One summer night back in 1953, Vicki Wood’s husband Clarence took her to Detroit’s Motor City Speedway to watch other women drivers in the the powder puff races.
She wasn’t impressed by their driving, and after expressing that to her husband, he condescendingly brought her back a week later to get behind the wheel herself.
Ms. Wood never had raced on a track before, but came in ninth place of 24 other women.
That day, she became hooked. She went back to Detroit Motor Speedway the next day to win the powder puff race, and then went on to become the first women to compete in NASCAR events.
She won 48 trophies throughout her 10-year racing career from 1953-63, breaking the gender barrier in Michigan as well as at the Daytona International Speedway, and her top speed of 150.375 miles per hour remains a record for one-way runs on the sand at Daytona Beach.
Ms. Wood passed away earlier this month in Michigan at 101 years old, first reported by the New York Times’ Katharine Q. Seelye.
She leaves a legacy as “the fastest woman in racing,” a pioneer in the still male-dominated sport of racing, who was known for driving with her signature scarf knotted around her neck, sometimes even wearing skirts and high heels.
“I knew I’d probably win and you’d want to interview me, and I wanted to look good,” she’d say, according to her grandson Neil Wood via Seelye.
"I raced against 100 men — and I beat them all." Trailblazing driver Vicki Wood broke records on the track, and barriers in the world of auto racing. Her grandson remembers the passion that fuelled her, tonight on AIH. pic.twitter.com/muL8QuCnjf
— As It Happens (@cbcasithappens) June 15, 2020
She beat many of the male racing stars of her day, but knew she was unwelcome in the sport, which ultimately led to her quitting.
But Ms. Wood remained proud and confident of her racing abilities throughout her life, driving until the age of 99 when her license was unwillingly taken from her, and glowing while reminiscing on her career.
“I raced against a hundred of them,” she would say of her male competition, per her grandson. “And I beat them all.”
