NASCAR'S first female driver remembered today but racing still mostly for men

 

[caption id="attachment_10708" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="NASCAR"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - This last Saturday in history the first lady of NASCAR was born.  Many people don't
know that women were involved in NASCAR early on, something that took
courage on many levels.

  NASCAR, wikimedia commons

On
July 31, 1916,  Louise Smith was born in Barnesville, Georgia, went on
to win many races, and was inducted into the NASCAR's International
Motorsports Hall of Fame. 

Smith was first
discovered as a promotional item by the racing promoter, Bill France.
He wanted a new attraction for spectators, and therefore a lady driver
to some of the earliest events that eventually became the National
Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) circuit.

France
learned of Louise Smith at a time just before a a race near Greenville,
South Carolina, in 1946.  She was a local resident who had reached some
sort of fame for being able to outrun law enforcement on the roads.

Smith
entered the Greenville-Pickens Speedway at France's encouragement, in a
1939 Ford.  She finished third in the race.  In fact she literally did
not know when to stop because she did not know a checkered flag meant
the end of the race.  A red flag had to be held up so she would stop her
car.

Smith's husband, Noah, did not like his wife as a
speed car racer, but his wife, Louise Smith was undaunted, using her
husband's brand new car to the races, then ended up wrecking the car on a
ride home.  It made front page news, and that's the first time Smith's
husband had heard about it.

 Over the years Smith
subsequently regularly raced cards in NASCAR events throughout the
United States and Canada for the next 10 years, during which time she
won 38 races and had rather big crashes.

Smith was the
"Good Ol' Gal" as she was called by her fellow drivers, as she continued
to struggle in what was in those years a man's world.  In 1998 she was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, "Them men were not liking it to start with and they wouldn't give you an inch."

Smith
retired in 1956 but remained active in the racing world, was inducted
into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama in
1999 and died in 2006 at the age of 89.

In 2009 Ask.com
wrote there were no women women competing in the Sprint Cup or
Nationwide Series. The Craftsman Truck Series was said to have a few
female competitors in that included Gabi Dicarlo, Michelle Theriault,
Caitlin Shaw and Jennifer Jo Cobb.  Only one, Danica Patrick, was
described as the complete package necessary to create major media
attention.

Women remain in the NASCAR minor leagues, which makes
today in history a standout for sure with the memory of Smith, who was
there to promote the sport and went on to become a champ.  Who will
replace that legacy for women in the sport today?  Perhaps it will be
Patrick.