Janet Guthrie On Making Indy 500 History

Janet Guthrie, the first woman to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, says she never considered herself a “woman driver.”

Guthrie spoke with NPR’s Morning Edition about qualifying to compete in the Indy 500 in 1977.

“I was just a driver,” Guthrie says. “And of course the significance of that was rather forcibly impressed upon me later on and became something that I had to live up to. But at the time it never crossed my mind.”

Guthrie says the real challenge came not on race day, but one week before when she drove in qualifying for the chance to compete.

“Once you’ve gone under the checkered flag and it’s done, your vision sort of opens up. It takes in the green grass, the trees, the clouds,” she says. “There was a lot of hugging and celebrating. And then you pose for the official qualifying photo. And of course I knew this would change my life, and in fact it did.”

Guthrie finished 29th at her first Indy 500, but she would qualify and race two more times.

In this 1979 interview, Guthrie talks about the entrenched sexism of professional race car driving.

Before becoming a professional race car driver, Guthrie had more than a decade of experience working on sports car road-racing circuits. She also worked as a pilot, flight instructor and aerospace engineer.

Women drivers are still a rarity in the race today. The 102nd Indy 500 is set for Sunday. This year, only Danica Patrick qualified and it’s her last run; she has said she’s retiring.