Among the first women to compete against men on the American sports car racing circuit, Patricia Mernone blazed a trail in the 1960s during her brief but significant career. She began racing as a twenty-one-year-old graduate student in organic chemistry. Within three years, she had won seventy percent of her events, securing two regional championships, a northeast division championship, and a new track record at the Virginia International Raceway.
As the first woman to win a Washington regional championship, Mernone was invited in 1964 to the inaugural American Road Race of Champions in Riverside, California—making her the first female driver to vie for a national title. Although sports writers invariably dwelled on Mernone's physical attractiveness, they also acknowledged that her surprisingly aggressive driving style and bold maneuvers made her more than a match for male competitors. Her beauty and fierce determination come through in this sketch for an oil painting. -- NPG
My best wishes
to
my friend and
patron
Edward Mernone
sincerely
Norman Rockwell
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