Shelby Goodrich was known for blowing out tires and smacking trailers as a 15-year-old teenager taking part in off-road racing. This summer, she did her best to disprove stereotypes that the male-dominated sport is tough on girls.
The 17-year-old high school senior of Shelton, Conn., was the first women to win all four classes in the NASCARXUSA Trail Jam Series, a NASCAR-sanctioned series for women created in 2017. In the season-ending road course competition in West Virginia, she won three of the four classes, including last week’s Mini Sprint.
In announcing the win, she said this about competing against men: “I don’t know that being a girl matters that much. I know all the girls in the Sprint Car. We’ve just got a ton of time for each other and we are not a lot different than the guys.”
Totally agree, Shelby!
Sports leadership is big for women in sports right now. Earlier this year, Fox Sports’ Shannon Spake became the first woman to ever win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race (July 2016). Those who run track and field programs, Olympic teams, and the like have to be interested in how women are progressing into sports leadership at the grassroots level.
So, tell us: Are you surprised Shelby Goodrich is breaking stereotypes? Did she do it because she had to or because she wanted to?