Women making mark during 2024 racing season
Jun. 11—Thus far in the 2024 racing season, it is proving to be a memorable year for women competing at the national level.
Several weeks ago, Kaylee Bryson — who competes in the USAC Silver Crown Series for locally based Sam Pierce racing — became the first woman to set the fast time during qualifying and the first to win a Silver Crown race at the Bellville High Banks in Kansas.
Bryson is currently seventh in the points standings.
This weekend the series travels to Port Royal Speedway in the Keystone state.
This past weekend, Jamie Chadwick became just the third woman to win a race with the Indy NXT series — the feeder series to IndyCar.
Chadwick set the fast time and won at Road America in Wisconsin.
Ana Beatriz won races with the series in 2008 and 2009, and Pippa Mann scored a victory in 2010.
Both Mann and Beatriz made starts in the Indy 500 and, with Chadwick driving for Andretti Autosport, it seems likely she will get a shot at making the Indy 500 sometime in the future.
Locally, Michigan driver Taylor Ferns has been competing with the 500 Sprint Car Tour and has been knocking on the door for the first win by a woman in the traveling series.
----Team Penske driver Will Power snapped a 34-race losing streak with IndyCar on the Wisconsin road course
He led a sweep of the top three positions by Team Penske, with Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin finishing on the podium.
The win propelled Power to the championship points lead. He has a five-point margin over defending champion Alex Palou with Scott Dixon another six points back.
----Fresh off NASCAR's decision to grant a waiver for the championship Chase, Kyle Larson won the Cup race at Sonoma for his third win of the year.
Larson needed the waiver to contend for another championship because he didn't compete in the Charlotte race on the same day he competed in the Indianapolis 500.
OTHER RACING NEWS
This past week, 500 Sprint Car Tour officials announced the disqualification for failing post-race inspection by winner by Dakoda Armstrong and the third-place finish by Caleb Armstrong in April in Anderson.
That gave the victory to Kody Swanson, moving Kyle O'Gara to second and Ferns to a third-place finish.
The scheduled 500 Sprint Car Tour and Kenyon Midget Series races for Berlin Raceway last weekend were postponed by weather.
A make-up date has not been announced.
The Sprint Cars will next compete June 28 at Toledo Speedway, where Swanson is the defending race winner.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
