Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival - July 23 - Ask Patty

July 23, 2010

Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival - July 23

AskPatty.com rounds up the women in motorsports news from across the interwebs.

Legendary female racer Lyn St. James has a new project: Accelerate with Lyn St. James. It is a syndicated automotive program targeted to women, set to debut in January.

James will use a format of two-minute segments covering driving safely, auto maintenance and ownership. She'll also give viewers a sense of what it's like to be behind the wheel competing in some of the most famous motorsports events in the world.

"I have so much fun with that because I can play dumb with the best of them," she said. "Once, my air conditioning went out and this guy was not treating me so well at the dealership, giving me the run-around. I just needed Freon. I didn't need a new system. Then he looked at me strangely and noticed who I was. His whole demeanor changed after that, which is a sad story."

Bea Wilson and her daughter, Melissa Wilson are two of the few women owning and exhibiting cars in the Syracuse Nationals. They are also in Flames ‘R’ Us. Their cars are have a system that can shoot 75 foot high flames out the back.

Kenny and Cheri Bumbera don't spend their weekends with the kids anywhere but at the track.

The Bumberas children — Kristen, 22, Kendall, 17 and Boyd, 12 - have been racing since they were little.

"When they (Kristen, Kendall, and Boyd) were little, I figured they would be more into the mechanical end, but Kristen loved the driving, Kendall was on the outside, Boyd loved the driving," he said, mentioning that Kendall was more involved in showing horses until she was 12. "Then one day Kendall popped up and said she wanted to do it. It was easier than most people do with taking their kids to baseball and softball. We would always go to the racetrack. It was a way to have all my kids with me."

Things didn't go so well for Danica Patrick at Watkins Glen last weekend.

Patrick failed to advance out of the first qualifying group and ultimately finished a dismal 21st.

"I was feeling really confident going into qualifying … , but I just didn't have the speed I needed to get the GoDaddy car out of the first group," she said. "The field gets more and more competitive and when you're just a tad off the pace it can end up costing you more than ever.

"It was a pretty tough day for the GoDaddy team," she said. "The car itself was solid, but we just couldn't make up any ground. My guys did a great job this weekend, so I wish we had more to show for it."

Trouble for Milka?

IndyCar Series chief executive officer Randy Bernard says they are closely monitoring the dangerously slow Milka Duno.

“I’m going to get myself in trouble on this one, but I’m going to tell you,” Bernard said on Saturday at the Honda Indy Toronto. “It’s very, very important for the credibility of the IndyCar Series that fans know they’re (the drivers) the best in the world. And if someone can’t maintain and compete with that, I really think that’s what we have a ladder system for.

“I’m behind our chief steward, Brian Barnhart. He has to make the assessment who is allowed on and who isn’t. I’m sure at the end of this year, Brian and I will sit down and determine what’s in the best interest of the sport.”

At a small dusty field just outside the West Bank city of Ramallah, mostly male spectators cheer and wave flags as a car speeds though a turn on the racetrack.

The car comes to a halt and the racer, 24-year-old Mona Ennab, jumps out. When she slides off her helmet and smiles at the crowd, it's not hard to see why she was a contestant for Miss Palestine, the West Bank's beauty pageant.

She's part of a team of Palestinian women competing in the West Bank's burgeoning professional car racing scene.