Today In NASCAR History

 
1918: Sara Christian, the only woman in the field in NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) race, is born. The Dahlonega, Ga., native qualified 13th and finished 14th that June day at Charlotte Speedway in 1949. Though she competed just seven times in NASCAR’s top series, she took fifth place at Heidelburg Raceway in Pittsburgh to record the first top-five finish for a woman in NASCAR history. That stood as the best finish by a woman in any NASCAR national series until 2011, when Danica Patrick placed fourth at Las Vegas in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Christian died in 1980.

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.