Janet Guthrie now 'one of the boys'
Janet Guthrie now ‘one of the boys ’
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The lady has become "one of the boys.”
“Hi, Janet,” Gordon Johncock yells amiably, giving a wave to the white-suited lady in the golf cart in front of garage No.38 in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s renowned Gasoline Alley.
Janet Guthrie flashes her best smile and waves back.
Other drivers pause to swap small talk and best wishes. The grease-stained mechanics come up and confer with her seriously on technical problems. No other driver - not even A.J. Foyt or A1 Unser - is more besieged for autographs.
The first and only female competitor to crash the hallowed Indy 500 no longer is a freak, a publicity-seeking woman trying to join the most macho fraternity in sports.
She has made the team.
Her appearance no longer creates flak and resentment. This marks her third time in the Indy 500 and she generally is accepted as a skilled and gutsy driver capable of surviving in the death-defying jungle of 200 mph speed demons.
It wasn’t always so.
“In 1975, I had holes in my shoes, I had no money in the bank and no place to live - I thought I had had it in auto racing,” Janet recalled Friday, a day when most of the action was centered in court instead of on the fabled old brickyard (actually asphalt).
“Then Rolla Vollstedt gave me my first chance to drive a championship car at Trenton (N.J.). It changed my whole life.”
A newsman suggested that Janet must be exaggerating. After all, she owned a BS degree in physics from the University of Michigan, she served in the aerospace industry as a research and development engineer and on«e had even been considered for astronaut training.
“Of course, when I say I had holes in my shoes, that was partially superficial,” she said. “But, honestly, I was ready for the poor house. Who is going to give a woman a job in the aerospace industry who is 40 years old and hasn't been doing that kind of work or nine years?
“I had spent 13 years trying to break into big-time autombile racing and, until Rolla Vollstedt gave me a car, I was at the end of my patience and my resources.”
The 41-year-old Guthrie qualified for the Indy 500 in 1977, but went out after 27 laps because of a gear foulup. She returned last year to qualify at 191.002 mph, a women’s closed course record. Then, driving with a fractured wrist which she had not previously disclosed, she finished ninth in the starspangled field, behind Al Unser, who won his third 500.
Unser, hearing of Guthrie’s injury, said she should have pulled out of the race. “She jeopardized my life and the life of every driver in the race,” he said.
“That is the only complaint I’ve heard about my racing,” Janet said. “Everyone else has been very nice.
“I remember when I drove my first oval-track race at Trenton, A.J. Foyt came around and offered any help I needed. Johnny Rutherford was marvelous. All have been great - except one.”
Al Unser, younger of the two racing brothers who have won a total of five Indy races, hasn’t softened his attitude.
“Have I apologized for what I said?” the defending Indy champion blurted when the question was put to him in his garage Friday. “Why should I? If she had a broken wrist, as she said, she had no business being on that track. She should have been disqualified.”
Other drivers have adopted a more understanding stance, particularly two-time winner Rutherford, the tough Texan.
“Janet is different than most of the women who have been trying to crash this business,” Rutherford said. “Most of them come out with fancy hairdos and painted fingernails and no intention to try to be a bonafide race driver. They just want the publicity and the chance to be around the guys.
“Not Janet - I really admire the woman. Not that she doesn’t do her hair and fix her nails. Also she looks good in a slinky dress. But she’s a very smart girl, very dedicated. She’s in this business because she wants to win and thinks she can. There’s nothing phony about her. She’s genuine.”