See The Fastest Woman Who Drove A Nascar & Made El Paso History

El Paso has had an active racing community; now & then. I already talked about Jamie Dick, the driver who raced in NASCAR's Truck Series & Nationwide Series. But now it's time I talk about the "fastest woman IN A Nascar": Christy Georges and I was fortunate enough to have a mini interview with Christy herself.

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Christy Georges was born in El Paso in 1959. She's lived her all her life & even though her life revolves heavily around racing now, she didn't actually get into racing until she was 20 years old:

• "I was never into racing until I went and bought a dirt bike...Sherman Barnett owned Yamaha of El Paso and I just ended up buying a bike from him with the stipulation that he would teach me how to ride it. We have now been married for 42 yrs and we also race together."

Both Christy & her husband, Sherman Barnett (the same Sherman Barnett who owns Barnett Harley Davidson in El Paso & Las Cruces), been very active racing the #44 & #82 for the Barnett Harley Davidson Racing Team. You may have seen them race at tracks like Vado Speedway Park, the El Paso Speedway Park, the Texas Motor Speedway, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway among MANY others. In total she has raced at 41 different race tracks in the country & Mexico; both her and her husband racking up wins together.

She's been an extremely competitive racer; Christy has over 40 years of experience of racing under her belt, obtaining many accomplishments including:

• The only female in the U.S. to ever win $5k & $10k in a dirt modified race
• Only woman in U.S. history to win a UMP Dirt National Championship
• Over 35 championships, 2 international championships
• and has won over 450 races.

Her biggest accomplishment would probably be the time she became a world record holder by being the "Fastest Woman in a Nascar at Bonneville Salt Flats 208MPH". So of course I HAD to get to the bottom of the story. That's a HUGE accomplishment & Christy was able to tell me how it happened:

• "A gentleman here locally had a friend who had a Nascar Busch team in Indiana. For 2 years they hired a Nascar driver to try and qualify for the Brickyard 400  race. They named the team Race El Paso, allowing people to pay to sign their names on the cars as sponsors. The 3^rd year they decided to try and break the land speed record at Bonneville. They called me and asked me to drive it because they wanted a local driver and a female. I ended up doing it and we let people sign the car and got local businesses to sponsor. We did it for the charity ADVANCE which is a children's literacy program. By doing this we were able to help them get a grant for a lot of money to help their program. I was offered a sponsorship from the Buick Corp Back in the early 80’s which could have gone all the way up to Indy cars. I was unable to accept the offer because myself and my husband were in the middle of trying to build up our Harley Davidson dealership. By working together we were able to become the World’s Largest Harley Davidson Dealership."

And if you need further proof that she did it, here's the photo to prove it:

After her world record run, she did suffer injuries while racing; mainly in her spine. In January 2019 she had to fly to Denver to get a total disc replacement surgery & lumbar spine surgery done. But thanks to Dr. Michael Janssen, her surgery was a success after a year of treatments & surgery. (You can read more about Christy's road to recovery with Dr. Janssen here).

Christy has made a full recovery now; she races every weekend at Vado Speedway. And in case you're wondering yes... she still wins races to this day. A LOT of races.

I did ask Christy if she had any advice or words of wisdom for anyone who wants to race. Her answer? "Just do it!...This is the best entertainment value around."

I want to give a huge thank you to Christy Georges for her time. Keep an eye out for her next time you're at the race track. You might see her again in Victory Lane.