Sara Christian

Sara Christian
Born August 25, 1918
Dahlonega, Georgia
Died March 7, 1980 (age 61)
Awards

1949 United States Drivers Association Woman Driver of the Year

inducted in the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame in 2004
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career
7 races run over 2 years
Best finish 13th, 1949 (Strictly Stock)
First race 1949 Race No. 1 (Charlotte)
Last race 1950 Hamburg (NY) Speedway
Wins Top tens Poles
2

Sara W. Christian (August 25, 1918 – March 7, 1980) was the first woman driver in NASCAR history.

Driving career

1949

She competed in NASCAR's first race on June 19, 1949 at Charlotte Speedway. She qualified 13th in the #71 Ford owned by her husband Frank Christian. During the race, Bob Flock took over her car after his engine expired on the 38th lap. He drove the car until it overheated, and finished 14th.

She competed in the second race at the Daytona Beach Road Course on July 10, 1949, and finished 18th. The 28 car field also included Flock's sister Ethel Mobley and Louise Smith which made it the first race to include three woman drivers. Frank also competed in the race and finished sixth in his only career start. They became the only married couple to compete in a NASCAR race until 1986 when Patty Moise and Elton Sawyer competed for the first time together in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series.[1] Patty and Elton got married in 1990 and continued to compete against one another for years.

She finished sixth at the fourth race at Langhorne Speedway, and became the first woman to earn a Top 10 finish. Race winner Curtis Turner invited Christian to join him in victory lane. Mobley and Smith again competed against Christian in the race, and it was the last NASCAR race to have three women drivers until July 4, 1977 when Janet Guthrie, Christine Beckers and Lella Lombardi all competed in the Firecracker 400.

She finished fifth at the ninth race at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The finish was the best-ever and only Top 5 finish by a woman in NASCAR series history, though on a regional series level it was eclipsed by Shawna Robinson at the New Asheville Speedway on June 10, 1988, when she won the Charlotte-Daytona Dash (a 4-cylinder class) AC-Delco 100 to become the first woman to win a NASCAR touring series race. Christian's fifth place remains the highest finish by a woman at the Premiership, now known as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

She raced in six of the eight events in the 1949 season, and finished 13th in the final points standings.

1950

She competed in one event in 1950. She finished 14th at the 12th race at the Hamburg (NY) Speedway before she retired.

Awards

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

References

  1. ↑ "1986 Food Giant 300 Results". Racing Reference. 1986.
  2. ↑ "Inductees". Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
  3. ↑ "Sara Christian − 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Sara Christian − 1950 NASCAR Grand National Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved February 23, 2015.
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