Shawna Robinson Biography - Racing Family, Dash Division Debut, Chronology, Pole Position History And Crash, Arca Comeback - Temporary Retirement, CONTACT INFORMATION
race nascar woman car
1964-
American race car driver
As a woman stock car racer, Shawna Robinson has a long list of "firsts" behind her name, including being the first woman to start a NASCAR Winston Cup race since Patty Moise did so in 1989 and the first woman to finish a Winston Cup race since Janet Guthrie in 1980. Yet, she has said she is more interested in being remembered as a winning driver than as the first of her gender to accomplish racing feats. Competing primarily against men on the racetrack, Robinson has faced prejudice and even outright hostility from some drivers. She also struggles with finding sponsorship for competitions. Robinson started her career in Great American Truck Racing (GATR) tours. She turned to racing in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) in 1988, at age twenty-three, winning the AC Delco 100 race, which made her the first woman ever to win a major NASCAR Touring Series event. Still racing in 2002, Robinson is a single mother of two children.
Temporary Retirement
After the Atlanta race, Robinson continued to compete in the Grand National division. Her best finish in a Busch Series race was a tenth place, and she retired temporarily to start a family in 1995. Married and giving birth to a son, Tanner, in 1996 and a daughter, Samantha, in 1997, Robinson worked in Charlotte, North Carolina, as an interior decorator, where many of her clients were involved with NASCAR.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Address: c/o Shawna Robinson Fan Club, 545-C Pitts School Rd. NW, Concord, NC, 28027. Online: http://www.shawnarobinson.com.
Additional Topics
Shawna Robinson was born November 30, 1964, in Des Moines, Iowa, the daughter of Richard "Lefty" Robinson and his wife, Lois, who drove a race car until she flipped it and her husband asked her to stop racing. "Lefty" Robinson was an amateur diesel truck racer and promoter who worked on vehicles in his home garage. Shawna was the youngest of the Robinsons' five c…
Robinson made her debut as a stock car racer in the spring of 1988, finishing third in the Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series Florida 200 in Daytona. That June, she made history by winning the AC Delco 100 NASCAR Dash Series race in Asheville, North Carolina, the first woman to win a major NASCAR Touring event. She also won her first race in the Goody's Dash series that year and was voted NASCAR…
By the 2001 season, Robinson was ready to get back into NASCAR racing. She came back with a bang, as the first female driver to start a prestigious Winston Cup Series race since Patty Moise in 1989. Robinson finished her first series race in Brooklyn, Michigan, on June 10, 2001, making her the first woman to do so since Janet Guthrie in 1980. "That was my goal, that's all they asked …
By the fall of 2002, at age thirty-seven, Robinson had begun to feel her career was in jeopardy because she was driving so few races. The constant search for a sponsor and the introduction of new drivers to BAM had given her less time in the driver's seat. She told Tim Packman of Turner Sports Interactive that she was spending lots of time with her two children, becoming involved in their s…
Michael Kranefuss is one of the racing business's top executives. He spent twelve years as head of Ford Motor Company Europe's international racing programs, directing races in national programs as well as in Formula One, the World Rally Championship, and International Sports Car Racing. He helped to establish Ford as a winner in every motorsport in which it competed. After leaving F…
Great Women in Sports. "Shawna Robinson." Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 1996. Dillon, Kesa. "Shawna Robinson: The NASCAR Winston Cup Tour's Lone Female Driver on Racing Daytona, Meeting Ali and Going after What She Really Wants." Sports Illustrated Women (November 1, 2002): 118. Lieber, Jill. "Shawna Robinson." Sports Illustrated (March 21, 1994): 78.…
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