Women in Auto Racing: Ladies' Nights in Joliet

This past weekend at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, history was made by the women in auto racing. Saturday night (August 28^th), five women competed in the Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 in the IZOD IndyCar Series - the most ever to start an IndyCar race. But they weren't the only women in action - four more women competed in the weekend's other three races, for a grand total of nine.

The ladies started racing Friday night (August 27^th), when Alli Owens took the green flag in the ARCA Racing Series in the Ansell Protective Gloves 150. Starting 16^th in the field, Owens came home with a 14^th place finish in the #15 ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevrolet. Later in the evening, Rookie of the Year candidate Jennifer Jo Cobb and 18-year-old Johanna Long competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series' EnjoyIllinois.com 225; Cobb started 29^th and came home 22^nd, while Long started and finished in 20^th.

In Saturday afternoon's Firestone Indy Lights race, the Chicagoland 100, England's Pippa Mann was part of the third-closest finish in Indy Lights history, finishing second to James Hinchcliffe by 0.0159 second. Mann started second, her second front-row start of the year, and led her first laps of the season for Sam Schmidt Motorsports while coming home to a personal-best finish.

In Saturday night's main event, the ladies of speed came out in full force, occupying five of the 29 starting positions. The fastest female qualifier was Andretti Autosport driver Danica Patrick, starting seventh in the GoDaddy.com car. Brazilian rookie Ana Beatriz qualified 22^nd in just her third race of the season, while veteran IndyCar driver Sarah Fisher qualified in 25^th. Milka Duno qualified 26^th, followed by Swiss rookie Simona de Silvestro in 27^th.

Just before the race's halfway point, Fisher led her first race laps in the series since 2002 when others were pitting; she remained with the lead pack for about 20 laps before needing to stop. Under a late-race caution, Patrick used a fuel-only pit stop to come out sixth, but ended up finishing 14^th, the last car on the lead lap; Fisher, one lap down, finished 15^th, while Duno ended up 19^th, down three laps. de Silvestro and Beatriz, both unable to finish the race, wound up 23^rd and 24^th, respectively. The race was won by Dario Franchitti.