Inside track to NASCAR slow for female drivers

CONCORD, N.C.

Unlike the Indianapolis 500, where four women will compete, there will be no need to change the starting command for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.

The order for Sunday's 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be "Gentlemen, start your engines" - just as it has been every year since 1977.

While the Indianapolis 500 celebrates its largest field of female drivers among its 33 starters, NASCAR continues lag behind.

No female has competed what is now the Sprint Cup series since Shawna Robinson ran seven races in 2002. She is the only female to compete in Cup in the last two decades, while the Indianapolis 500 has had six females qualify since then.

Danica Patrick, who will start her sixth Indy 500 this weekend, could become the next female to race in NASCAR's top series. She's run in three Nationwide races this season for JR. Motorsports and will return to the circuit next month at New Hampshire. She's expected to compete in about a dozen

Nationwide races this year and next and likely will make a Cup start sometime before the end of 2011.

Beyond Patrick, questions remain about which other female drivers could make the move to Cup. Lack of sponsorship - a plague for many drivers and teams - has held back some. Others seek experience but without sponsorship, can't get it.

David Smith, a driver development client manager for Motorsports Management International, said he started scouting drivers eight years ago and the percentage of females competing then vs. now remains the same.

"There's no role model for them really to go stock-car racing," Smith said. "I think that once you have a female race car driver running fulltime and having success in the Cup level, I think you'll see an increase then."

Smith lists Chrissy Wallace, Johanna Long and Kenzie Ruston as having the best chance of making it to Cup, not including Patrick.

Wallace, daughter of Nationwide Series driver Mike Wallace, has competed in two Nationwide races this season and is expected to be back at Daytona in July. Sponsorship woes have prevented her from running more.

The 22-year-old made her truck series debut in spring 2008 at Martinsville, and earned praise from Tony Stewart even before competing.

Long turned 18 this week and races a Super Late Model. She made her USAR Pro Cup debut earlier this month at Rockingham, placing 14th in a 22-car field. She ran in two ARCA races last season.

She admits it can be more challenging for a female driver.

"Some people there are like, 'Oh gosh, another girl out here,' " said Long, who won the pole for the Snowball Derby, a prestigious late model race in Pensacola, Fla., that Kyle Busch won in December. "You have to prove yourself a lot more."

The 18-year-old Ruston is coming off the semi-pro Legends car championship last season.

There are many others searching for opportunities. Revolution Racing provides opportunities for minority drivers in NASCAR's K&N Series - it's like Single-A baseball if Cup is the majors - and in the Whelen All-American series for late model cars. Mackena Bell competes in the K&N Series, while four females are in the All-American series through the program.

Another driver hoping to move through the ranks is Michelle Theriault. She also serves as communications manager for U.S. Legend Cars, which manufacturers the Legend cars many race and said she sees some females racing in younger divisions.

The 24-year-old is hoping to put together a deal to run six truck races this season. She ran in three last year.

"It's what I want to do," she said of why she continues competing. "You get to an age where you make that decision, 'Is this what I really want to do? Or do we sacrifice and continue forward?'

"When I graduated high school, I remember getting my diploma and not even staying for the rest of the ceremony because we had to drive to Nashville for a Pro Cup race.

"There are certain things you sacrifice and but you didn't look at it like that, you went and did it because that's what I wanted to do."

But how many will attempt to do what Theriault and others attempt if no female can achieve success in the Cup series?