Shawna Robinson

In 1994, Robinson became the first woman ever to win the pole position in the Busch Series, by setting a Grand National track record lap speed of 174.330 mph, at Atlanta Motor Speedway. At the race two days later, however, as Robinson started from her prime position in the first lap, racer Mike Wallace pulled in between her car and that of racer Joe Nemechek, taking air off Robinson's spoiler and causing her to bump Nemechek's car broadside. Both cars then slammed into the retaining wall. After her pit crew removed most of the damaged front of her Chevrolet, Robinson went on racing for sixty-three laps before radiator damage forced to her withdraw. Nemechek never finished the first lap and made public charges that Wallace had planned the aggression against Robinson. Wallace denied it, however, and NASCAR officials, after a review, issued a statement that no one was to blame for the crash.