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CONCORD, N.C. - Thirty years after becoming the first woman to race in NASCAR's modern era, Janet Guthrie again was the only woman driving on the track.
An all-male contingent of Nextel and Busch Series drivers roared past Guthrie for practice Tuesday after the 68-year-old racing pioneer finished driving three laps around Lowe's Motor Speedway in an event honoring her stock-car debut in Charlotte.
"I'm sorry not to see any (women) here," said Guthrie, also the first woman to race in the Indianapolis 500. "There are plenty of talented women drivers who could be here."
Women have made few inroads into NASCAR's top series since Guthrie. Four drivers have a combined 16 starts in the three decades since Guthrie qualified for 33 races.
Female racers say the sport has few role models for them and women have had few opportunities to join successful race teams. Racing legends Junior Johnson and Richard Petty raise old questions about women having the stamina and strength to handle a nearly two-ton car over a 500-mile race.
"I've not seen any woman close to Guthrie's talent in 30 years," said Petty, who finished second in Guthrie's NASCAR debut. "A lot have tried."
NASCAR says that all could change soon.
Boosted by diversity programs and added media attention, more women are driving in the sport's lower ranks - including 150 at sanctioned weekly races at smaller tracks nationwide.
The Nextel Cup Series could have a couple of women driving regularly within five years and perhaps about five within a decade, said Buz McKim, NASCAR's statistics coordinator and a racing historian. "It's going to become more commonplace," he said.
But NASCAR, the sport's biggest drawing card, still has some catching up to do compared to other racing series.
Currently, the two top Indy-car circuits both have a woman driving full-time, including Danica Patrick, who nearly won last year's Indianapolis 500. Meanwhile, the two major drag racing series have 10 women competing in the upper tiers.
NASCAR, on the other hand, has two women driving regularly in the truck series that's two steps below the Nextel series.
NASCAR insists the obstacle for women drivers is opportunity, not sexism. "They just need to have the right sponsor and the right team," said Tish Sheets, NASCAR's director of diversity. "We have a lot of women drivers on the cusp. We will have more Janet Guthries."
Erin Crocker, a 25-year-old Massachusetts engineering school grad driving in the truck series, is considered the current best hope to land in NASCAR's big time. That's because she drives for a top-flight team, Evernham Motorsports - something missing from her predecessors.
Crocker had to defeat stereotypes even in her own family: Her older brother was thought to be the one who would move up the racing ranks. "There weren't other women drivers out there to look up to," she said. "So I was told, `Why push for it?' ... You really have to really want it and push yourself."
Guthrie said she has high hopes for Crocker and other women trying to reach the Nextel series.
"Money is still a big problem," Guthrie said. "The last I heard, it was $15 million a year to run a Cup car. That kind of money doesn't come easily for anybody, less easily for a woman, I believe."
Just two of 250 women who took part in former racer Lyn St. James' annual driver development school since 1994 compete at the top levels.
St. James praised NASCAR participating with a diversity program that includes three women racing at smaller tracks, but the bottom line for women drivers is winning.
"Danica changed the complexion of the sport by almost winning the 500," St. James said. "But that boost from all that lasted about 60 days because she was not winning other races. ... Women have to be exceptional. Good is not good enough."
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The Next Janet Guthrie?
ERIN CROCKER, age 25: Truck series driver for top-flight Evernham Motorsports.
ALLISON DUNCAN, 26: Racing for famed car owner Richard Childress in the Drive for Diversity program with NASCAR.
JESSICA HELBERG, 18: Drive for Diversity participant racing late models out west for drag racer Frank Pedregon.
STEPHANIE MOCKLER, 18: Racing in a midget-car series with backing from Ford.
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(c) 2006, The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
