3-14-23: Greatest female athletes: Janet Guthrie

SAX IN THE MORNING

Continuing my look back at some trailblazing women in the world of sports, today I look at Janet Guthrie who was the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup race and the Indianapolis 500.

She went to college and graduated from Michigan University in 1960 and worked in research and development as an aeronautical engineer. She then became one of the four women chosen for the scientist astronaut program with NASA but was eventually not eligible to continue chasing that dream because she didn’t have a doctorate degree.

When that didn’t work out she jumped to car racing and had an amazing career that saw her break down barriers while struggling to secure sponsors as a woman. Despite that, she ended up being inducted into the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame (1980) and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2006).

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