Kenzie Ruston and Candace Muzny are working toward a ride in the big time.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Danica Patrick will make her 11th career start in a stock car race on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway, and any girl with NASCAR dreams will be tied to her every turn.
Because women need a breakthrough. They know they need a female to have success in order to help crack the door open just a little more for the next one working her way toward the Sprint Cup Series.
There’s no doubt women are slowly becoming more prevalent in the sport of good ol’ boys.
Two women qualified for Friday night’s Camping World Truck Series race at Texas, and Patrick will be in the field for Saturday’s Nationwide O’Reilly Challenge at 11:30 a.m.
El Reno native Kenzie Ruston believes NASCAR’s push for diversity could begin to help females in their pursuit of a Sprint Cup ride.
“The sport needs to change somewhere, and they’re trying to do that,” said Ruston, who now lives and races in North Carolina, the only place to be for a young stock car racer. “It’s getting a little bit easier for a girl or a Hispanic driver or an African-American to get into racing right now. I think that’s the only advantage, though, and you still have to back it up on the track.”
Ruston and fellow Oklahoma native Candace Muzny — like Ruston, currently racing late models in North Carolina — agree that the biggest immediate hurdle for a female is earning respect in the car and proving that all drivers are created equal.
The male-dominated sport keeps a scrutinizing eye on every female who gets behind the wheel at any level.
“I do think we’re under more of a close eye in that if we mess up, then they say, ‘Well, that girl doesn’t belong in the race car,’ ” said Muzny, whose life has spanned from work in the fashion world to under the hood of her own car. “You have to go above and beyond not to make mistakes, or not get caught up in something, because then it can be kind of easy to blame you.
“For me, it was tough for a short while, until they saw that I was dedicated, and I work on my own car and I’m very driven, whether I’m a girl or a guy.”
Muzny and Ruston each have had significant success in late models this year. Muzny has four top-five finishes in her last five races, including second at the 250-lap Hickory Motor Speedway Fall Brawl.
Last month, Ruston finished fifth in a Pro Late Model race that included Johanna Long, who has qualified for multiple Truck Series races this season. And in 2009, Ruston became the first female to win the national championship in Legends cars.
But their futures could be — at least somewhat — directly connected to Patrick’s ability to succeed in NASCAR.
“She needs to do well on the track,” Ruston said.” She’s the most famous girl racer, and if she doesn’t do well, I don’t know if they’ll give another girl a chance.”
Added Muzny: “There are very successful race car drivers who don’t believe that women belong in the sport, and they’ve come out and said that. There’s definitely more females getting into the sport right now.
“I like proving people wrong, and I’m going to continue to do that. If they don’t think I belong there, I’m going to prove that I do.”
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