Question about female drivers

[BSJracing]

ok, according to this blogger

http://boscotheblog.blogspot.com/200...s-it-take.html

Had it not been for a mechanical issue another female may have beat Arlene Hiss to the gun by like 14 years...who is he talking about?

Women were running the USAC road racing series nearly two decades earlier, and if not for mechanical trouble a woman would have made the first qualifying attempt for the Indy 500 in 1962.

[Sea Fury]

ok, according to this blogger

http://boscotheblog.blogspot.com/200...s-it-take.html

Had it not been for a mechanical issue another female may have beat Arlene Hiss to the gun by like 14 years...who is he talking about?

A shot in the dark-Denise McCluggage?

[Stick500]

They would have allowed a women in the pits in the dark, dark ages?!

I'm really curious as to the answer on this one- would have probably changed the history of the 500 significantly if that barrier had been broken that much earlier.

So did this driver even run a practice lap? DD should know.

[cornutt]

They would have allowed a women in the pits in the dark, dark ages?!

Strangely enough, NASCAR had several women who raced in the equivalent of what is now the Cup series back in the '50s. One of them, Sara Christian, was said to be quite good. It wasn't until 1960 or so that they banned women from the pits.

[JThur1]

Again, you're taking this too literally. Just because someone wrote it, be it in a book, newspaper or on the internet, doesn't mean it's accurate. There are some serious shortcomings with this blog post.

While there are signs of some good research in the post, in other places...not so much.

Many of the questions posited are speculative without any checking for information that could answer the questions quite easily. It also is rather deeply couched in politics.

He is right that Arlene Hiss never technically "qualified", but that's more semantics than anything else. While I've seen her incorrectly listed that way, far more often I've seen Arlene Hiss listed as the first woman to race/compete in an "Indycar". Which is completely accurate. He seems upset over the inaccuracy, but that isn't Arlene Hiss' fault. That's down to the mainstream media still being completely and utterly ignorant of the most basic racing terminology.

In short, there are some glaring errors in that blog post. For one, she couldn't have gone to Saugus to get in a sprint car, as it was almost exclusively a stock car track. Sprint cars hadn't raced there for at least five years at the time.

I do like The Firesign Theater quote, and I've used it here, but in this case, using "Everything You Know Is Wrong" is wrong

[Neshaminy]

I do like The Firesign Theater quote, and I've used it here, but in this case, using "Everything You Know Is Wrong" is wrong

As I believe most bloggers are blowhards trying not to work but stir the pot to up their blog count, thereby bloating an advertising number I'm not going to bother, but in light of the Firesign Theatre quote (as I am a fan of Regnad Kcin) I will add that 93.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Now the big question, one of the riding mechanics in the 1909 era was the wife of a husband/wife driving team......she was not allowed in the Founder Cup Race however she worked every practice session as a mechanician.......now did she ever get to ride in the 500? I would have to look up his name to try and figure it out, but if so a woman in competition would have a far different story.

EDIT--The Driver's name was Bert Dingley and her name is only listed as Mrs. Dingley in the book "The Fairmount Park Motor Races, 1908-1911" and she was the mechanician of note for her husband in the Portland race of '09 or '08......"On Thursday, all eyes were focused on th Chalmers-Detroit Bluebirds. First, Bert Dingley attracted some attention, when he took his wife around the course as his mechanician for four laps, the fastest which was an 8:35." his qualifying speed was eventually lowered to 7:58 later in the week---now to look to see if Bert ever drove in the 500......which would have been her only chance in the 500.

DOUBLE EDIT--Bert is listed http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/DingleyBert.htm his wife is not http://www.champcarstats.com/rm/rm1.htm in spite of the claim in the book that she was his mechanician in Portland and Portland shows in Bert's list.

An answer may lie in the article "Racing Motorists Wife not Alarmed" Philadelphia Evening Bulletin 8 october 1909

[Raceworder2.0]

He is right that Arlene Hiss never technically "qualified", but that's more semantics than anything else. While I've seen her incorrectly listed that way, far more often I've seen Arlene Hiss listed as the first woman to race/compete in an "Indycar". Which is completely accurate.

While it can be accurately stated that Hiss raced/competed in a Champ car or a National Championship car, "Indycar" is "completely" inaccurate without much further explanation and with even greater, casual liberty allowed for such debatable spelling of the word.