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It's not just a guy thing anymore

By Roger Ruthhart

A couple of seasons ago, Sara Fisher was racing karts against many of the drivers competing at this year's Rock Island Grand Prix. This summer, she found herself driving in Indy Racing League (IRL) races at hallowed race tracks like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Her quick success and popularity showed many race fans what kart racers had known for some time Ī Sara could drive with the best of them.

In fact, when it comes to racing, once you put the helmet on, it's hard to tell the guys from the girls. More and more females aren't content to sit in the stands and be a race fan Ī they want more. Some even hope to follow Sara Fisher down that difficult path that will place them among the world's elite drivers.

Females have raced at the Rock Island Grand Prix since the very beginning, and have entered in record numbers this year.

This year, organizers have decided it is time to acknowledge the accomplishments of the ladies who someday may be among the top Indy, NASCAR, or Formula I drivers we watch on TV and read about in the newspapers.

Those ladies most often mentioned as perhaps the next to emerge from the karting ranks like Sara Fisher, are Canadian Julianna Chiovitti and Florida's Mishael Abbott. Both have met the test in gearbox karts at Superkarts! USA events across the North America, and have also logged some time in open wheel cars.

Abbott, 20, will be among the top racers to watch in the 125cc SuperPro class at this year's Rock Island Grand Prix. If she has her way the King of the Streets race will become the Queen of the Streets. She's also scheduled to race her Formula I Pro One car in the Formula Mazda series at Gingerman in September and Leguna Seca in California in October. She also drove in the Skip Barber Winter Series in 2000.

Abbott is a student at Florida Atlantic University and was the first female to win a Superkarts! USA feature event. Though some might say she looks more like a model than a race car driver, she drives with confidence. Her bio says she ``thinks and moves fast on and off the track.''

In the 125cc SemiPro field, race fans will find Colorado's Courtney Weeks, age 16. Courtney caught a big break this year when she joined the Leading Edge Motorsports team and hopes to reward them with some strong finishes.

Michelle Anglea, who will compete in the Yamahan Heavy and Yamaha Medium classes at Rock Island, also combine brains, good looks and driving savvy into a formidable presence on the track. The graduate of Purdue University, who is a quality engineer at General Motors, is sure to turn heads and says she's looking forward to her first race at Rock Island.

Gina Codalata from that great racing town of Speedway, Ind., brings a fiery presence back to The Rock after two years' absence. While she said she was not ready to make the commitment necessary to be among the elite the first time around, she has returned with a renewed commitment to a racing career. You can see her in the Yamaha Medium and 2-cycle Controlled Super Stock classes.

For sisters Alicia, 13, and Cassie Hodgal, 19, of Minnesota, there is really only one reason to go racing Ī to Beat the Boys. The theme can be found painted on their trailer, their uniforms, and on their website Ī www.BeatTheBoys.com . They come by their racing fanaticism honestly. Their father raced cars and was a former SCCA sports car national champion; their grandfather raced Porches in the 1970s and 1980s; and the girls' aunt raced Formula Vees in the early 1990s.

Alicia was the first to take up the sport four years ago, but Cassie, a former gymnast and cheerleader who also loves volleyball, decided it looked like fun and joined the team. She is a Dean's List student at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Victoria Walker is another youngster who isn't letting the fact that she is a girl get in the way of her love of racing. The 15-year-old from Seymour, Iowa, will join Alicia Hogdal to take on a field of boys in this year's 4-cycle Junior II race at Rock Island.

Finally there is April Ridenour from Middlebury, Ind. The 30-year-old mother of three didn't want her husband to have all of the fun, so she decided to join him at the track on weekends. They will race in the HPV-100 Pro Heavy class.

``My husband and I will be racing against each other at Rock Island and I hope to be as far ahead of him at Rock Island as I was at the South Bend Airport Grand Prix in 2000,'' she said.

As you can see, there are many reasons for females to get involved in racing, most of which have nothing to do with gender.

``I don't want people to think that I'm trying to prove something about gender,'' said Codalata, summing up the thoughts of the other female drivers. ``I want to prove that I had an aspiration and now its reality. If you know what you want, grab a hold of it.

``Never have I been approached by a competitor to insult my gender, only to support because I'm doing what I have always dreamed. Without faith, determination, sassiness, and sustained effort they are nothing more than just dreams,'' she said. Her dream is to be a successful, versatile professional race-car driver.

Whether you're a guy who's curious to see what these ladies are made of, or a female who wants to climb aboard the Beat the Boys bandwagon, you'll want to join the fun at this year's Rock Island Grand Prix. This year the track announcer will help spectators know when the Kart Chicks are on the track.

These eight ladies provide more than enough proof that there's plenty of room for females at the race track Ī and not just in the stands. [an error occurred while processing this directive]