Janet Guthrie moved on from a successful career as an aerospace engineer in
the early 1960s, trading equations for a wheel to become a full-time racer in
1972.
A true pioneer in motorsports, Guthrie became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR premier series superspeedway race when she drove to a 15th-place finish in the 1976 World 600. The next year, she piloted cars in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500, becoming the first female to participate in both events.
Guthrie steered her car to a sixth-place finish at Bristol in 1977, a career-best finish. Overall, the University of Michigan graduate made 33 premier series starts, logging five top-10 finishes.
Guthrie was a member of the first class inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. Her helmet and firesuit are on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
