Shawna Robinson on Racing Routes with Hamm Monday August 29, 2022 at 7pm >https://youtu.be/dDlNmDIY9-w Shawna went for the big rigs when she graduated from high school in 1983 as she raced semi-tractors following in the tire tracks of her Dad, Richard “Lefty” Robinson who was an amateur diesel truck racer and her Mom Lois who also raced but was asked by her husband to retire after she flipped a car. Shawna won 30 races her first year. The next year she moved into the GATR (Great American Truck Racing) Truck Series where she won rookie of the year. In 1988 Shawna moved to stock car racing and was the first woman to win a NASCAR sanctioned race the year she entered the division and finished 3rd in points.
A year later she was in the Charlotte/ Daytona DASH Series where she won 2 races and again finished 3rd in the standings, and became the first woman to earn the Pole Position for a NASCAR Touring series race. For two years she was voted Most Popular Driver. In 1991 Shawna moved to the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series. On March 12,1994 she won the pole at Atlanta in the Busch Series Busch Light 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, becoming the first female to clinch the pole for any of the 3 major series’. In 1995 she left racing to start a family and started her own interior decorating business.
In 1999 she returned to racing this time in the ARCA series where she ended the season 6th in points in 2000. In 2001 Shawna made her run in the top tier of stock car racing in the Winston Cup series. At the season-opening Daytona 500 in 2002, Robinson qualified in 36th place making her the second woman to start the race. After 4 years she retired from auto racing returning to her business of decorating and furniture. Robinson is one of 16 women to have participated in the NASCAR Cup Series, and one of three to have driven in the series’ premier event, the Daytona 500.
While growing up she was inspired by Steve Kinser, AJ Foyt ,Sammy Swindell and Janet Guthrie.
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