Botticello was 13 and at a 4H summer camp in Hebron when she heard her sister Stacey won the DARE Stock race at Stafford on Aug. 6, 1999, becoming the first female winner in track history.

“I remember being so upset because I missed her first win,” Botticello said. “But I kind of figured it wouldn’t be her last.”

It was far from her last. And the victory helped to kick open the door for women regularly at Stafford Motor Speedway.

Four women, the most ever, will be in the starting lineup for today’s 94th Indianapolis 500. Danica Patrick, who will make her sixth Indy 500 start, has become the face of female racing since she splashed onto the national scene in 2005. But well before Patrick, Stafford Motor Speedway had already set the stage as a trend-setting facility for females

Women have been competing regularly, and winning, for more than a decade at Stafford. This year eight female drivers compete full time in four of the five divisions at Stafford.

“It’s a little surprising to me quite frankly but I think it’s great,” Stafford Motor Speedway chief operating officer and general manager Mark Arute said. “What I really like is that they’re all very capable drivers. It’s a good thing for this track. It’s a feather in the cap for us. It shows the diversity here and it gives it that family atmosphere here that we want. That they’re comfortable doing it here is a really good thing for us.”

The SK Light Division has Erica Santos, Heather DesRochers, Victoria Bergenty and Lauren Cooper competing. Nichole Morgillo is the only female in the track’s top level — the SK Modified Division. Carla Botticello is the lone female in the Limited Late Model Division and Stephanie Berardi and Kaitlyn Brice compete in the entry-level DARE Stock Division.

According to NASCAR there are 108 licensed female drivers competing in the 52 Whelen All-American Series sanctioned tracks in the U.S. and Canada. It’s thought that no other sanctioned short track has as many female regulars as Stafford.

The Waterford Speedbowl has one regular female competitor in its four Whelen divisions. Thompson International Speedway has one regular female competing in its six weekly divisions.

No female drivers compete regularly in any of NASCAR’s three national touring divisions — Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Truck. Renee Dupuis of Glastonbury, who competes full time on the Whelen Modified Tour, and MacKena Bell of Carson City, Nev., who competes in the K&N Pro Series East, are the only female regulars in NASCAR’s six regional touring divisions.

Dupuis, who raced Modifieds at the now-closed Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Mass., competed in Stafford’s SK Modified Division in 2001 before moving on to the Modified Tour.

“It’s such a bizarre thing for me to go to Stafford now and see it the way it is,” Dupuis said. “It’s so weird now to think 10 years later there’s a whole bunch of females who have this little sorority you could say going on, they’re all backing each other and it’s kind of like a sisterhood. I never had anything like that, I was usually the only [female] when I was racing. It’s a pretty cool thing, I just wish it was like that when I was coming up.”

Since Stacey Botticello’s win in 1999, nine other females have won at the track. Botticello, who no longer competes regularly, is tied for the all-time lead in career victories in the DARE Stock Division with 10.

Carla Botticello is the only the female to have won in two divisions. She won her first DARE Stock feature on July 3, 2005 and has four career wins in the division. She moved to the Limited Late Model Division in 2008 and won her first race in August of that year. She added her second win last year. Of the eight females racing full time in 2010, five have feature wins at the track.

But while the sight of females in firesuits at Stafford has gone from an anomaly to predictable, it doesn’t mean everybody competing is fully accepting.

“Last year there was an incident when I was coming out of turn 2 racing someone and the person I was racing against came down on my right rear tire and he hit the wall but his dad came to my pit after the races and said a lot of swears to me and said that I shouldn’t be driving and that I was just another chick driver and all that,” Cooper said. “You just don’t listen to it. But the mistakes we make are definitely magnified because of who we are. It’s always, ‘Well, she’s just a girl, what do you expect?’ ”

Said Carla Botticello: “I’ve never really distinguished between guys and girls at the track competing. But I can see where the guy doesn’t want to get beat by the girl. I’ve raced against guys who have had their buddies get on them after a race and say ‘You got beat by a girl.’ I just tell them, ‘You got beat by the better driver, suck it up.’ I just want to get to the front. I don’t care if it’s a male or female in front of me.”

Women at the track understand that the male ego is easily bruised by losing to a female.

“I know with a lot of drivers it’s their crews that are saying, ‘Don’t you dare let that girl beat you.’” Morgillo said. “But, we’re just another driver out there. We can be just as aggressive as they can. Unfortunately, male testosterone makes it tough for some of the guys to handle it.”

Santos said she feels the same way as the men when she loses to a woman. Or anybody. Santos, the sister of Whelen Modified Tour regular Bobby Santos III, is the only woman to win a NEMA Midget feature.

“I think that guys race 10 times harder against a girl than they do against a guy, and I’ve had people tell me that they’ll race me harder,” said Santos, 27, who recorded her historic NEMA Midget win at Stafford in 2007. “I think it’s true because myself, racing against a girl, I don’t want to get beat by another girl. I know that’s horrible to say, and there’s some really good girls out there, but I don’t want to be the one that gets beat by a girl either.”

Patrick burst onto the national scene before her rookie year at Indianapolis, though in the sisterhood at Stafford it seems she’s hardly looked at as a role model.

“I can’t tell you how many people ask me ‘Is Danica your hero?’ And that’s the farthest thing away for me,” said the DesRochers, 20, who has been competing in the SK Light Division for four years and had two wins last year. “She’s just another driver. It frustrates me when all you hear is ‘Danica, Danica.’ I don’t think she’s responsible for this. Girls are just getting an opportunity now that they didn’t have before. So it can only get better from here and I don’t think it has anything to do with her.”

Many credit the attention focused on Patrick because she hadn’t been afraid to use sexuality to open doors. Patrick has been criticized by some for using sexually provocative photo spreads and television commercials as a marketing force. Some women at Stafford agree with using sex appeal as a tool and some don’t.

“I think that, to a point, even not meaning to, girls tend to get more opportunities because they’re females,” DesRochers said. “So in some ways I don’t think you even have to try to get that extra attention. But know I wouldn’t necessarily throw myself out there that way to do it though. I just don’t think it’s the right way to do things.”

Said Morgillo: “Show a little skin to get up there? It’s true, you get noticed that way so why not? Of course guys and sponsors that see a sexy looking driver are going to want to help that girl. Unfortunately, that’s what guys look at. If you’re not afraid to do it, then whatever. It doesn’t mean you have to get half-naked and pose for Playboy, but you’ve got to look the part. You don’t want to be a butch girl racing. That’s just like another man out there. You want to take your helmet off and whip your hair around and say ‘Yeah, I beat you.’”