One of the first women to race NASCAR was Iowa City native Janet Guthrie

The drivers on NASCAR superspeedways were all men until Janet Guthrie got behind the wheel.

Born in Iowa City, Guthrie thought all that should have mattered in racing was that she was a fast competitor, according to NBC Sports. So she zoomed into the male-only world of NASCAR, becoming the first woman to race on a NASCAR speedway in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

'I knew back at the time that if I screwed up, it would be an exceedingly long time before another woman got a chance,” Guthrie told NBC Sports last year. 'I came to feel it as a responsibility, really. I mean, I didn't do what I did to prove anything for women. I did it because I was a racing driver right through to my bone marrow.”

She had a great race in Charlotte, starting 27th and finishing 15th, and a year later she was the first woman to qualify for and compete in the Indianapolis 500 in 1977. She was the first woman to race in the Dayton 500 the same year, and was named Top Rookie.

Guthrie struggled to find sponsors to support her racing career, and she was unable to race after 1980.

Still, she opened doors for other talented women drivers with dreams of racing in NASCAR. She's been inducted into several motor sports halls of fame, and her helmet and driver's suit are in the Smithsonian Institution.

Comments: molly.duffy@thegazette.com