Indy 500: The historical significance of Pippa Mann’s potential absence

By Asher Fair | Jan 19, 2020

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MAY 26: Pippa Mann of Great Britain, driver of the #39 Clauson-Marshall Racing Chevrolet in action during the 103rd Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 26, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /

Pippa Mann’s potential absence from the 2020 Indy 500 means that this year’s race could be the first without a woman on the entry list in nearly three decades.

After failing to qualify for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 back in 2018, Pippa Mann overcame the odds to get back in the field for the 103rd running of the race the following year, doing so with Clauson-Marshall Racing, which had never previously competed in an IndyCar race, as one of the underdogs.

Mann did the best job that she had ever done in this 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, finishing in 16th place, bettering her previous career-high result of 17th from what was her sixth and most recent start in 2017.

But barring an unforeseen injection of a substantial amount of funding, she will unfortunately not be back in 2020.

Mann confirmed this news on Twitter roughly two weeks ago.

https://twitter.com/PippaMann/status/1214374239119269889

It’s on me. I have not been able to pull together the funding required, even though it’s not from a lack of work.

But this is bigger than me.

I’m gutted 2020 will likely be the first #Indy500 without a female athlete in 20 years. #RepresentationMatters
— Pippa Mann (@PippaMann) January 7, 2020

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While there are still four and a half months until the 104th running of the Indy 500 and this news is certainly not finalized, it would be historically significant if true, for the reason that Mann described at the bottom of her tweet.

The last Indy 500 to feature zero women in the field was not in the last decade. In fact, it wasn’t even in this century, or even this millennium.

Not since 1999 has the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” been contested without a female athlete in the field.

Mann, has mentioned above, has competed in the race on seven occasions in eight attempts over the course of the last nine years, making her debut in 2011, not attempting to qualify in 2012 and attempting but failing to qualify back in 2018.

On four occasions, she was the lone female in the race, with those four instances taking place in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2019.

Let’s take a look at female representation in this race going back to 1999, the last time when there were none.

In 2000, Lyn St. James made her seventh and final Indy 500 start. She attempted to compete in the race in 1998 and 1999 but failed to do so after successfully doing so each year from 1992 to 1997, so this year’s Indy 500 is also set to be the first Indy 500 without a female on the entry list in nearly three decades going all the way back to 1991.

Sarah Fisher also made her first Indy 500 start in 2000, and she competed in the race eight more times over the next 10 years, only not doing so in 2005 and 2006.

Danica Patrick was the next female to make her Indy 500 debut, and she did so in 2005, keeping the streak alive. She competed in the race each year from 2005 to 2011 before leaving for NASCAR after that, but she did return for one last attempt in 2018, when she was the lone female in the field thanks to Mann’s failure to qualify.

During the Patrick era, Milka Duno also made three starts in the race. She competed in it in 2007, 2008 and 2009 before failing to qualify in 2010, when Simona de Silvestro made her Indy 500 debut. De Silvestro competed in the race from 2010 to 2015, doing so every year except for 2014 when Mann was the lone female in the field.

Ana Beatriz also made her Indy 500 debut in 2010, and she competed in the race each year from 2010 to 2013. Katherine Legge remains the most recent female driver to debut in the race, doing so in 2012. She has not competed in it since 2013.

Next. Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time. dark

Who will be the next female IndyCar driver to compete in the Indianapolis 500? Will a late entry feature a female for this year’s running of the race on Sunday, May 24? If not, will 2021 feature at least one woman in the field?

Also, perhaps even more notably, who will end the drought, which is nearing the longest it has been since before Janet Guthrie became the first female Indy 500 competitor back in 1977, and become the next rookie female driver to compete in the race?