3/14/2025
SCCA® Road Racing is renowned for its inclusiveness, with women being involved from early on in the sport.
The first woman to win an SCCA National Championship in Road Racing was Donna Mae Mims, known as the “Pink Lady” of racing due to her distinctive powder pink Austin-Healey “Bugeye” Sprite, pink helmet and driver’s suit, and often a pink wig. Mims won the H Production National Championship in 1963 (when it was a points series). Beyond her amateur driving career, Mims also raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring together with teammates Suzy Dietrich and Janet Guthrie. Like many SCCA champions, Mims was also a race worker, with a license in the pre-grid specialty. She was also a member of the Steel Cities Region Board of Directors, a driving instructor, and editor of the award-winning Region magazine “Drift.”
Another Sprite driver, Cat Kizer, worked her way to a National Championship Runoffs® title in 1979 by spending several years building the experience to qualify for the Runoffs. After a major crash in 1978, she returned to Atlanta to win the H Production National Championship in 1979, besting four previous male champions. For her achievement, Kizer received that year’s SCCA President’s Cup.
In more recent professional racing, Amy Ruman became the first woman to win an SCCA Pro Racing-sanctioned Trans Am championship in 2015, after several years of effort. In her championship year, Ruman won eight out of 12 events on the series schedule. Another notable Trans Am driver is Cindi Lux, who (like Ruman) has competed at the SCCA Runoffs and finished on the podium. In her career, Lux has claimed 14 various championships. In 2021, she entered four Trans Am races, winning every time she raced.
No recounting of women’s history in SCCA Road Racing would be complete without a salute to Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James, who both took their SCCA experience with them to the Indianapolis 500. Driving for Rolla Vollstedt of Oregon, Guthrie became the first woman to qualify for the 500 in 1977. Long before her debut at the Brickyard, Guthrie raced a Jaguar out of SCCA’s New York Region, acting as her own crew and engine builder. Her professional career also included stints at Daytona in the 24 Hours and the NASCAR Daytona 500, as well as at Sebring.
St James began her SCCA racing career in Florida driving Showroom Stock cars, becoming Regional champion in 1976 and 1977. Like Guthrie, she has competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and at the 24 Hours of the Nürburgring, collecting class wins at each of those events. She has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and set a 1988 speed record at Talladega Speedway. Additionally, St. James competed in 53 SCCA Trans Am races, making the top five on seven occasions. She entered 62 IMSA GT races, and is the only woman to win an IMSA GT race as a solo driver. Finally, she was the 1992 Indy 500 Rookie of the Year.
Women’s influence in SCCA Road Racing also extends to the race worker and management ranks. Most recently, Deanna Flanagan was SCCA’s Road Racing Director, managing the National program with professional skill. Previously, Terry Ozment held the same position, and before that, Patc Henry was head of Club Racing. Henry also worked with SCCA Pro Racing as the Series Manager of the Sports Renault series, Playboy Endurance Series, Corvette Challenge, and the Neon Cup. In fact, it was Patc Henry who came up with the name “World Challenge” for the pro series that carried that name. Patc Henry finished her career working at ACCUS to oversee all of US motorsports’ connection to the FIA.
Many of the women we’ve mentioned are in SCCA’s Hall of Fame, with even more undoubtedly receiving that honor one day.
For more information on these and many other notable women in racing, visit Women in Motorsports, North America (WIMNA).
Also, be sure to check out the SCCA Women on Track initiative, which provides scholarships for women to compete in SCCA events including SCCA Road Racing, volunteering, RallyCross, Time Trials, RoadRally, and Solo – everything that makes the Sports Car Club of America what it is today.
