“Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle”

Janet Guthrie’s own account of her racing adventures (Sport Classic Books, May 2005, $24.95) is available through bookstores and on line at amazon.com, etc. For autographed copies, click on "Contact Us" at left. 

"The year's best books took us deep into the psyches of competitors like...race car driver Janet Guthrie, who wrote her own profile in courage...Guthrie turned out an uplifting work that is one of the best books ever written about racing--and establishes her as one of the sport's most eloquent voices."--Sports Illustrated, December 19, 2005

"Ms. Guthrie possesses a level of erudition rare among race drivers...you will find that (she) offers a refreshingly literate voice from the sports world."--The New York Times, June 4, 2006

"This is now one of sports literature's all-time best books." --William Nack, veteran Sports Illustrated writer.

Janet Guthrie is the first woman to earn a starting spot in the Indianapolis 500 (1977) and the Daytona 500 (1977), where she was Top Rookie.  Her ninth-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 (1978), with a team she formed and managed herself, was the best by a woman until 2005.  She set fastest time of day at Indianapolis on May 7 and May 22, 1977.

In her brief career at the top levels of racing, she earned top-ten starting positions and posted top-ten finishes in both Indy-car Championship racing and in NASCAR Cup racing.   Her fifth-place Indy-car finish at Milwaukee in 1979 was the best by a woman for 21 years.  Her sixth-place NASCAR Cup finish at Bristol in 1977 remains the best by a woman in NASCAR’s superspeedway era.  She is the only woman to lead a Cup race.  She was Top Rookie in five NASCAR Cup races.

A graduate of the University of Michigan (B. Sc. in physics), she was formerly a flight instructor and an aerospace engineer.  Her helmet and driver's suit are in the Smithsonian Institution.  She is a charter member of the Women's Sports Foundation International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.  She was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.