This Weekend's Question: Women in Racing  

In my opinion, an excellent topic.  First of all, I give anyone, especially a woman, tons of credit for getting into a racecar as its still a male dominated sport.  Regarding Nascar, my first thought was that Danica Patrick, and more recently Hallie Deegan, under perform given their rides.  After giving their stock car (or truck) careers more of a look, I'm now believe that because of their gender they both were under a lot more pressure than their male counterparts.  In drag racing, how can you not praise Shirley Muldowney, John Force's daughters, and Leah Pruett for their succe sses behind the wheel of their top fuel dragsters. My personal experience is that my mother Ruth Ely ran one (1) powder puff race at Windsor in the late 60s.  I recall that she started 7th or 8th and finished 4th!  After the race, she said she felt like she was doing a 100 MPH, until her niece,  Lynn Whitehouse passed her like she was standing still! Back in the 50s, my Aunt Georgiana Kelly (my Dad's sister) was racing Dee (the wife of Bunky Robbins) pretty hard at Hightstown.  After the race, Georgiana and Dee came close to getting into a fist fight! Buck Kelly (Georgiana's son) said the funny thing was that his dad Clyde Kelly, and Bunky always got along fine.  But Georgiana and Dee, that was another story!  For me, the bottom line kudos to any woman who straps themselves into any kind of a racecar.  Scott Ely