“Why are you so fucking decent?” She’d meant to snap, to throw the words at him as an accusation, but they came out a whisper, swallowed up by the empty garage.
“Not decent,” said Leo. “Shady. I’m putting in the hard work and now I’m waiting for the luck to follow.”
“Winning Indy?”
Leo hummed in agreement, but it was subdued, like he was holding something back.
Indianapolis Courier-Journal
May 14
Indianapolis Motor Speedway: The Greatest Women You Don’t Know
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is full of storied traditions: the chilled milk and wreath of orchids given to the winning driver, the Borg-Warner Trophy, the yard of bricks at the start-finish line. Equally well known are the men who define the track: Carl Fisher, who built the Speedway with millions of paving bricks in 1909; Ray Harroun, the 500-mile race’s first winner; Tom Carnegie, the track’s longest tenured and most beloved announcer.
Lesser known, but no less important, are the women of the Indianapolis 500. Just in time for Mother’s Day, we’ve compiled an incomplete list of the women who made Indiana’s favorite race what it is today.
Maude Yagle:In 1929, Maude entered a car under the name “M. A. Yagle” and became the first and only woman to own the winning Indy 500 car. Women were not allowed on pit lane at the time, so Maude timed her race car from the grandstands.
Alice Greene:As a young copywriter, Ms. Greene coined the iconic term “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in 1954. Not long after creating the phrase that would soon define the Indianapolis 500, Greeneleft the copy room to tend to her nine children. Her son places two checkered flags on her grave every Mother’s Day.
Bettie Cadou:Women were not allowed in Gasoline Alley until 1971, when veteran reporter Bettie Cadou sued for the right to earn a “silver badge” allowing her access to all the same areas of the track as her male counterparts. Cadou went on to a prodigious career in journalism.
Janet Guthrie:Janet Guthrie earned many firsts for women in racing—the first woman to qualify for the Indy 500, the first woman to qualify for the Daytona 500, and the first woman to snag a major corporate sponsorship (with Texaco). Guthrie was inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
Danica Patrick:Patrick was the first woman to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500 (as a rookie) and the first and only woman to win an IndyCar race (Twin Ring Motegi, 2008).
Beth Paretta:In 2021, Paretta formed a mostly-female IndyCar team—from driver to crew to engineers—and remains a strong advocate for women in motorsports worldwide.
Many outstanding women have helped craft the legacy of the iconic Indianapolis 500. Who will be next?
Chapter 15
10 days until the Indianapolis 500
Mack received the text ten minutes after she got to the garage the next morning, and she immediately headed for the pedestrian entrance of Gasoline Alley. She’d barely rounded the corner when she saw Wes, Billie, and a bouncing Shaw waving like she’d been gone for two years instead of two weeks.
“Mama!Mama!”
Mack had Shaw in her arms faster than any car she’d ever driven. Holding her daughter made the anxiety of the last few days melt away, at least for a moment. She looked Shaw over, finding her daughter both exactly the same and yet changed as time took away her childhood second by second.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” Mack murmured into Shaw’s soft hair. Not once since her horrible decision to let Shaw stay with Kelley had she spent a night away from her daughter, and even though Mack had craved space and time to herself, she felt like things were clicking back into place now that she held Shaw in her arms again. Shaw grounded her without even trying, the soft embrace of her warm little body and the familiar scent of lotion and chewing gum.
“Mama! Don’t smear my face paint!” Mack pulled back enough to see Shaw’s cheeks flanked with black-and-white checkered flags. Her blond hair was twisted in a complicated braid that circled her head, andtiny race car earrings dangled from her lobes. Shaw preened at the attention. “Billie helped me look fancy! And she made us all outfits. Look!”
Sure enough, the three of them were all wearing royal blue T-shirts withMack Williams #11emblazoned in bright white font. Wes and Shaw wore matching checkered-flag bandannas around their necks and Billie wore a checkered-flag headband. Wes leaned heavily on his cane, tears bubbling in the creases of his eyes even as he grinned wider than Mack had seen in years. It was a familiar smile, the one that said,that’s my girl. She’d forgotten that he used to look at her like that night after night when she’d won under the lights, and it nearly broke her. Mack rubbed at her mouth to hide the wobble in her lip. These people had such faith in her and she couldn’t even find two-twenty on track.
She pulled her aviators out of her hair and plopped them over her watery eyes. If she started crying now, she might not stop until the entire month of May was over. Undeterred, Wes pulled her in for a bear hug. “You’re finally here, Spec. I knew it. I always knew it.”
The thick tenor of her own voice made her feel naked. “You look good, Daddy.”
Billie rubbed Wes’s back in circles, looking at him like he’d just come home from war. “Healthy eating and exercise are miracle drugs. We’ve been working hard to build up strength to cheer for”—she paused and directed her voice up toward the heavens—“Mack Williams, number eleven!”
Wes beamed at Billie but Mack’s cheeks flamed with mortification. What if everyone in the garage overheard and thought she was full of herself when in reality she was so slow she would never make the field? Her breakfast swirled in her stomach and she looked around to see if anyone was looking their way.
“Goddamn! The Indy 500. Sure wish I had a beer to celebrate.”
Her dad loved a morning beer, loved a track beer, and his true love in life was probably a beer at the track in the morning, but Mack saw no cooler in sight. “You didn’t bring any?”
