Patricia Mernone, born 1940

Born Washington, D.C.

Among the first women to compete against men on the American sports car racing circuit, Patricia Mernone blazed a trail in the 1960s during her brief but significant career. She began racing as a twentyone-year-old graduate student in organic chemistry. Within three years, she had won seventy percent of her events, securing two regional championships, a northeast division championship, and a new track record at the Virginia International Raceway.

As the first woman to win a Washington regional championship, Mernone was invited in 1964 to the inaugural American Road Race of Champions in Riverside, California—making her the first female driver to vie for a national title. Although sports writers invariably dwelled on Mernone’s physical attractiveness, they also acknowledged that her surprisingly aggressive driving style and bold maneuvers made her more than a match for male competitors. Her beauty and fierce determination come through in this sketch for an oil painting.