VROOOMMM! Dramaturgical Information

The journey for Triad Stages’s production of Janet Allard’s NASCAR comedy VROOOMMM! begins and ends at Victory Junction, the summer camp for seriously ill children founded by Richard Petty and his family in honor of his grandson.

Adam Petty was only 18 years old when he dreamt of creating a safe place for ill children to be able to experience the joy and freedom of attending summer camp without the special needs of their individual medical conditions getting in the way.

Recent Wo Works: Into the Wild, commissioned by Perseverance Theater, and developed at Berkeley Rep Ground Floor and Rhinebeck Writer’s Retreat; Pool Boy at Barrington Stage; VROOOMMM! A NASComedy, published by French; Speed Date; Incognito; Loyal; Painted Rain; and Untold Crimes Samuel Fre Insomniacs, published by Playscripts, Inc. Her musical The Unknown: A of Insomnia Movie Musical won a Jonathan Larson Award with P73 Productions Silent Movi appeared at NYMF. Her work has been seen at The Guthrie Lab, The and appear Mixed Blood, Playwrights Horizons, Yale Rep, The Yale Kennedy Center, C Cabaret, The Women’s Project, Perseverance Theatre, Joe’s Pub, Barrington Stage, with P73 Productions, and internationally in Ireland, England, Greece, and New Zealand. She is a Fulbright Fellow, and has an M.F.A. Australia an in Playwriting Playwrit from the Yale School of Drama where she met Triad Stage Preston Lane and Richard Wittington. She has studied Founding Directors D at the NYU Musical Theatre Writing program and teaches at the University at Greensboro. of North Carolina C

The camp operates with a one-to-one camper-to-counselor ratio and each child attends the camp with no cost to them or their families. Their medical and dietary needs are met on a daily basis and the campers experience accessible pools, tree houses, bowling and NASCAR activities and meet professionals who visit the facility.

VROOOMMM! at Triad Stage is being presented in partnership with this amazing organization. Through the generous donation of an anonymous donor and partial proceeds from our production, a local Triad area child will be sponsored to attend the camp this coming summer and experience all the joy and wonder of NASCAR and the magical world of Victory Junction.

So even after the set is gone, the actors have returned home, and the race cars have been put back in the garage, our journey with VROOOMMM! will be ending right where our first day of rehearsal began, at one of the most very special places on earth....Victory Junction! Ladies and Gentleman, Start Your Engines!

WINSTON-SALEM

D AV I D K A R L L E E

JAN. 27FEB. 7, 2016 Conc Conceived and Developed with M Michael Bigelow Dixon

JANET ALLARD

From the Director

A NASComedy

by Janet Allard

About the Author

Early Women

S TO C K C A R D R I V E R S As World War II came to a close, former soldiers, bakers, moonshiners, and mechanics took their personal vehicles to various dirt tracks to participate in stock car racing. Similar to legendary stock car racer Red Byron, the racers sacrificed their cars, health, and finances to prove they were the fastest and most skilled drivers in the country.

Among racing greats such as Lee Petty, Curtis Turner, and the Flock brothers, women competed in early stock car races as well. Female stock car racers such as Louise Smith, Sara Christian, Ethel Mobley, and Janet Guthrie added to the significant history of stock car racers.

After World War II, Bill France, a stock car racer turned promoter, thought women drivers could bring larger audiences to the races he promoted. Perhaps drawing from the popularity of early women racers and stunt drivers such as Elfrieda Mais, Joan LaCosta, and Dorothy Walker (the Masked Marvel), Bill France recruited Louise Smith, a woman

with a strong reputation for outrunning law enforcement, to race. During her first stock car race driving a modified 1939 Ford, she reportedly finished 3rd. As legend has it, even after officials raised the checkered flag, Louise kept driving. As a result, officials had to display the red flag to bring her vehicle to a stop. Although Louise knew a red flag meant to “stop,” she was unaware the checkered flag indicated a completion of the race. “They told me if I saw a red flag to stop. They didn’t say anything about the checkered flag,” she said.

Louise Smith was destined to race. In 1947, driving her husband’s new Ford, Louise traveled from Greenville, South Carolina to Daytona Beach, Florida. Instead of merely watching the race, Louise decided to enter the race.

Unfortunately, Louise’s car was wrecked. Suspecting her husband would be disappointed, when she arrived back in Greenville, South Carolina, Louise did not say a word. When her husband asked her where was the car, she remarked, “That ol’ trap broke down in Augusta (Ga.).” In response, her husband showed her the front page of the Greenville newspaper that displayed an image of her smiling in front of the wrecked vehicle.

After the unfortunate incident, Louise continued to race.

Being a woman on the racetrack, however, was not easy.

When discussing racing as a woman, Louise remarked, “The men didn’t like it to start with and they wouldn’t give you an inch.” During her career, Louise won 38 races. She had 11 starts in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s (NASCAR) Strictly Stock division, known today as the Sprint Cup Series. Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999, Smith passed away in April of 2006 at age 89.

Louise Smith

With the distinction as the first woman to compete in the newly formed NASCAR circuit, Sara Christian remained the only woman to finish in the top-five in a NASCAR race until Danica Patrick broke her record in 2011. Sara was named the United States Drivers Association Woman Driver of the Year in 1949. Sara Christian passed away in March of 1980 at age 61, and was inducted into the Georgia Automobile Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.

To racing historians, it is no surprise Ethel Flock Mobely made a name for herself. Operating an illegal moonshining business, the Flock family were juggernauts in stock car racing. During her racing career, Ethel competed in over 100 races and regularly raced against her brothers Tim, Fonty, and Bob Flock. Legend has it Ethel’s name derived from the gasoline her father put in his taxi. Noted as the second female NASCAR driver tied with Louise Smith, Ethel died in June of 1984 at age 64.

Janet Guthrie, another racing great, earned a pilot’s license at the age of seventeen. After graduating from college, she began a career as an aerospace engineer. Intrigued by race cars, Janet brought a Jaguar XK 120 and disassembled and reassembled the engine. Afterwards, she started racing in gymkhanas, field trials, and hill climbs. Guthrie purchased a Jaguar XK 140 and racing soon followed. She became the first woman to compete in a NASCAR Winston Cup event.

Today, she remains one of two women to finish in the top ten in the Indianapolis 500. She was the Top Rookie and first female to race at the Daytona 500 in 1977. Throughout her career, Guthrie garnered five top-10 finishes in 33 starts, with four top 10s in 1977 and one in 1978.

support and respect as her male counterparts. Named to the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006, Janet Guthrie’s helmet and driver’s suit are on display in the Smithsonian. Her autobiography, “Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle” was published in 2005. Guthrie currently is 77 years old.

Interwoven in the fabric of stock car racing, female pioneers such as Louise Smith, Sara Christian, Ethel Mobley, and Janet Guthrie shaped the history of women NASCAR drivers such as Danica Patrick, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Johanna Long, Erin Crocker and Teri Macdonald-Cadieux. Although early female stock car drivers’ challenges were numerous, their accomplishments are significant, and their legacies are rich.

Ethel Flo ck Moble y

Despite Janet’s accomplishments and support from fellow racers, Guthrie failed to sway rumors that she was not as talented as male drivers. In an interview, she said, “I know that that is not true. I stand on my record … but it’s hard to have your reputation kicked around again and again.” She was forced to retire after not receiving the sponsorships or similar levels of Sara Christian

uthrie Janet G