JANET GUTHRIE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED CIRCA 1985 - HFSID 42575

JANET GUTHRIE
The first female racecar driver who competed in both the Indycar and NASCAR competitions signed this letter
Autograph Letter signed: "Janet Guthrie", 1p, 8½x11. No place, no date. On blank paper to "Dear Mr. Axelrod". In full: "Sorry to take so long answering your request. I moved a couple of times and some of my mail was misplaced. Best wishes". In 1977, Janet Guthrie (b. 1938) became the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500, in a competition where women had been banned from even the repair and the refueling pits as recently as 1971. She competed in IndyCar and NASCAR races from 1976-1980, racing in 33 NASCAR races over four years (1976-1978, 1980). Guthrie finished 9th in the Indianapolis 500 in 1978. She finished 6th at the Bristol Motor Speedway in 1977, a record for a female driver in NASCAR's top tier of competition. Guthrie now shares that record with Danica Patrick, who placed 6th in the 2014 Oral-B USA 500. Two years later, Guthrie was elected to the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. Her autobiography, Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle, was published in 2005. While some of her racing records have been surpassed by other female racers, most notably Danica Patrick, Guthrie will go down as the female racecar driver who paved the way for female racers in the future. Fine condition.