Shawna Robinson, on the verge of becoming the first female to finish in the top 10 in the points standings of a major national oval-track touring series, has begun taking a look at NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series. The driver of the Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs Ford in the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series could make that move as early as next season. If things work out the way she and her team hope, Robinson will become the first female to start a NASCAR Winston Cup race in over 18 years and the five to seven races they have planned would give her more starts than any female in the past 30 years in the major leagues of stock car racing. In 2002, she would become the first female to run a full NASCAR Winston Cup schedule in the history of the series. MK Racing owned by Michael Kranefuss(and owner of the #12 Cup car driven by Jeremy Mayfield), is owner of the team which fields Robinson’s cars(Williams Company PR) UPDATE/CORRECTION: Actually it was 11 years ago, in 1989 when a female last ran a Cup race. Patty Moise ran the #45 Amway Buick in the July Daytona and Talladega races in 1989, finishing 36th at Talladega(10-4-2000) UPDATE 2: Saturdays ARCA race, the Georgia Boot 400, at Atlanta will be Robinsons final race behind the wheel of the Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs Ford, making her the first female in U.S. motorsports history to have completed a full season in any national stock car oval-track motorsports series. When the race ends, she will have clinched the seventh spot in the final standings, making her the first female in motorsports history to have finished in the top 10 of the final standings in a national oval-track motorsports series. “Next year, we want to have a car running with the first woman to run seven races in a NASCAR Winston Cup season,” Robinson said, “and were working hard to make that a reality.” Robinson, 35, will drive a car for MK Motorsports, owned by the former head of Ford Motorsports and Winston Cup team owner Michael Kranefuss, next season. After a successful full season of ARCA racing this year, which saw Robinson most competitive on the same tracks where the Winston Cup teams compete, Kranefuss intends to move the team to a partial NASCAR Winston Cup schedule in 2001, as well as selected ARCA events at the superspeedways(Williams Company PR)(11-13-2000)
