The second woman to ever compete in the NASCAR’s top three series. Caitlin Shaw breaks another record for being the only female driver to come from New Mexico. In 2008, Shaw gained widespread recognition when she was invited to her first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Test. So far, the young driver had participated in two major NASCAR games, the 2009 and 2010 Camping World Truck Series, where she placed 24th and 30th respectively.
Caitlin Shaw has quite an interesting career in her field of racing and even became the inaugural United States Spokeswoman for the International Online Magazine GirlRacer.co.uk. As a committed feminist, she heavily advocates for women’s rights and equality, especially for their involvement in sports.
Danica Patrick - IndyCar Series’ Rookie of the Year
Not many success stories quite compare to that of NASCAR legend, Danica Patrick. She is the most triumphant woman in the history of American open-wheel racing and is the only woman to ever win an IndyCar Series race. Patrick was born in 1982 in Beloit, Wisconsin to a working-class family, and displayed curiosity about the unique sport since age ten.
In 1998, she made a remarkably brave move and left high school to pursue a NASCAR career. By 2005, she was named the IndyCar Series’ “Rookie of the Year.” Just five years later, Danica Patrick already began racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. While she officially retired last year, she has left behind her a legacy that will inspire many women for years to come.
Patty Moise - Busch Series Contender
Like in every sport, you get a rare few who just are just miles ahead of the rest. Athletes such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Tom Brady, stand out in their respective fields. In the NASCAR female racing gang, the clear champ is Patty Moise. She began racing at age 16 and made her official debut at age 26 in the Busch Series.
Moise won the top four a whopping number of ten times throughout her 133 races, making her the top female NASCAR driver of all time. Moise is married to former fellow NASCAR driver, Elton Sawyer. Sawyer is currently Vice president of a division in NASCAR. Back in her glory days, Moise was one of the most in-demand race drivers in NASCAR.
Jessica Brunelli - Rookie of the Year
Jessica Brunelli is considered to have one of the more promising careers out of the sport’s many younger female drivers. She began her obsession with car racing, driving anything she could get her hands on, from quads to modified vehicles. By age seven, she was already racing in amateur competitions and continued to win two regional championships.
When Jessica Brunelli debuted in 2009 at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Modified division in Roseville, California, she managed to win third place with ten top-fives and thirteen top tens. That is a noteworthy debut that even earned her the Rookie of the Year title. It looks like it's just the start of a very long and impressive NASCAR racing career.
Susie Wolff - Formula One Champ
This Scottish race car driver Susie Wolff has driven everything under the sun, including Formula One. As expected, she was most active as a go-kart racer in the late 90s, when she began competing in karting categories (and winning most of them.) Wolff was quite popular from a very young age and was named British Woman Kart Racing Driver of the year, twice.
She made the leap to Formula Renault racing from 2001 to 2004 and graduated to Formula Three in 2005. From there, Susie Wolff’s career kept flying, and last year she joined the Venturi Formula E Team last year, while also becoming a shareholder of the team.