THE DON HUNTER COLLECTION

JANET

Janet Guthrie made a total of 33 starts on the Winston Cup circuit, 19 of them coming in 1977. Her best finish was a sixth at Bristol in August of that year. Mere numbers, however, don't tell Guthrie's story. She was the first woman to run both the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500. It was a difficult road -- or track, whichever the case may be -- for Guthrie at times, during an era when NASCAR's Drive for Diversity was still decades away.

In her Wikipedia entry (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Guthrie), Guthrie is quoted as saying of her experience in NASCAR, "There has been a big change in reaction to me. The hostility has cooled down quite a bit. I think the worst is over. The initial reaction was one of a lack of respect. ... I'm not trying to establish the superiority of one sex over another. I'm a good driver, but no superwoman. What's I'm trying to emphasize is that a driver is primarily a person, not a man or a woman."