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"Women didn't know it was for them and the few
who did didn't have a lot of opportunity," Paretta Autosport
team owner Beth Paretta told Reuters, when asked why it took
more than a century for a team like hers to even reach the
starting line.
"Hire hard-working women," she added. "End of story."
Women comprise 70% of the team's lineup - both in competition
and commercial roles - with the female-owned and driven group
standing in contrast to the rest of the field in the 105th
running of the crown jewel of IndyCar racing in an
overwhelmingly male sport.
Days after qualifying for the race on "bump day", driver Simona
De Silvestro, the so-called "Swiss Missile", told reporters she
believed her team had immense potential.
"If we're able to be really successful on Sunday I think it will
change a lot of mindsets of a lot of people out there to just
give opportunities," said De Silvestro, 32, five times an Indy
500 starter herself.
"That's what I've fought for my whole career and it's also
finally happening."
The Brickyard has seen its share of headline-grabbing female
drivers in the past - from Janet Guthrie, the first to qualify
and drive the 500 in 1977, to Danica Patrick more recently - but
progress for women in the sport overall has been slow.
Four women featured in the 33-car starting grids in 2010, 2011
and 2013, but there were no female drivers last year for the
first time in two decades.
"Ten years ago I would have loved to be in this situation but it
didn't happen," said De Silvestro, the Indianapolis 500 Rookie
of the Year in 2010.
"But I think it's cool to see and for me also to be involved in
it, it's super special."
(Reporting by Lewis Franck; writing by Amy Tennery, editing by
Ed Osmond)
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