In 1977, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to race in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500. Shirley Muldowney became the first woman to win a major racing championship, earning the NHRA Top Fuel title.
Almost 32 years have passed since those historic days, but how much really has changed?
More women are competing in motorsports, but Guthrie and Muldowney say real success at the tops levels of racing remains elusive for women.
“I think the doors are wide open for these ladies,” Muldowney said last week … Details
A ‘new’ team that only just made it to the Melbourne grid may be the surprise package of 2009 – thanks to some of F1’s oldest heads.
Take some Brawn. Add a large quantity of brains. Throw in a Button. Finish with a dash of Barrichello. Mix well… and you may well have the equation that throws up a successful Grand Prix team.
The final flurry of F1 testing in Spain in early March revealed two familiar names at the top of the unofficial timesheets: Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. But the old-timers were in an unfamiliar setting: the ‘new’ F1 team known as Brawn GP, in a car powered by Mercedes-Benz engines and christened BGP001.
Brawn GP rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Honda, whose withdrawal rocked the Formula One world late in 2008.
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The April ’09 issue of Car & Driver had the cover story of four best-buy sport coupes. The dominant winner in the last two SCCA National Championships came in last place! The Pontiac Solstice GXP was the car to race in the SCCA Runoffs for 2007 and 2008 in the SCCA T2 class. In this story, it was last against the Mazda RX-8, BMW 135i and the new Nissan 370Z.Â
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What is the SCCA? The Sports Car Club of America. Founded in 1944, now with 114 regions in the US, virtually everyone considering competitive racing at a “grassroots” level has looked into or participated in …Â
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Volkswagen’s plan to enter the World Rally Championship appears to have hit a temporary setback with the news that the manufacturer will once again enter the Dakar Rally next year, which it won this year with South African driver Giniel de Villiers.
Although VW was widely rumored to have contested its last Dakar this year, the German giant announced that it would compete in the epic endurance event once more in 2010.
“No doubt, the 2009 Dakar Rally contributed to the fact that the Volkswagen brand is now shining even brighter around the world,†… Details
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