THE HISTORY MAKERS:
ETHEL FLOCK MOBLEY > SARA CHRISTIAN > LOUISE SMITH
As NASCAR® celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Daytona 500, Track Chic is privileged to pay tribute to the female pioneers and history makers of the sport. Hailing from the red-dirt tracks of Dixie, where NASCAR was born, three women were allowed to compete "on the beach" at Daytona on July 10th, 1949. Ignoring vocal complaints from other drivers, NASCAR's founder Bill France allowed three women to race: Ethel Flock Mobley, sister of the legendary Bob, Fonty & Tim Flock: Sara Christian, wife of an Atlanta bootlegger and previous competitor in the Grand National race; and Louise Smith, a bawdy driver from South Carolina.
ETHEL FLOCK MOBLEY
.jpg) The youngest daughter of Carl and Maudie Flock, Ethel, named after the fuel her father used in his taxicab, was closer in age to her speed demon brothers: Bob, Fonty and Tim. And she particularly shared her brothers’ passion for fast cars and competition. Truly a pioneer, Ethel Flock raced in over one hundred modified events during an era when women weren't even allowed in the pits at many tracks.
In 1948 brother Bob built the New Atlanta Speedway just outside Jonesboro, Georgia. To attract larger crowds, he invited Ethel, Sara Christian, and Sara’s sister, Mildred Williams, to race at the new track! Following her brothers south, Ethel Flock Mobley joined them "on the beach" at Daytona on July 10th, 1949. The event was the first to feature a brother and a sister, and the only NASCAR event to feature four siblings. Driving a '49 Cadillac owned by her husband,  Ethel finished eleventh. She not only beat Bob and Fonty, but also racing legends Curtis Turner, Buck Baker and Herb Thomas. Not too shabby for a Georgia housewife.
Tim Flock who finished second that day recalled the event, "She particularly loved racing with and beating her brothers". This was one of two NASCAR starts for Ethel, her combined winnings for both races was fifty dollars.
SARA CHRISTIAN
 In 1949, her rookie season, Sara Christian of Atlanta competed in the first NASCAR strictly stock (now Sprint Cup) race at Charlotte Speedway. She qualified 13th for the 200-lap race -- one place above Sam Rice, a pre-war winner of the Daytona Beach race. She drove a ‘49 Oldsmobile, prepared by her husband Frank, to a 13th place finish in a field of 33. In September 1949 Sara started 21st in a field of 44 at Langhorne, PA. She finished sixth and Curtis Turner invited her to join him in victory lane. Sara ran six of the eight strictly stock races in 1949 and finished 13th in the point standings. Her best finish was fifth in the October race at Heidelberg, PA. It is the only top five NASCAR finish for a woman. Sara also had two top ten finishes and was named Woman Driver of the Year in 1949.
LOUISE SMITH
 Louise Smith raced for the love of her sport. "Money was nothing back then," she says. "Sometimes it seemed like the more you drove the less money you had. I remember one time Buck Baker and Lee Petty and I had to put our money together just to split a hot dog and a Coke. I won a lot, crashed a lot, and broke just about every bone in my body, but I gave it everything I had."
Louise was born in Barnsville, Georgia, but her family moved to a farm near Greenville, South Carolina when she was four. When she decided to learn to drive, Louise started her father's T-Model and had a wonderful time until she realized she did not know how to stop. So she drove the car through the chicken house and had the first of her spectacular crashes. "Needless to say, the chicken house was destroyed, and the car did not look good either. My father tanned me good," recalls Louise.
Louise met Bill France before he created NASCAR. "In those days 300 or 400 fans was a big crowd, and Bill thought I could put more people in the stands," says Louise. The fans turned out by the hundreds at Louise's first race to see a woman compete against the "real" drivers. "They told me if I saw a red flag to stop," she remembers. "They didn't say anything about a checkered flag." All the drivers except Louise went to the pits when the race ended. "I'm out there just flyin' around the track. Finally somebody remembered they told me not to stop until I saw the red flag. So they gave me a red flag." She finished third in that event and went on to win 28 modified races in 11 years much to the chagrin of Lee Petty, Buck Baker, Curtis Turner, Fonty Flock, Red Byron, and Roy Hall.
Louise Smith lives in Greenville, South Carolina and is a member of The Living Legends. She is the first woman to be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega.
In 1949 France’s goal was to entice a record crowd to come watch three women battle crusty moonshiner/racers, not to mention the legendary Flock brothers, to a daring finish. Per NASCAR Historian and author of Driving with the Devil, Neal Thompson, "Dawsonville’s Gober Sosebee led the early laps, with Tim Flock and Red Byron stalking from behind. Louise Smith flipped her Ford in the chopped-up and rutted north turn, landing upside down and dangling from her seat belt. A dozen fans ran to her aid, but Smith insisted she wasn’t hurt and asked if they’d help roll her back over so she could get back in the race. Smith stayed put in the driver’s seat while the men flipped her car back onto its wheels and she took off.”
Byron won the race comfortably, but “Ethel Flock Mobley, driving with her AM radio blasting throughout the race, finished an impressive eleventh – ahead of brothers Bob and Fonty. Sara Christian finished eighteenth, and Louise Smith, after her flip, came in second to last." All three women would continue to race into the early 1950s even though resistance from the male drivers was strong. There is no doubt that their determination fueled the passion of thousands of female race fans and served as inspiration to many, including the history makers listed below:
Erin Crocker
ESS Feature Winner and USAC Newcomer
Allison Duncan
Road Racing Champion, NASCAR Weekly Series Competitor
Renee Dupuis
NASCAR Featherlite Series Competitor
Sondi Eden
NAMARS/USAC Midget Winner
Sarah Fisher
INDYRacing Series
3rd Woman to Qualify for INDY 500
Fastest female driver to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 with a four-lap average of 229.439 mph
First woman to win the pole in a major auto racing series in the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in 2002.
Ashley Force
NHRA competitor and 2007 AOL Sports Poll Hottest Athlete
Divina Galica
Aurora Series Formula One Champion
Janet Guthrie
First woman to race in the Indy 500
The only woman to race in NASCAR and Indy
Peggy Llewellyn
First Jamaican/Hispanic woman to win NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Fall Nationals competition beating 3-time World Champion Andrew Hines in Ennis, Texas September 2007. With the victory, LLewellyn qualified for a spot in the Countdown to One, the final phase of NHRA's playoff to determine the season championships.
Danica Patrick
Fourth woman to qualify in the INDY 500
Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season
Top American finisher in UK Formula Ford Festival,
Team Rahal Toyota Atlantic Series
Deborah Renshaw
ARCA Competitor and NASCAR Weekly Series Competitor
Shawna Robinson
NASCAR Busch/Winston Cup Competitor
Lyn St. James
Seven-time Indy 500 driver and the first woman to win the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year Award
Founder of Lyn St James Women in the Winner's Circle Foundation and Driver Development Program
Michelle Thierault
Legend Pro Series Champion
Lynsey Tilton
SKDA Jr. One Champion, BMX Grand National Champion
Melanie Troxel
IHRA /NHRA Winner
Samantha Weakley
WKA Champion and USAC Ford Focus Competitor
Acknowledgements: Darlene Mobley-Hollingsworth, Living Legends of Auto Racing, Inc. and Neal Thompson, author "Driving with the Devil" 
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