Shawna Robinson will drive the #49 Team Texas truck at TMS in June if testing goes well (see story below)(4-22-2003)
UPDATE: hearing the sponsor of the truck will be Aaron’s with Shawna driving the Aaron’s Dream Machine with……a pit crew that will be made up entirely of women. They are in the process of training and practicing to get ready for the event.(4-23-2003)
UPDATE 2: Seven Dallas-area women will make history at Texas Motor Speedway by competing against men in the pits of a NASCAR race. An all-female pit crew will work with driver Shawna Robinson in the O’Reilly 400. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at TMS on June 6. It will be the first time an all-female pit crew has gone over the wall in a major NASCAR event. Aaron’s Sales and Leasing has agreed to sponsor the truck that is owned by Team Texas president Mike Starr. Team Texas is one of the driving schools at TMS, and TMS officials are behind the plan to debut the all-female team. “This idea came up a long time ago,” TMS general manager Eddie Gossage said. “Then we saw all the attention Annika was getting about playing at Colonial, so we wanted to make this happen, but we didn’t want this just to be a token female team. We wanted the women to be able to work a competitive pit stop in the same time frame the guys do it.” A formal announcement was planned for May 16 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C. Mark Stafford, TMS director of sales, and Kenton Nelson, TMS assistant GM, came up with the idea of an all-female pit crew. An agency was hired to find potential candidates. “They began going to fitness clubs in the area and talking to women who were interested,” Gossage said. “They wanted women who were physically fit and also women who were competitive.”
Of the 20 women initially selected, only two walked away when told how demanding pit work is and that they should expect to hear whistles and catcalls from spectators. The seven women chosen have been practicing pit stops the last few weeks. An all-female pit crew competed in a few Automobile Racing Club of America events several years ago, but it never has happened in NASCAR. Each of the women has to pay a licensing fee to NASCAR to be certified to work in the pits. Starr hopes the women can perform a 16-second pit stop, which would be a couple of seconds slower than those by the top Winston Cup teams. “The jack is the toughest job for them,” Gossage said. “I’m a big guy, but I can put all my weight on that thing and hardly move it. You have to be really strong. One of the women is doing a good job with it.” Gossage admits all seven of the women are attractive and in their 20s. The women will be flown to Charlotte for the official announcement in May.
They also will make appearances, with show cars, in Dallas-Fort Worth in the weeks before the race. TMS and Aaron’s plan to make T-shirts and posters with Robinson and the pit crew.
The women plan to practice at TMS at least twice a week for several hours each day over the next six weeks. They met Robinson for the first time Monday when she came to Fort Worth to test in the truck. “Shawna was skeptical about this idea until she met the women we selected and talked to them,” Gossage said. “Then she went out and ran a lap that would have put her on the front row here last year.” Robinson and her crew will have a Chevrolet truck that is capable of running up front in the race. Irving’s David Starr, the nephew of the truck owner, drove the truck to a third-place finish at TMS in 2001. Robinson, 38, raced in Winston Cup last season and is one of the respected women in auto racing. Last year she was the first woman to race in the Daytona 500 since Janet Guthrie in 1980.
The seven women who will work as the pit crew for driver Shawna Robinson in the O’Reilly 400 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6:
Ann Pratt (Fort Worth) BA in finance, body fitness competitor
Sue Webb (Carrollton) Fitness trainer, married mom
Gina Tomaseski (Prosper) Model, fitness spokeswoman, married mom
Shanda Bronston (Garland) Talent agency owner, competitive runner
Geri Parris (Plano) Student at Collin County CC
Alaenda Grable (Dallas) Student at North Texas
Gail Stracener (Plano) Fitness trainer
(Dallas Morning)(4-24-2003)
UPDATE 3: The first all female pit crew to compete in a NASCAR event is hard at work practicing their pit stop duties for the June 6 O’Reilly 400k Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The Aaron’s Dream Team presented by Texas Motor Speedway will be crewing at Texas for driver Shawna Robinson, who will drive the #49 truck sponsored by Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership. The seven members of the pit crew were recruited through local fitness facilities and are all from the Fort Worth-Dallas area. Their backgrounds and personal histories run the gamut. Their ages range from early twenties to thirties; three are married or engaged – four single; three are moms; two are full-time students; three work full-time in the fitness business; and one is a senior financial analyst working on her masters degree in Technology Management. The truck is prepared by Team Texas High Performance Driving School, and owner Mike Starr will serve as crew chief for the team. It’s the same truck that won the fall Truck Series race at Texas in 2000 when it was driven by Bryan Reffner for Team Menard Racing. Starr purchased the truck from John Menard and nephew David Starr drove it to a third place finish at Texas in June 2001 and a fourth place finish in October that same year. Robinson tested in the truck at Texas April 21-22 and ran speeds that would have qualified her on the front row of Sept. 2002 race at Texas.(TMS PR)(5-9-2003)
UPDATE 4: Robinson and the all women crew will also run at Las Vegas and ine other race, ‘official’ announcement will be made at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday, May 16th.(5-16-2003)
the crew for Shawna Robinson
(LVMS – click on image to see larger image and more images)