Guthrie To King Richard's New Boss: How About Sarah Fisher?

(Originally published on June 10, 2008)

Janet Guthrie heard that Richard Petty stonewalled a reporter asking about Danica Patrick's first victory, and she just laughed.

Been there, done that.

"I would love to recall when I qualified ahead of Richard Petty at Talladega in 1977, so that we took the green flag with him in my mirrors. I don't think he was terribly gracious then, either," remembered the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500.

Guthrie, a 1980 charter inductee of the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame, was at the '08 induction ceremony Monday night in Manhattan. And she had an interesting proposal for Boston Ventures, the private equity firm that is set to purchase a controlling interest in Petty Enterprises. Instead of rethinking going into business with a patriarch who said in 2006 that auto racing wasn't a sport for women, a good move would be to get behind a top female driver.

"I'd really like to see an outfit like that back Sarah Fisher in IndyCar racing," Guthrie said. "Sarah Fisher came out of sprint cars, she was the first woman to qualify on the pole in an IndyCar race. She's absolutely the girl next door. She's a wonderful woman. All the insiders at Indianapolis are really rooting for Sarah, and yet, she can't find the kind of funding that Danica has. Companies are missing a great opportunity there."

Guthrie was happy to hear about Tony Stewart being so helpful mentoring Chrissy Wallace in her Craftsman Truck Series debut in Martinsville, and was quick to note that not all of Petty's contemporaries-Guthrie specifically complimented Donnie Allison and Johnny Rutherford-shared his vitriol. But unlike Wallace and Stewart, often Guthrie was forced to withhold public appreciation because approving male drivers would get grief.



These days the 70-year-old Guthrie, who shared many of these stories in her 2005 autobiography, A Life at Full Throttle, isn't afraid to express anything. She still finds Petty's '06 comments puzzling since he told a reporter back in the day that she'd probably win a Cup race if she had a more formidable car.

"He probably forgot that, it's been a long time," Guthrie said.

She noted that Patrick was one of the first females to get a top-notch ride and the time to develop. Therefore, judging female drivers as unsuccessful for past bodies of work, as Petty did, doesn't make any sense.



"It is certainly entertaining when Petty makes such outrageous remarks as he did in '06," Guthrie said. "It makes news, and that's not bad for the sport. It's not where the reality is, of course, but it's entertainment."