Here's a pretty good NASCAR.com piece about the three women drivers in that 1977 Firecracker 400 won by Richard Petty.
'77 Firecracker last time females in same Cup race
Three women competed, including GP notable Lombardi
By Mark Aumann, NASCAR.COM
November 5, 2009
As the Danica Patrick saga finally may be nearing resolution, perhaps it's time to look back at the 1977 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the last time three female drivers competed in the same Cup race.
In NASCAR's early days, female drivers were more common. Sara Christian, Louise Smith and Ethel Mobley -- sister to the famous Flock brothers -- were all regular participants in the Grand National schedule. But by the mid-'50s, it became rare to see a woman behind the wheel of a stock car in NACAR's premier division.
That changed when Humpy Wheeler enticed Janet Guthrie into running the 1976 World 600 at Charlotte after she failed to find enough speed to make the grid at Indianapolis that May. And the next summer, not only did Guthrie and Charlotte banking executive Lynda Ferreri show up at Daytona with a car, but so did Christine Beckers -- born in German-occupied Belgium and a veteran of European sports-car racing -- and Italian native Lella Lombardi.
Born in 1941 near Turin, Maria Grazia Lombardi had a passion for sports at an early age, but her family didn't own a car. Anecdotal evidence suggests she was intrigued by sports cars while being rushed to the hospital in one after suffering a broken nose in a handball game while as a teenager. At some point later on, she scraped together enough money for driving lessons, practiced for several months with her boyfriend's car, then purchased a second-hand Fiat.
The late Lella Lombardi, circa 1975
She got her start in rally racing, first as a navigator, then as driver. Catching the eye of manufacturing executives at Alfa Romeo, she landed a factory ride in the Italian Touring Car Championship series, finishing third at Palermo. Eventually, she wound up in single-seat, open-wheel cars, winning the 1973 Ford Mexico series championship, then stepping up into Formula 5000.
Emboldened by her success, Lombardi decided to try Formula 1 in 1974. Driving a year-old chassis, Lombardi failed to qualify for the British Grand Prix. But with backing from a multi-millionaire count, she wound up on the March factory team the following season -- in a car that was second-tier but more competitive -- and finished sixth of the eight cars still running at the finish of the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, still the only female driver to earn points in a Grand Prix race. She followed that with a seventh-place finish in the German Grand Prix, another race with heavy attrition.
Lombardi started the 1976 season with a 14th-place finish at Brazil but was out of the ride shortly thereafter when Ronnie Peterson returned to March from Lotus. She then attempted to run a handful of races for RAM Racing, finishing 12th at Austria in her final Grand Prix start.
1977 Firecracker 400
Results
Pos. Driver Make
1. Richard Petty Dodge
2. Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet
3. Benny Parsons Chevrolet
4. David Pearson Mercury
5. A.J. Foyt Chevrolet
6. Donnie Allison Chevrolet
7. Buddy Baker Ford
31. Lella Lombardi Chevrolet
37. Christine Beckers Ford
40. Janet Guthrie Chevrolet
That led Lombardi to Daytona in the summer of 1977. She landed a ride in Charles Dean's No. 05 Chevrolet, which was sponsored by Bearfinder, a company which manufactured radar detectors. Peter Knab had driven that car to a 12th-place finish earlier in the year at Talladega. Lombardi qualified a respectable 29th out of 41 cars which took the green flag, nine places behind Guthrie's Kelly Girl Chevy and eight in front of Beckers, driving one of Junie Donlavey's Fords.
Surprisingly, Guthrie was the first to drop out, experiencing engine problems almost from the start, taking her car to the garage after just 11 laps and winding up 40th. Beckers retired shortly thereafter with brake issues after 33 laps and was scored in 37th place.
Lombardi was still running deep in the pack but battling transmission issues when the race was red-flagged just after halfway because of a thundershower. The car finally gave out once the race resumed two hours later, and Lombardi was credited with a 31st-place finish.
Richard Petty, who built a huge advantage only to see it wiped out by the rain, hooked up with Bobby Allison in a two-car draft once the race resumed and steadily pulled away for a 17-second margin of victory over Darrell Waltrip. Benny Parsons, whose car was trailing smoke the entire race, finished third, as only seven cars made the entire 400-mile distance.
Guthrie would go on to run 21 more races, including four top-10s, before her stock-car racing career came to an end in 1980, but for Beckers and Lombardi, the 1977 Firecracker 400 would be their only Cup appearance. Lombardi would return to Europe and sports-car racing, co-driving the winning BMW at Pergusa and Vallelunga in 1979. She continued to race into the '80s, mainly competing in the European Touring Car Championship.
Lombardi was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1992, a few weeks shy of her 49th birthday.
--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
