Many women in male-dominated arenas have experienced it: know you are capable and qualified to complete a task, but since no one has let you try it, no one really knows that you can do it. It’s an experience felt over and over again by female engineers, mechanics and drivers – but it’s a barrier that keeps Paretta Autosport has started to break.
“Two of our employees last year came from NASCAR Penske and have since transferred to IndyCar,” Beth Paretta, founder and principal of Paretta Autosport, told Jalopnik at the Music City Grand Prix. “Another employee worked for Roush in NASCAR at the store, but she was promoted and supported the team along the way.”
Paretta then laughed. “It is our loss, but it proves that this is working. These women are exposed and then given the opportunity. “
Beth Paretta has been trying to bring a women’s racing team forward successfully for many years. Her first attempt came in 2015 with Grace Autosport, an all-female Indy 500 team with a car driven by Katherine Legge … if only everything would work out. The crew was unable to ensure proper equipment and the program failed.
Thankfully, Paretta is back with a second hit in 2021, beating Simona de Silvestro in that year’s Indy 500. In 2022, Paretta ditched the Indy 500 for a more comprehensive mix program four races on routes and streets as a way to get the most out of your team’s budget.
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“Women have always been in racing,” Paretta said. “We all know the women throughout history, like Anita Millicanbut the fact that we can recite all of them is the question.
“I like to say that the women in the fields are like drops of food coloring in the ocean. I just try to put all the drops of food coloring in one glass. We don’t do anything different than the women who have been in racing, but the image is strong. “
Beyond racing, Paretta Autosport is strongly committed to introducing the next generation of motorsport fans. As we finished our conversation, both Paretta and de Silvestro began to greet a group of students, mostly young girls, and give them a tour of the field.
“I started watching racing when I was a kid, but I never thought it was something I could be a part of, it was also a way to have a career and a salary,” said Paretta. speak. “I don’t know if any of those girls are already race fans, but if even one of them keeps buying tickets or thinking, ‘I want to be like those mechanics’, I’ve done my job.”
It can be a big question. Then again, just hours later, I chatted with Firestone’s Cara Adams. She told me how, during a tour of the tire tent, a girl in the same group of young people told her classmate that she had learned all about tires from a mechanic and went on to explain The reason why wet weather tires have grooves and cracks. ‘t. The next generation of female race fans really looks very promising.
