JANET GUTHRIE, FEMALE RACE CAR DRIVER (1970s) Photo archive

Janet Guthrie. 1970s. Np: 1970s. Set of 6 vintage original 7 x 9″ (18 x 23 cm) up to 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) black-and-white photos. Four are borderless, three have photographer stamp on verso, five are date stamped, and one has traces of a printed snipe on verso. Overall near fine.

Janet Guthrie (b. 1938) was the first woman to qualify and race in either the Indianapolis 500 or the Daytona 500, both of which she competed in during 1977. She first attempted to enter the Indianapolis 500 in 1976 but failed to qualify. She raced in three Indianapolis 500s, from 1977 through 1979. She is also the first woman to lead a lap in NASCAR Cup Series competition.

Guthrie began racing in 1963 on the SCCA circuit in a Jaguar XK140, and by 1972 she was racing on a full-time basis. Her sportscar racing career included two class wins in the famed 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race.

In the 1976 World 600, Guthrie finished fifteenth, becoming the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup superspeedway race. Guthrie would go on to compete in four more races that season. The following season, she competed in her first Daytona 500, finishing twelfth when her car’s engine blew two cylinders with ten laps to go. For her performance in the race, though, she still earned the honor of Top Rookie. Overall, Guthrie went on to compete in 33 races in NASCAR over four seasons. Her highest finish, sixth place at Bristol in 1977, is the best finish by a woman in a top-tier NASCAR race in the modern era, now currently tied with Danica Patrick in 2014. (Wikipedia)