NASCAR Female Drivers - One Step at a Time

"My father passed away when I was in high school, and at that time my brother lost his drive. I continued to go to races by myself and get in cars here and there. At one point I really wanted to be a professional ski racer. I wanted to go to the Olympics. I trained like crazy and sometime in the middle of college I had the opportunity to drive this guy's Sprint Car. To me, at the time, it was a huge opportunity. Literally from that day on, I have used most of my time to try and make it work."

Crocker remains the only woman in history to win a World of Outlaws Sprint Car race.

In the spring of 2003, Crocker graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, earning a bachelor's degree in industrial and management engineering.

Duncan grew up in the backyard of the Infineon Raceway, formerly known as Sears Point, in San Rafael, California, and has fond memories of the first time her father took her to the racetrack.

"It was the very first race that NASCAR had at Sears Point," Duncan says. "That is about 15 or 20 miles from my house where I grew up. I was this little kid up against the fence, and I was absolutely enthralled by it. From the second the first car rolled out on the racetrack, I was immediately hooked on racing. The feeling in the air, the excitement, the speed, the adrenaline, the smells, just everything about racing immediately hooked me."

At the age of 17, Duncan began her career in motorsports by racing in series such as the Sports Car Club of America, Late Model Stocks division, and the Women's Global GT Championship.

Duncan earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic University.

"One of my biggest role models has always been Alan Kulwicki," Duncan says. "He is one of the people who inspired me to go to school and get my engineering degree.

"I think my degree helps me tremendously every day when it comes to driving the car, when it comes to relating to the crew, and when it comes to understanding the changes we are making to the car and how that is going to affect the setup and the handling of the car. I think that is one of the things most people don't typically expect a female driver to have-a strong technical background. I think it just makes me a better, well-rounded driver."

On June 11, 2005, Duncan became the first woman to win in the Western Late Model Series when she won a NASCAR-sanctioned race at Stockton 99 Speedway in California.

Sarah Fisher's mom and dad actually met while racing go-karts in Ohio when Sarah's mom took the checkered flag. Fisher couldn't escape racing-it's in her blood.

"I have been racing since I was 5 years old, so that is all I know," Fisher says. "It was a very competitive environment I was raised in. Racing was one hundred percent of all the time I had. My parents were very strict with the grade point average that I carried. They wouldn't let me drop anything below a B or we wouldn't go racing. The time I had to work on the race cars while my dad was running his fabrication business and the time I had to do schoolwork and go to school was all the time I had, period."

Like Crocker and Duncan, Fisher regards a college degree as very important. Currently, Fisher is pursuing a marketing degree at Ellis College.

"I have a year to go," says Fisher. "I am in an online program similar to the University of Phoenix. I really love school, and both of my parents are college educated and it is very important for me to do that."

Fisher's career highlights include being the youngest driver in IRL IndyCar Series history to race (at the age of 19 in 1999), and in 2000 she became the third woman to qualify for the Indy 500. She was also voted the "Most Popular Driver" in each of her three years as an open-wheel racer in the Indy Racing League.

All of these high-profile drivers agree they have received many benefits from the Drive for Diversity program.

"Well, I don't think Richard Childress would know who I was if it weren't for the Drive for Diversity Program," Duncan says. "We had been going and testing for the Drive for Diversity program a week or so ago, and I was there driving a car in front of and getting a chance to talk to representatives from a lot of top Nextel Cup teams. That is huge to get your name out there. If it weren't for the Drive for Diversity program, I don't think I would have a couple of years of Late Model racing under my belt."

"It has provided me with an audience, more or less in NASCAR," Fisher explains. "For myself, I am the enemy. I came from a series they were not a part of. I had to back down to learn a lot of techniques required to drive these cars. The program just gave me an audience I could talk to and ask questions."