To which I added an appropriate response, which drew an unnecessary insult from you

http://www.janetguthrie.com/biography.htm ........More about this amazing women 73 y/o this month.

Lady Rally Drivers from the 1950's


1959 Calendar - All The Ladies - Named by Rally Pix, on Flickr

My guesses on the unknowns would be Nancy Mitchell, who was very active at the same time as these ladies, Patricia Ozanne and Anne (sp?) Neil, who drove a Standard with her sister Chrissie. She might be the blonde lady at the front. Cherry Osborn is another possibility.

The lady tentatively identified as Hazel Dunham looks quite a lot like Nancy Mitchell, actually.

Sounds like a good idea. Bloggsworth can you give us more details on her career so far.

Cheers Eldougo

in a recent thread,helle-nice was referred to as the"top female driver of her times."..until her retirement with the tragic death of her husband,madam junek was, i thought,one of the best...has anyone here started a thread on early women drivers????i would hope there were a few who actually drove cars in earnst, not just as an ajunct to being a female dare-devil[typ. included aeronautics,mountain climbing,big game hunting,etc..]anyone???[who was the englishwoman who set the speed records with the front-drive miller??]

Anyone know why a lot of the photos originally posted on this thread no longer appear? All I get is a red cross

If pics have either not been accessed for 12 months or have been removed from the host site, then you get the red cross.

Also, if people post photos hosted on their own websites, storage space limitations often force them to delete older photos to make room for new ones.

For some years here in the North West USA, I watched a young woman named Shawna Wilskey, who raced Sprint cars. She started with the 360 class: 360 cu.in. alky-burning V-8's, and then moved up to the 410 cu. in class, where you need 700bhp under your foot if you're going to do the job. Here's a link:
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://...=1t:429,r:0,s:0
That is her wingless tarmac car, but she flew the winged ones very well. At her home track of Skagit Speedway, which is a 3/10 mile clay oval, the 410 sprints can lap at under 11 seconds, which is an average of damn' near 100mph, with one gear and no clutch. You have to be tough.

Last year I was watching Danielle Huson tacke on the same races in her 410 Sprint: http://www.daniellehuson.com/photos.htm

In an altogether rougher form of racing, 30 years ago I also had the pleasure of seeing Jayne Bean from Cheshire, UK, using her steel bumpers to good effect in British stock car racing, [typically 400-500bhp Chevy V-8s] where she scored her way up to the premier rank: http://www.oldstox.com/images/jaynebean.jpg

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And she has been driving the Cooper for a long time - since 1998

Born Gwenda Glubb. then Gwenda Stewart and followed by Gwenda Hawkes,she began her racing career on motor cycle ...

I think her finest hour, probably, was beating Barrie Williams at Brands some years ago. I think the Autosport headline was "Pilkington's class" (in the days when they still indulged in witty headlines).

Tania's sister Erica also races. I've seen her in an FJ at Goodwood before.

For some years here in the North West USA, I watched a young woman named Shawna Wilskey, who raced Sprint cars. She started with the 360 class: 360 cu.in. alky-burning V-8's, and then moved up to the 410 cu. in class, where you need 700bhp under your foot if you're going to do the job. Here's a link:
http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://...=1t:429,r:0,s:0
That is her wingless tarmac car, but she flew the winged ones very well. At her home track of Skagit Speedway, which is a 3/10 mile clay oval, the 410 sprints can lap at under 11 seconds, which is an average of damn' near 100mph, with one gear and no clutch. You have to be tough.

Last year I was watching Danielle Huson tacke on the same races in her 410 Sprint: http://www.daniellehuson.com/photos.htm

In an altogether rougher form of racing, 30 years ago I also had the pleasure of seeing Jayne Bean from Cheshire, UK, using her steel bumpers to good effect in British stock car racing, [typically 400-500bhp Chevy V-8s] where she scored her way up to the premier rank: http://www.oldstox.com/images/jaynebean.jpg

[color="#000080"][/color]

Suzy Dietrich began her career by entering in what was known as "Ladies" class races, at the age of 26 in 1953. Driving an MG TC SC, she had her first of her many successes at Cumberland, when she finished 2nd in July, 1953, and again in May, 1954.
Suzy continued to run races in Chanute, Lockbourne, Janesville, Akron, and Brynfan Tyddyn. By May of 1955, with numerous entries under her belt, she had her first win at Cumberland driving #24, an MG TC SC. Suzy continued to race MG's until she entered the "Ladies Race" in Nassau, Bahamas in December, 1956, driving car #107; a Porsche 550 F4 2v DOHC, where she finished 3rd in one race, and 4th in another. The Porsche 550 also proved a successful choice for her back in Cumberland, when she finished 2nd, in May, 1957.
By September, 1957, Suzy began to race in an Elva, which resulted in a second place finish at her favorite racing venue, Watkins Glen. That year also brought Suzy's first serious accident on the track, which occurred when she returned to Nassau, Bahamas driving car #24, an Elva Mk II during the 4th International Bahamas Speed Week. Suzy was not injured, and in June of '58, she was the winner of the Watkins Glen Classic - Ladies race. She continued to race in many national and local races throughout the early 1960's, including Marlboro, Road America, Indianapolis, and VIR.
Suzy and her fellow female racers were competitive with one another, but also occasionally teamed up to race together. In June, 1966, Suzy, Janet Guthrie, and Donna Mae Mims teamed up at 24 Hours of Daytona to race in a Sunbeam Alpine. Later, Suzy also teamed up with them as a part of the Ring Free Oil Racing Team driving a Shelby Ford Mustang at the 6th Annual Daytona Continental 24 Hours, in February, 1967. Donna Mae and Suzy also teamed up as a part of the Ring Free Oil Racing Team at the 12 Hours of Sebring in April, 1967, driving an ASA 411.
Suzy Dietrich is well known in racing circles, including notable names such as Carroll Shelby, Paul Newman, Carl Haas, and Stirling Moss. Suzy was a true racing pioneer. She and the women racers of the 50 and '60's led the way for the current racing headliners, such as Danica Patrick. Suzy has been quoted as saying, "I may not always win, but I'm hard to beat. Don't ever forget it."

Chuck Dietrich was a two time SCCA class champion; GM in 1963, and FB in 1967. He drove well into the 1980s in a variety of cars. He started in the early 1950s, so he did hold a license for some 40 years, give or take. Don't know when he last raced so I can't give a definitive answer to the number of years that he held a license. There are many drivers around now who have exceeded that. One that comes to mind is James Place, who is still racing and who was racing in the mid 1950s. So Place has held a ticket for over 50 years.

Suzy Dietrich was a competent racer in a number of cars. She and Chuck split sometime in the 1960s, and she married John Marshall, for whom she was listed as an entrant when Marshall was racing FB in the late '60s, early '70s.

Tom

Here's what RA Historian posted about the Dietrichs in the Husband and wife racing drivers thread:

Chuck Dietrich ... was well into his 60s in the '70s but drove like in his 20s.

IMHO that is doubtful as he AFAIK was born in September 1924.