Does anyone have information on my Mother? She was one of the first women drivers ever. Also known as Darlene Lewis. I (Kim Lewis) was born in 1965, mom was racing before I was born. I don't know anything other then I've got 2 trophies from AHRA in KC.MO that she won. I know she drove a chevy but have found no pictures of her car or magazines. I've even got a set of slicks from her race days to this day. I'm the last of her kids and my children are asking questions I can't answer. Please I'm looking for all information pertaining to Linda Darlene Lewis early 50's to early mid 70's as a AHRA Driver
Brett Kepner in St Louis, Mo. is on Facebook alot on all the Racing groups. He is a racing historian and is very knowledgable about vintage drag racing as well as most motorsports. I know him from Bonneville, if you are on Facebook you might try messaging him. If not message me and let me know and I will try to get his contact info for you.
There should be dates on the trophies, just a suggestion but you might check with the OK,MO library, most of the library's the country have converted their newspaper articles to microfiche. If your willing to put in the time there is a good possibility there was a article written on the races, possibly even mentioning your mom's winning race, She was the exception to the rule being a female driver at that time. HRP
Post a picture of the plaque on the trophies or tell us exactly what is on them. That info should help us narrow down some what we are looking for.
Yes! ^^^ 1) Pre-1965 Chevy with slicks. 2) Driven by a woman. 3) In an AHRA cl*** where winners get trophies. I'd guess she was in AHRA's version of NHRA's Stock or Modified Production cl***.
I agree with some of the comments. Post pictures of everything that you have plus a picture of her. There are some superior historians here on this site.
You might also try the AHRA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/124157884877988/?ref=group_header and maybe someone in this WIKI story to see if they knew your mom: https://en.everybodywiki.com/American_Hot_Rod_***ociation
I don't have any AHRA results here. so I looked at Newspapers.com. I found three articles for "Darlene Lewis" and drag race (and nothing for Linda Lewis): St. Joseph News-Press/Gazette, St. Joseph, Missouri Friday, July 07, 1967, Page 14 Available with Publisher Extra St. Joseph News-Press/Gazette, St. Joseph, Missouri Sunday, July 16, 1967, Page 39 Available with Publisher Extra St. Joseph News-Press/Gazette, St. Joseph, Missouri Friday, October 18, 1968, Page 17 Available with Publisher Extra Unfortunately, I don't have "Publisher Extra". Your profile doesn't have any location listed. If you are in Missouri, the state historical society has these on microfilm. Reading the snippets that Newspapers.com shows, she won Middle Stock Eliminator at a late June or early July 1967 race and raced at Pony Express Dragway in October 1968. The phrase "Midland Empire" shows up in race reports and is likely an AHRA region. It may be prove useful as a search phrase. The October 18, 1968 article talks about two racers: 'Temple' someone and Darlene Lewis. One of them was driving a red '57 Chevy. Frustratingly, the snippet does not show the whole column of text, so it isn't clear whose car it is. I hope this gives you a bit of a head start.
The Jalopy Journal
