Janet Guthrie and LMS owner Bruton Smith talk just minutes before the 1976 World 600. Credit: AP

NASCAR no place for women ... until Guthrie

Female driver made debut, broke barriers at LMS 30 years ago

CONCORD, N.C. -- The woman in the blue and white driver's suit leaned against the No. 27 Pontiac at Lowe's Motor Speedway, preparing for a quick spin around the track where she made her NASCAR debut 30 years ago.

	Janet Guthrie noticed the difference between Lowe's Motor Speedway in 1976 and now. Credit: Harold Hinson
	Inside the Numbers Janet Guthrie's career statistics Year Races W T5 T10 1976 5 0 0 0 1977 19 0 0 4 1978 7 0 0 1 1980 2 0 0 0 Totals 33 0 0 5

"If you want pictures, you better take them before I put the helmet on, not after," she said.

Janet Guthrie, 68, is more concerned with how she looks outside the car than inside it as she was in 1976, when she qualified for what was the World 600 in what was the Winston Cup Series.

She is more interested in selling her book, Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle, that took 20 years to complete than she is proving a woman can compete in the Nextel Cup Series.

But Guthrie is bothered that three decades after she first climbed into a red No. 68 Chevrolet at LMS only three women have made it to NASCAR's top series.

And those women -- Shawna Robinson for one race in 2001 and seven in 2002, Patty Moise for five races from 1987-1989, and Robin McCall for two races in 1982 -- were in a combined 18 less events than the 33 Guthrie entered from 1976-1980.

"It's silly, isn't it," Guthrie said.

Guthrie isn't totally surprised. She knew in 1976, when she was invited to the Charlotte race as a promotional stunt to sell tickets for a struggling event, that NASCAR's good 'ol boy system would be hard to crack.

She was even more convinced after all the cold stares and cold handshakes during her weekend in the heart of stock car racing.

Erin Crocker says Janet Guthrie helped woment come from beyond the shadows in stock car racing. Credit: Autostock

While the stares and handshakes have warmed, and NASCAR has implemented a diversity program to encourage female participation, a lot of obstacles that made it tough for Guthrie to get a top ride remain in place.

"Most of the executives are still men," Guthrie said. "The guys with the money-making decisions are still men."

Guthrie said the "macho-by-association factor" also has deterred the growth of women in racing.

"The corporate executive doesn't get much of a chance to feel macho," she said. "So he has a guy driving his racecar with his brand name on it and he says to all his buddies, 'Come meet my racecar driver.' He gets to be macho by association."

Erin Crocker, a diversity driver for Evernham Motorsports, sees some of that now. She can't imagine what the garage would be like had it not been for Guthrie.

"Listening to Janet's stories, it's no wonder we haven't had [many] females," said Crocker, competing full-time in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series and part-time in the Busch Series. "She talks about having nowhere to go to the bathroom 'cause there were only men's restrooms in the garage area.

"What she dealt with is a long way from anything I ever had to deal with. She really broke some barriers and made it a lot easier for us."

Shawna Robinson is the last female driver to compete in the Cup Series. Credit: Autostock

Team owner Richard Childress never imagined he'd still be talking about the lack of women drivers 30 years after driving against Guthrie at LMS.

"It's amazing," said Childress, who employees Allison Duncan in his developmental program. "I still think there is somebody out there who can get it done."

But so far NASCAR hasn't found a woman who can step into the Cup Series the way Danica Patrick has in the Indy Racing League. Or at least not an owner willing to give a woman the top equipment that Patrick has.

"NASCAR is a hard sell for a lady to come into," said former Cup owner Junior Johnson, who helped Guthrie make the 600. "It was tough then, and it's tough now."

"I had known for days that the offer of a ride in the Winston Cup race at Charlotte was floating around Indianapolis, but I didn't want to hear about it."

Guthrie had her heart set on being the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1976.

When it appeared that might not happen, LMS founder Bruton Smith put Charlotte marketing guru Max Muhleman and Lynda Ferreri of First Union Bank on a jet with a simple set of orders.

Humpy Wheeler was in his first year as track promoter at LMS when Janet Guthrie made her debut. Credit: Harold Hinson

"Don't come back until you've talked her into coming here," he said.

Guthrie ignored their initial plea, wanting to exhaust every opportunity to make the 500. That was not acceptable to Smith when Muhleman called to say they were coming home.

"I said, 'You're not selling hard enough. Just don't come home unless you've got her with you.'" he said. "The next day [Max] called and said, 'She's packing."

Smith had to act quickly. He bought a car through the names of three corporations to hide the fact he put money up, convinced NASCAR legend Ralph Moody to be the crew chief and organize a crew, and signed Kelly Girl as a sponsor.

Ferreri already had agreed to be the owner, which presented another set of problems.

"I'm not sure that Lynda Ferreri had ever been to a speedway," Smith said. "I had one of my people to hand carry her through because she had to join NASCAR."

Many of the media that followed Guthrie's journey at Indy followed her to Charlotte, which accomplished one of Smith's goals. The other was fulfilled the day after Guthrie made the field.

"We sold more tickets the next day than we ever sold in one day in the history of the speedway," said LMS president Humpy Wheeler, who was in his first season as the track's promoter.

"You've got to understand, we're talking about 1976. This was not a woman competing just in a sports event. This was really a sociological revolution that was going on."

"I remember some of the shouts that floated over the grandstands earlier. 'No t--- in the pits; get the t--- out of the pits.'"

	Janet Guthrie drove the No. 68 Chevrolet in the 1976 World 600. Credit: AP
	GUTHRIE LEADS AT ONTARIO In 1977 at Ontario, Janet Guthrie led five laps in the Los Angeles Times 500. It was the only time in her career she led.  Leading, however, didn't work out for Guthrie in the end. She finished 25 laps down in 24th place.

It was early morning and Guthrie was in the spectator's area changing into her uniform because there weren't any women's restrooms in the garage.

"Here's this good-looking gal that has hair teased up to about here and false eyelashes," Guthrie said. "She said [Guthrie uses her best Southern accent], 'Oh, I'm so tired. I didn't get to bed until 4 this morning. I was lapping in the valves.'"

It was Katie Ballard, the wife of driver Walter Ballard.

"I said, 'Well, how come you're not in the garage area with the rest of the crew?'" Guthrie sad. "She said, 'Oh, I wouldn't do that. That's for the men.'

"I used to see her sometimes on the outside of the chain-link fence peering in. Needless to say, there was the whole Steel Magnolias tradition going on down here."

That point was driven home further when Ferreri was denied entrance to the LMS garage because she was wearing a dress. Guthrie recalled a conversation with Ferreri later.

"She said, 'Haven't you noticed how when a profession starts to be engaged by women, it loses some status?'" Guthrie said. "She said that's why NASCAR doesn't want us here. They're afraid the sport will be denigrated."

"When I shook hands with Richard Petty I thought I'd get frostbite. Later, he would be quoted as saying of me: 'She's no lady. If she was she'd be at home. There's a lot of differences in being a lady and being a woman.'"

Petty admits he wasn't thrilled with the thought of women drivers 30 years ago. He still isn't, saying they are more of a distraction than a threat to challenge male drivers.

"They need to be somewhere else,'' he said.

But Petty did come around on his thinking of Guthrie as a driver, saying in 1978 that Guthrie probably would have won a race or two if she had a better car.

One almost can sense a touch of respect for Guthrie now from the seven-time Cup champion.

"The deal with her, she came in before this diversity and all that kind of stuff," Petty said. "She came in the hard way, earning a spot.

Richard Petty questioned whether Janet Guthrie should have been in the field, but later admitted she had great talent. Credit: Autostock

"Now the press and NASCAR and everybody is trying to get something going. She just came in and said I want to run and somebody gave her a chance and she did a good job with it."

Petty didn't feel that way on race day 30 years ago when, according to Guthrie, he went a long way out of his way to cut her off between Turns 1 and 2.

"Somewhere in the clippings I found he said, 'And I didn't hit her, no matter what it looks like,'" Guthrie said with a laugh.

As for the cold handshake, Petty doesn't remember it.

"I ain't that bad," he said with a big smile.

"David Pearson says he hasn't thought nothing about your chances in the race because he don't really think you'll make the field."

Guthrie's first practice laps around LMS were around 143 mph, nearly 10 mph off of what it would take to qualify.

In stepped Johnson and his driver, Cale Yarborough.

After watching Yarborough also struggle around the 143 mph mark in Guthrie's car, Johnson told his chief mechanic to give Moody their setup.

The next time out Guthrie topped 150 mph. She qualified 27th with a two-lap average of 152.797 mph.

"I helped a lot of other drivers, people like Richard Childress," Johnson insisted. "I used to help him all the time because I thought he was going to kill somebody. It wasn't because she was a woman or man; it was because she needed help."

"Through the gauntlet I went to the sound of 50,000 cheers and 50,000 boos. I shook hands with the official, ignored Miss World 600, was grabbed and kissed by the Winston cigarette representatives, and got the hell out of there."

The 1976 World 600 was no publicity stunt to Janet Guthrie, but she was glad to promote this year's race. Credit: Harold Hinson

1976 World 600 Official Results Pos. Driver Status 1. David Pearson running 2. Richard Petty running 3. Cale Yarborough running 4. Bobby Allison running 5. Benny Parsons running 6. Donnie Allison running 7. Dick Brooks crash 8. Lennie Pond running 9. Harry Gant running 10. David Sisco running 11. Darrell Waltrip running 12. Grant Adcox crash 13. James Hylton running 14. Buddy Arrington running 15. Janet Guthrie running • Complete results, click here

Guthrie hadn't grasped the scope of making the World 600 until Moody told her to get ready for driver introductions.

It was then that she realized there were more than 100,000 people, about 10,000 more than the previous record at LMS, watching her every move. ABC-TV also was there to document the event.

What began as a publicity stunt was now a historic event. Never before had a woman qualified for a race on a high-banked superspeedway or driven a race of this length.

"I saw something that morning I'd never seen at a big speedway," Wheeler said. "That is cabs, taxis bringing people to the track. Taxis don't come out here, not race morning. They were delivering one person. It was always a woman."

Wheeler later learned that women use more water in a restroom than men.

"Halfway through the race we ran completely out of water," he said.

Wheeler solved the problem by coercing most of the volunteer fire departments within 50 miles to empty their trucks at the track.

"About 45 minutes later, I thought it was a nuclear explosion because there were fire trucks coming from 360 points flying in here with their sirens going on," Wheeler said. "Fortunately, there were no brush fires that day."

Guthrie was too focused on the fire inside her suit with track temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. She also was focused on staying out of trouble.

"I had told Moody don't be surprised if I drop back a bit at the start, and I did," she said. "I knew that I had to be twice as pretty as anybody else on the racetrack, that I would not be permitted any mistakes at all."

"My head was filled with the reek of rubber dust and the raw exhaust that had begun to seep in from the engine compartment. My right forearm ached from the strain of throwing the car into the banking, four turns every 30-some seconds.''

The water Guthrie poured down her uniform before the race had evaporated and been replaced by sweat. She wasn't sure she could finish.

But Guthrie had come too far and heard too many negative comments to give up. Yarborough, Buddy Baker, nobody thought she'd finish.

"You have to recognize her ability, but as far as her going 500 miles or to even consider that extra 100 miles here, no woman can jump in a 3,700-pound monster and do it," Baker said.

Junior Johnson said he didn't help Janet Guthrie because she was a woman; he helped because she needed it. Credit: Harold Hinson

One driver went so far as to say if Guthrie qualified ahead of him he'd pack up and go home.

"I qualified ahead of him and the poor fella had to suffer the rest of the week from offers to help him put his car on the trailer and take him home," Guthrie said.

Halfway through the race, Guthrie reached for her radio and told Moody she was going the distance.

She crossed the finish lined 15th, one lap off the pace but ahead of future stars Dale Earnhardt (31st) and Bill Elliott (23rd).

"There were a lot of comments made about Janet that shouldn't have been made about what she was doing here and she was going to be in the way and kill somebody," Johnson said. "She was a better driver than 15th place."

"When you're a kid you dream of flying, sometimes of flapping your arms and rising into the air ... you feel a sense of pure elation that, once grown, you may never feel again. Lifting off from Charlotte Motor Speedway in the helicopter was like that dream of flying."

Condos. Suites. Paved parking lots.

LMS had changed so much when Guthrie arrived three weeks ago to promote Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 that she barely recognized the place.

"I saw one old house across the street falling to pieces," she said. "That was probably the only thing that was here the last time I was here."

Attitudes in the Cup garage have changed as well. There are women mechanics, women pit crew members and women NASCAR officials.

"You run into a little bit [of attitude], but not to the extent she did," Crocker said. "A lot of the top drivers in Nextel Cup are totally behind me and willing to help any day."

Patrick says it's the same way for her in the Indy garage. She credits Guthrie, who in 1977 became the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500, and Lyn St. James.

"A positive attitude is pretty powerful," she said. "To not have that, I can imagine would have been a disadvantage."

But Guthrie didn't see herself as a torch-carrier for women. She saw herself as just another driver following a dream, one that began as a kid racing bikes on the streets around her house and became reality when she took the green flag at LMS.

"Everybody did call it a publicity stunt," Guthrie said. "The thing was, I was actually the real thing."