Danica Patrick Was Not The First Female Race Car Driver

Nascar race car

Did you know that the first two Daytona 500 races were not actually five hundred miles? The race did not get bumped up to five hundred until the year 1961. In 1959 the first Nascar race cars was driven by Lee Petty. There was a photo finish and it took three days to make the decision about who was winning the Nascar racing experience. You can throw out this interesting fact while you are bragging to your friends about your Nascar cars knowledge.

If you are interested in Nascar cars you might be interested to know that there has been someone to lead a race from start two finish. It was not a five hundred miles race, but it was two hundred and fifty miles. The person to do this was Daniel Dieringer in April 1967 at North Wilkesboro speedway.

Another interesting fact about Nascar cars is that the window net inside the cars was invented to keep drivers from hurting their arms during a Nascar car racing crash. Richard Petty was the inventor of the window net and he also won two hundred Nascar races in his life time. Petty won seven stock car championships, won the Daytona 500 seven times and is still to this day known the king of Nascar.

People might not know that Danica Patrick is not the first woman to compete in races for Nascar cars. In 1976 the first female driver, Janet Guthrie, competed in the Winston Cup Race. Guthrie finised fifteenth in the World 600 Race and in 1977 she qualified for both the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500. As a female driver of Nascar cars she has achieved a lot and made huge strides for women in the race car driving industry. Driving race cars is a dangerous job and young women who have this dream have a great role model in Guthrie.