliseum in LA, finishing 18th. However, this led to further opportunities in the ARCA championships in the USA in 2025. She drove for Kimmel Racing in three events, with a best finish of thirteenth at Iowa.

This was combined with more NASCAR Mexico. She was racing in the Challenge series and was ninth in the final standings. She had an inconsistent year, but a highlight was a class second place at Chiapas.

(Image copyright Angel Ferretiz/NASCAR)

Renault 5 Ladies' Monaco Grand Prix support race, 1975

 

1. Marie-Claude Beaumont (France)

2. Christine Beckers (Belgium)

3. Ivana Giustri (Italy)

Gabriel Konig (Ireland)

Yvette Fontaine (Belgium)

Martine de la Grandrive (France)

Judy Witter (South Africa)

“Biche” (Michele Petit) (France)

Susy Raganelli (Italy)

Maggie Anderson (UK)

Eeva Heinonen (Finland)

Paula Murphy (USA)

Twelve of the world’s best female drivers assembled in Monaco in 1975 for a one-make Renault 5 race, supporting the Monaco Grand Prix.

Renault used the event to promote both the Renault 5 Turbo itself and its associated one-make series held across Europe. Ladies’ races had acted as supports for the Monaco event before but this was one of the biggest and most competitive.

All of the invited women were experienced in motorsport and several had at least some involvement with Renault or the series sponsor, Elf. Eventual winner Marie-Claude Beaumont spent most of the season racing for the Ecurie Elf sportscar team and Britain’s Maggie Anderson was one of the first racewinners in the UK Renault 5 series.

Yvette Fontaine and Christine Beckers were highly accomplished touring car racers. Gabriel Konig had many years of experience in sports and saloon racing. Judy Witter had won a Formula Vee championship at home in South Africa.

Some of the others had plenty of motorsport experience but had not done much circuit racing: Ivana Giustri and Eeva Heinonen were ladies’ rally champions in their home countries and both “Biche” and Martine de la Grandrive were in-demand rally co-drivers.

Paula Murphy had been involved mainly in drag racing in the States and had held the women’s Land Speed Record. Susy Raganelli had won the World Kart Championship in 1966 but had raced little since then.

The full results of the race itself have proved hard to track down. It ran for 15 laps and Marie-Claude Beaumont won from pole position, followed by Christine Beckers and Ivana Giustri. Maggie Anderson had a good start from fourth but was passed by Yvette Fontaine and Biche, before outbraking herself at the chicane and having to take the escape road. She was then passed by Gabriel Konig and Eeva Heinonen and finished near the back. Gabriel, Eeva and Yvette continued to jostle for position, with Gabriel and Yvette prevailing. Eeva was tenth, despite setting the fastest lap.

(Image from acmanortheurope.com. For an account of the race in French, see renault-5.net)

Junko Mihara

Junko Mihara is Japanese actress and media personality who had quite a successful racing career in the 1990s, both in Japan and further afield. 

She started in touring cars in 1990 and drove in some races of the Japanese championship then and in 1991 in a TOMS Toyota Corolla. Both times, she shared a car with Masahiro Matsunaga, who was her husband. He taught her to drive a racing car earlier in their relationship. Her achievements in her first seasons were mostly finishing rather than scoring points; in 1990 her finishing record was patchy, but this improved in 1991. 

In 1992, she changed teams, driving for the Kawasho set-up, but her car was the same. Although she scored a few points, she did not enter enough races to make an impact on the championship. Her best finish was 17th at Tsukuba. 

Between 1992 and 1995, she also raced a little in Europe, entering the Spa 24 Hours each year. She was always in a Toyota, either an MR2 or a Corolla, and usually with Matsunaga. She was 16th in 1994 and 19th in 1995, and did not finish the other races. For the latter race, she was part of an all-female team with Michiko Okuyama and Kumi Sato. 

In 1996 and 1997, she raced sportscars in Japan alongside Matsunaga, in an MR2. She was not among the front-runners, although the Japanese Super GT championship at the time was very competitive. Her best finish was 20th at the Fuji Special GT Cup in 1996. Again, her finishing record was good in 1997, although she was never in contention for wins.

In 1998, she made one appearance at the Fuji GT round in a Toyota Cavalier, but was unclassified. The car was a rebadged Vauxhall and was unusual, if not particularly fast. That year, she also raced in the USA, taking part in the Toyota Long Beach Pro-Celebrity race as a pro with Kumi Sato. She was 16th.

She does not appear to have raced since then. Her 1999 divorce from Matsunaga was probably a contributing factor.

After leaving both motorsport and showbusiness behind and also recovering from cervical cancer, Junko entered politics. She stood for election for Japan’s ruling Liberal party.

(Image from /www.jiaponline.org/)

Celia Martin

Celia Martin is a French driver who raced in the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, competing alongside Formula E.

Prior to her first race in the electric Jaguar at ad-Diriyah in Saudi, her motorsport experience was confined to the Nurburgring, and mostly in a testing role. 

Celia moved to Germany from her home in France in 2017 in order to pursue a career in motor racing, despite not being from a traditional motorsport background. Unusually, she moved from team management to racing herself, having run a Peugeot team in the Creventic 24 Hour Series before her relocation to Adenau. 

The Ring had been her goal since first driving round it in 2014. She did try out a few races in France, but set her mind to racing in Germany and learnt German in preparation for this, as well as studying law and business.

She picked up a role as a test driver and high-speed “Ring Taxi” chauffeur with Jaguar Land-Rover. As well as giving demo rides to visiting VIPs, she worked on the Jaguar XE SUV project in a testing capacity.

Her first race in Germany was not in a Jaguar but it was at the Nurburgring. In 2017, she did one round of the RCN, which is run as a time trial rather than a wheel-to-wheel race. Results for this are elusive but she may have been driving a Peugeot for the RACECOP team.

Her first wheel-to-wheel experience on the Ring was when she entered one round of the 2018 VLN series with the Mathol team, driving a BMW M235i. 

Her Jaguar connections helped to get her a race seat in the I-Pace eTrophy at the end of 2018. She raced for the Viessmann Jaguar Germany team in the Pro-Am class. The first few rounds were something of a trial for her and the team did not attend the Sanya race in China, but she came back an improved driver. She had her best overall result in Paris, sixth, and this was followed by eighth places in Monaco and Berlin. She was fourth in the Pro-Am class.

Celia did not return to the electric series the following season and went back to her first racing love, the Nurburgring, in late 2019. She joined Luxembourgish drivers Max Lamesch and Sebastien Carcone in their Renault Megane for the fifth round, then was drafted into the “Giti Angels” all-female team led by Carrie Schreiner. The “Girls Only” car was a VW Golf and Celia shared it with Carrie and Laura Kraihamer. Celia was eighth in the SP3T class at the end of the season, despite only having raced twice but scoring one class win and one second place.

The 2020 VLN (now renamed NLS) had a delayed start due to the coronavirus epidemic. Celia and Carrie did some of its esports equivalent together before teaming up again in June and finishing second in class. They then secured two further fourth places and one sixth in SP3T, along with Laura Kraihamer.

The team encountered a long series of car troubles during the Nurburgring 24 Hours, which was red-flagged during the night due to extremely heavy rain. Despite several lengthy pitstops, Celia and her team-mates managed to finish the race in 72nd place.

Away from the Girls Only team, Celia also made a guest appearance in one VLN round for the Hanger Zero team, double-driving with Girls Only. She and her team-mates Phil Hill and Kaj Schubert were third in class.

As part of another Girls Only team, this time in an Audi R8, she won her class in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, assisted by Pippa Mann, Carrie Schreiner and Christina Nielsen. They were 45th, despite problems during the race itself. Celia also joined the team for the first round of the NLS, helping Carrie Schreiner to a class win. In a different car, a BMW M4, she helped Christina Nielsen and Phil Hill to two class second places.

She had another run with Girls Only in the Nurburgring 24 Hours, this time driving an M4. The team - Celia, Pippa Mann. Carrie Schreiner and Fabienne Wohlwend - were third in class. This was her only Nurburgring race of the year.

Late in the season, she joined the Speed Demons Delhi team for the Indian Racing League, in which four-driver teams raced motorbike-engined single-seaters on Indian street circuits. The first round was cancelled due to a string of reliability issues and crashes in practice, then Celia herself crashed hard in the second round at Madras. The season didn't really get any better for her and she did not finish any more races.

Most of 2023 was spent in the ADAC GT4 series, driving an Aston Martin Vantage with Fabienne Wohlwend. They were not hugely competitive and finished 34th in the championship. Driving the same car, they had more luck in the NLS, scoring one third place in the SP10 class. This year's Girls Only team - Celia, Fabienne, Pippa Mann and Beitske Visser - finished the Nurburgring 24 Hours, second in their class and 81st overall.

She was part of the Iron Dames second squad for 2024, racing a Lamborghini Huracan in the Michelin Le Mans Cup with Karen Gaillard. Her best race was at Paul Ricard; she and Karen qualified on pole and finished second. They were also fifth at Mugello, and sixth overall in the championship.

With ProSport this time, Celia also shared an Aston Martin Vantage with three other drivers for one round of the VLN.

As Sarah Bovy's FIA classification made her ineligible to rejoin the Iron Dames WEC squad, Celia stepped in to take her place. She joined Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting in the Manthey Racing Porsche 911 for all rounds, including her first time at Le Mans itself. Sadly, it wasn't a vintage season for the team, although Celia's first Le Mans did end in a finish: tenth in class and 48th overall. Her best result was fourth in the LMGT3 class at Sao Paolo and she was 18th in the championship.

As well as the WEC campaign, she also continued to race in the ELMS with Sarah and Michelle. They won their class in the first round of the season at Barcelona, finishing 25th overall. They were also fourth at Spa (31st overall) and third at Portimao, 28th overall. The team was fourth in the championship.

The Iron Dames WEC programme concluded at the end of 2025. Celia's future plans are not clear.

(Image from auto360.de)

Evelyn Mull

Evelyn Mull was one of the fastest of the many women drivers active on the US sportscar scene in the 1950s.

She learned to drive aged eleven but did not start racing until she was forty and married for the third time. Her husband John Mull acquired a sportscar of his own and Evelyn made plans of her own to compete in the ladies’ race held at his first meeting. She was not from a motorsport background and is usually described as a “Pennsylvania socialite”. Her prior sporting interests had been based around horses.

Wealthy and well-travelled, Evelyn had access to the European sports cars popular with the sportscar racing fraternity on both the East and West coast. Her first was a Jaguar XK120 which she debuted in the ladies’ race at Thompson, finishing second behind Carlye Ann Scott’s MG TC.

Although she continued to enter the ladies’ races popular at the time, she was soon taking her chances in the mixed fields at Thompson, as well as competing in hillclimbs alongside John.

She was one of the early members of the SCCA, which was the dominant motor club on the East coast. Within a few years, she became one of their racing instructors and assessors. Despite her love of the sport, she never worked on her own car and nor did John; they travelled with their own mechanics.

Her first win was in a 1954 Ladies’ race at Thompson, ahead of Isabelle Haskell’s OSCA. She was ninth in the CP class race at the same meeting, against a field of other XK120s. A few weeks earlier, she had her first race at Watkins Glen, a Formula Libre race. She returned to the same event in 1955 but did not finish.

By 1955 she was getting more competitive in mixed competition and finished fourth in an SCCA race at Thompson. Her career received another boost with the arrival of a Bristol-engined AC Ace for her and John part-way through 1956. Evelyn won her first race in this car, at her favourite Thompson circuit. Later in the year she was second there, racing in the same class.

She raced a works-supported Ace with John in 1957, entering that year's Sebring 12 Hours but failing to finish. Sharing a similar car with Harry Carter, she was 24th in that year’s Road America 500 Miles. This Ace belonged to Ernest MacNabb, a rare run in a car other than her own. She and John shared ownership of their cars but they preferred not to race together or against one another, according to Todd McCarthy in his book Fast Women. He describes John’s mild unease at his wife’s enthusiasm, expressed in such behaviour as insisting that she always wore skirts when in the paddock.

Evelyn was probably the better driver and she finished sixth in a one-hour race at Thompson that year to his ninth.

Lime Rock was her lucky track that year; she won an SCCA Regional race there in July and was second in a similar event later in the month. 1957 was one of her busiest years on-track and she competed most weekends between March and December, all across the Western part of the States.

She won another SCCA Regional race at Watkins Glen in 1958, from eighteen other drivers. The day before, she had been second in a Ladies’ race behind Suzy Dietrich in an Elva. Two more SCCA thirds at Lime Rock added to her podium tally.

Occasionally she competed outside America. In 1956 and 1957, she made the trip to the Bahamas for Nassau Speed Week. She was third in a Ladies’ race in 1956 and did better in 1957, coming seventh in the GT race and second in a Ladies’ race. The 1958 Speed Week was another rare occasion where she drove someone else’s car, using Don Fong’s Lotus Eleven in the ladies’ races.

The AC was sold during the summer of 1959. A newspaper report of the time joked about it being advertised as a car that had been owned by a grandmother and never been driven on the road. Evelyn did one more major race that year with Pinkie Windridge, finishing 22nd in the eight-hour “Little Le Mans” race at Lime Rock. They were driving an NSU Prinz.

After 1959, Evelyn stepped back from motorsport. The US sportscar scene was becoming professional and amateurs like her, however skilled, were being pushed out. Female drivers in particular were marginalised in favour of male pros and ladies’ races went into decline.

Away from the racetrack, Evelyn wrote a book about her fellow women on the US sportscar scene, Women In Sportscar Competition, published in 1958.


(Image from AC Owners’ Club website)