Sara Christian

Sara Christian was the wife of racecar driver Frank Christian. She was born in 1918 and hailed from Dahlonega, Georgia, the site of the first major gold rush in 1928. Back in the early days it was not uncommon for women to take part in the racing and in her rookie year she was the first woman to qualify and compete in the NASCAR Strictly Stock inaugural race at Charlotte Speedway.

This first race took place on the 19th June, 1949 on the three quarter mile track. She qualified 13th in the 1949 Oldsmobile that was prepared for her by her husband, Frank and finished 13th in a field of thirty three (one place above Sam Rice, a pre-war winner of the Daytona Beach race). Sara’s husband also competed in this race where he finished sixth in his only career start. Sara and Frank became the only husband and wife to ever compete together in a NASCAR event.

The second race of the season, at the Daytona Beach Road course on the 10th of July saw her joined by two other women, Louise Smith and Ethel Mobley (the sister of the Flock brothers). This was the first race to have three women competitors. Sara finished 18th in a field of twenty eight. In September of the same year Sara started 21st and finished sixth in her fourth race of the season, in a field of forty four, at Langhorne Speedway, and the winner of the race, Curtis Turner, invited her to join him in victory lane. Incidentally, Louise Smith and Ethel Mobley also competed in this event making it the last time that three women have competed in a NASCAR event until this was broken on the 4th of July in1977 when Christine Beckers, Janet Guthrie and Lella Lombardi competed against each other at Daytona Speedway in the Firecracker 400.

In October, the ninth race of the season at Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sara finished an amazing fifth place. It was the only Top 5 finish in stock car history for a woman in NASCAR’s premier circuit until it was overshadowed at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by Danica Patrick on the 5th of March, 2011 with her fourth position win in the Nationwide Series, Sam’s Town 300. Sara ran in six of the eight strictly stock events in 1949 and finished an incredible thirteenth in the final points standings and with her other two Top 10finishes she was named "Woman Driver of the Year" by the United States Driver’ Association in 1949 for accomplishment. She is one of the few women drivers to become a member of NASCAR’s 100MPH Club which she joined in 1953. 1950 saw Sara compete in one race, at Hamburg Speedway in New York in which she finished 14th before she retired. She was inducted in to the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame in 2004. She died of natural causes in 1980.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This web page may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This page is operated under the assumption that the pictures on this page represent a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Any text or images that you feel need to be removed please contact me.

Living Legends of NASCAR
American Stock
Wikipedia

Comments

Be the first person to comment on this item

You must Login to comment on this item.