Female Race Crews

Over the last few years, we have seen several women take the drivers seat in professional car racing, but even more women are working behind the scenes as well, making sure the cars run properly on the track. For one Champ Car racing team, girl power is making all the difference. You see them on pit lane, and you see them on the track: women, and lots of them. Now, more than ever, women are breaking stereotypes, and becoming key players on professional car racing teams. They may not be in the drivers seat, but without their work behind the scenes, the drivers would never make it behind the wheel. "Its good to see that women are going into the sport more than before, and I really think its important for everybody," says Team Australia member Simon Pagenaud. No where is that more true than for Team Australia and Pagenaud. Two of his team members are women. One is Anna Chatten, a gearbox mechanic. "Ive been in motor sports for almost nine years now, so its a little bit the norm for me," Chatten says. Chatten thinks shes the only female mechanic working in Champ Car. Thats fine with her, especially since shes grown up around the racing. "My dad was a racing enthusiast, and when I was a little girl, he bought us go-carts and we went go-cart racing, and I like to say that was the beginning of the end," Chatten jokes. Fellow Team Australia member Vikkie Louks got into racing much later in life, after spending years in the high-tech world. "Im the computer nerd. Actually yes, before I got into racing, I was in software for almost eight years," Louks says. But now that shes in Champ Car, Louks cant imagine being anywhere else, and she feels just like one of the boys. "They dont see a difference any more. I mean, when theyre telling the stories, they dont clean them up, so I know they dont see a difference," Louks says.