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Women of the gear get their due

DAVID POOLE
dpoole@charlotteobserver.com

INDIANAPOLIS - Driver shortage?

The very suggestion that there might be more rides in racing than drivers with enough ability to fill them makes Allison Duncan want to scream.

"Gimme my shot!" said Duncan, a 27-year-old racer who's still working toward that in her third season of driving late models each week in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. "That's all I can think when I hear that."

Don't misunderstand. Duncan knows she is among the fortunate ones, drivers who've found programs like Drive for Diversity to help them make major strides toward the ultimate goal of getting to racing's big time.

One day before NASCAR's Nextel Cup teams take over America's most celebrated racing venue, Thursday was women's day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

For the fourth year, the Lyn St. James Foundation hosted "Women in the Winner's Circle," a fund-raiser and awards luncheon aimed at celebrating the accomplishments of women in racing and trying to make sure there's much more to celebrate in the future.

In 1992, St. James became the second woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 -- Janet Guthrie was the first in 1977. These days, St. James is an activist pushing to swing open the doors for women in the sport's premiere events.

"Women bring new sponsors, new fans and open doors to new partners and opportunities," she said Thursday. "To be able to get past the one `token' a year is what it's going to take to be able to capture that and really make it grow."

St. James painted a "future picture" in which women filled 10 percent of the starting positions in the field for top races and that same ratio of jobs in the sport.

"This is doable," she said. "There are enough who are interested, talented, top of the line -- and racing only wants the very best, and we're not just talking about filling slots, we're talking about getting the best out there and that's what we want.

"But I also think we have to think and act differently if we're going to make that happen. You can't expect a different result if we continue to do business the same way. I know this is a sport where women can compete equally with and against men. I've lived it, I've experienced it and I've enjoyed it immensely."

Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick, unquestionably the most talked-about woman in racing today, did not attend the luncheon at the track where she's competed in the past two Indianapolis 500s. But nearly three dozen women, including several who're teenagers and already have lengthy racing resumes, were there.

Among them was Melanie Troxel, the National Hot Rod Association Top Fuel championship contender. She was named the 2006 winner of the Kara Hendrick Spirit Award. Sponsored by the U.S. Auto Club in the memory of a young driver killed in a midget car race in California, the award recognizes spirit, determination and ability.

Those traits, however, covered the stage when the group of drivers had all finally been brought to the stage.

Sondi Eden, who won the Spirit Award last year, is 29 years old and has been racing since age 12. She was one of the drivers in Roush Racing's "Driver X" televised racing audition last year and is driving stock cars this year as she continues to chase a dream.

"If you have that desire to race, having people tell you `No' is something you have to learn to live with," she said. "It can fuel you to keep going, too. You're like, `I am going to get a yes one of these times.'

"You know that it's like winning the lottery or becoming a movie star. It's a long shot. You know you have to go through a lot of `nos' to get a `yes.' But it does get hard sometime."

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