Janet Guthrie born on March 7, 1938 in Iowa City, Iowa as the eldest of five children her father, William Lain Guthrie was a pilot she attended Miss Harris' Florida School for girls in Miami she first flew a plane when she was 13 first flew solo at age 16 earned her pilot's license at age 17 by the age of 21 she was capable of flying more than 20 types of aircrafts she received a bachelor's degree in physics in 1960 at the University of Michigan for the next seven years she worked in aerospace research and engineer for Republic Aviation Corporation in Farmingdale, Long Island in 1965 NASA considering making her an astronaut-- She was one of four women who passed NASA's first tests but was eliminated because she didn't have a Ph. D. degree. she began racing in 1961 and high speed racing in 1963 in 1967 she quit her job at RAC and until 1971 she worked as one of the Macmillan Ring-Free Motor Maids with her co-drivers they finished 31st in the 24 hour endurance race at Daytona in 1966 in 1975 she started work for Toyota as a consumer information specialist first women to qualify for a major American automobile race, the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway she raced a 1975 Chevrolet Laguna provided by Lynda Ferrari and finished 15th in the World 600 in May 1976 competed regularly on the Winston Cup circuit posted 10 top-12 finishes in 1977 Finished 9th in the Indy 500 in 1978. She was at the disadvantage because she raced with a broken wrist and had to reach across the cockpit to shift gears first time since 1949 that three women competed in a race together: Janet Guthrie, Lella Lombardi, and Christine Beckers had 33 career starts including 19 in her rookie season (1977) driving the Kelly Girl sponsored Chevrolet Laguna owned by Lynda Ferrari she outqualified Bill Elliot, Ricky Rudd, Richard Petty, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Neil Bonnett and Johnny Rutherford for the Talladega 500 in August of 1977 she qualifed and/or finished ahead of Bill Elliott in 7 out of 10 races they ran together she qualifed and/or finished ahead of Dale Earnhard in 2 out of 3 races they ran together she qualifed and/or finished ahead of Johnny Rutherford in 3 out of 3 races they ran together she was the first woman to qualify for the Daytona 500 finishing 11 and 12 (1980, 1977 respectively) she also lead the Times 500 in Ontario California in November 1977 in 1977 she qualified as the first woman in the Indianapolis 500 inducted into the Women's Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 currently lives in Aspen Colorado BACK