- Sara Christian
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Sara Christian Born 1918
Dahlonega, GeorgiaDied 1980 Cause of death natural causes Awards 1949 United States Drivers Association Woman Driver of the Year
inducted in the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame in 2004NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career 7 races run over 2 years Best finish 13th - 1949 (Strictly Stock) First race 1949 Charlotte Speedway (NASCAR's first race) Last race 1950 Hamburg (NY) Speedway Wins Top tens Poles 0 2 0 Sara Christian (1918 — 1980) was the first woman driver in NASCAR history. Her fifth place finish at Pittsburgh reigned as the highest female finish from 1949 until 2011, when Danica Patrick finished fourth.
Contents
Driving career
1949
She competed in NASCAR's first race on June 19, 1949 at Charlotte Speedway. She qualified 13th in the #71 Ford owned by her husband Frank Christian. She let Bob Flock drive the car part way through the race after his engine expired on the 38th lap. He drove the car until it overheated, and finished 14th.
She competed in the second race at the Daytona Beach Road Course on July 10, 1949, and finished 18th. The 28 car field also included Flock's sister Ethel Mobley and Louise Smith which made it the first race to include three woman drivers. Frank also competed in the race and finished sixth in his only career start. They became the only married couple to compete in a NASCAR race until 1986 when Patty Moise and Elton Sawyer would compete for the first time together in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series[1]. Patty and Elton would get married in 1990 and continued to compete against one another for years to come.
She finished sixth at the fourth race at Langhorne Speedway, and became the first woman to earn a Top 10 finish. Race winner Curtis Turner invited Christian to join him in victory lane. Mobley and Smith again competed against Christian in the race, and it was the last NASCAR race to have three women drivers until July 4, 1977 when Janet Guthrie, Christine Beckers and Lella Lombardi all competed in the Firecracker 400.
She finished fifth at the ninth race at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The finish was the best-ever and only Top 5 finish by a woman in NASCAR history, until it was finally eclipsed by Danica Patrick and her fourth-place finish in the Nationwide Series Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 5, 2011.[2]
She raced in six of the eight events in the 1949 season, and finished 13th in the final points standings.
1950
She competed in one event in 1950. She finished 14th at the 12th race at the Hamburg (NY) Speedway before she retired.
Awards
- She was inducted in the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.[3]
- She received the 1949 United States Drivers Association Woman Driver of the Year.
References
- ^ "1986 Food Giant 300 Results". Racing Reference. 1986. http://www.racing-reference.info/race/1986_Food_Giant_300/B.
- ^ Demmons, Doug (2011-03-05). "Mark Martin wins Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas". al.com/The Birmingham News. http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/03/mark_martin_wins_nascar_nation.html.
- ^ "Inductees". Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. 2008. http://www.thunderroadusa.com/Inductees.html. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
Categories:- 1918 births
- 1980 deaths
- People from Dahlonega, Georgia
- Female NASCAR drivers
- American racecar drivers
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