There had never been an all-female pit crew in a NASCAR event until a 2003 race at Texas Motor Speedway made history. Learn how it all unfolded.
The pit crew is the glue to keeping a race car driver together. When a racer enters the pit, the crew works in incredible unison, changing tires, adding gas, and making any other mechanical fixes that might be required. All of this work must also be done at a rapid pace. Too long of a delay and the driver might lose ground they can’t make up. In most cases, a driver’s pit crew consists of mechanics who regularly service the car. Yet one NASCAR driver made history at Texas Motor Speedway by using an all-female crew—none of whom had an official automotive background.
Women had been members of pit crews in years past. Most notably, Bill Venturini won the 1987 ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series championship—his first ever title—with an all-women pit crew. The “Ultra Blue Crew” was a pioneering group, as there had never been a pit crew entirely of women. Bill’s wife, Cathy, led the Ultra Blue Crew throughout the season, putting Bill in a position to secure the championship.
However, prior to Aaron’s Dream Team at Texas Motor Speedway, an all-female pit crew had never gone over the wall at a major NASCAR event. Here’s how it happened.
The Texas Motor Speedway all-women crew
In 2002, Shawna Robinson had run in seven Winston Cup races. As she looked for a sponsor to sign with for a full season, she joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series part-time. She drove the #49 Team Texas Truck for Mike Starr Racing, sponsored by Aaron’s Sales and Leasing. As her debut race approached, she started gaining buzz due to a first in racing: an all-female pit crew.
The women of the pit crew included Ann Pratt, a body fitness competitor from Fort Worth with a B.A. in finance; Sue Webb, a fitness trainer and mom from Carrollton; Prosper’s Gina Tomaseski, a model, fitness spokeswoman, and mother; Shanda Bronston, a talent agency owner and competitive runner from Garland; Alaenda Grable, a student at North Texas; Geri Parris, a Collin County Community College Student from Plano; and Gail Stracener, a fitness trainer, also from Plano. Each woman had to pay a licensing fee to NASCAR to receive certification to work in the pits.
Robinson was initially unsure about having an all-female crew, especially since none of them had prior experience. But after meeting them and running a lap with the car they had serviced, she finished with a time that would have qualified in the front row for the previous year’s race. The crew was up to the task.
Texas Motor Speedway general manager Eddie Gossage said the idea for the all-female crew was a publicity stunt at first. Along with his director of sales, Mark Stafford, and assistant GM, Kenton Nealon, Gossage hired a marketing agency to search health clubs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Their goal was to find the seven women who would attend to Robinson’s car, looking for those who were in good shape and had a healthy competitive spirit. In total, 20 women competed for the chance to serve in the crew. Gossage was no stranger to running promotions at Texas Motor Speedway. He also introduced elements such as winners getting to fire blank revolvers and training monkeys to sell programs as souvenirs.
After weeks of training, Aaron’s Dream Team made its debut on June 6, 2003. The crew serviced Shawna’s truck on three separate occasions during the race.
The first stop, after a caution on the 54th lap, featured a tire change on the right side and more gas, which took about 25 seconds. Alas, Robinson was penalized for leaving pit row too quickly. She lost a lap, though she remained in the same position among the other drivers.
The two other stops included changing tires on the left side and adding gas on the 101st lap, then one final right-side tire change and gas top-off around 20 laps later, giving Robinson enough juice to finish the 167-lap race. Those stops had quicker changes, around 20 seconds.
Robinson placed 18th in the race, five laps behind winner Brendan Gaughan. The crew did its job well enough that Robinson never lost any ground while she was on pit row.
After the Texas Motor Speedway race
After the 18th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway, Robinson and her crew competed at two additional races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a return trip to Texas in the Silverado 350k. Robinson wound up in 29th place in both events but failed to finish either one, making that first Texas Motor Speedway race the lone completed event with the all-women crew.
Robinson, who took time off from 1995 to 1999 to start a family and begin an interior design and furniture company, only participated in six more races and did not qualify for three others, including the 2005 Busch Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. She retired in 2005 and continued expanding her business, Happy Chair, creating new furniture and restoring old chairs.
In 2014, Robinson was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. She found support from the NASCAR community, namely Kelley Earnhardt Miller and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who hosted fundraising events to help Robinson pay her medical bills. She completed her radiation treatment in September 2015 and has been cancer-free since then.
Other women with strong Texas Motor Speedway performances
Robinson and Aaron’s Dream Team made history at Texas Motor Speedway, though the track has welcomed several pioneering women drivers.
Sarah Fisher
Sarah Fisher competed in the Indy Racing League (now IndyCar Series) from 1999 through 2010. She signed a three-year contract with Team Pelfrey on August 24, 1999, when she was only 18 years old. Her first IRL event was at Texas Motor Speedway.
Fisher qualified in 17th place and became the youngest person to compete in an IRL race. She finished in 25th place, but her performance caught some eyes. Two of those eyes belonged to Derrick Walker, who was putting together another team and wanted a young driver to connect with fans and appeal to sponsors. Fisher moved to Indianapolis and signed with Walker Racing. Eventually, Fisher formed her own team, Sarah Fisher Racing, which competes today as Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Development.
Texas Motor Speedway proved to be a comfortable home away from home for Fisher. During the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series season, she had her best finishes in back-to-back races: tenth at Texas Motor Speedway and seventh at the Iowa Corn Indy 250. In 2010, her last season, she finished 15th at Texas Motor Speedway, which was tied for her best finish of the year.
Katherine Legge
Katherine Legge has competed on the biggest stages in motorsports, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In 2005, she was the first woman to win a major open-wheel race in North America. She also holds the record for the fastest qualifying run by a woman at the Indy 500, which she achieved in 2023.
Legge has raced twice at Texas Motor Speedway in her career. She placed 15th in 2012, driving a Chevy on the Dragon Racing team. And just last year, she debuted her #32 Desnuda car on the Texas Motor Speedway track. Coincidentally, she finished 32nd, the same position as her number.
Toni Breidinger
As a child in California, Toni Breidinger began racing go-karts when she was nine. She progressed to USAC and eventually moved from open-wheel racing to stock car racing. After four years in the ARCA Racing Series, which included 27 top-ten finishes and four top-fives, Breidinger moved up full-time to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Breidinger’s first full-time season in the series was in 2025, though she earned her place in history back in 2023. Of Lebanese and German descent, Breidinger became the first Arab-American female driver in NASCAR history. That also makes her the first Arab-American female to race at Texas Motor Speedway, which she finished in 26th place. She’s back in the series this year, though she’s moved from Tricon Garage’s Toyota to driving a Chevy with Rackley W.A.R.
Jodi Geshickter
Jodi Geshickter wasn’t behind the wheel of a car on Texas Motor Speedway, but she certainly left a mark on the racing world. She and her husband Tad built up JTG Racing—named after their initials—and co-owned the team for nearly 30 years. Geshickter is one of the few women owners in NASCAR, and for a long time, she was the only woman owner on the circuit.
Geshickter went on a date to the Coca-Cola 600 with her future husband in 1989, and racing hooked her. In 2008, JTG Racing partnered with former NBA star Brad Daugherty and added his name to JTG Daugherty Racing. The team expanded from what was once a tiny operation surrounded by chickens to a solid operation in the sport. The Geshickters left JTG Racing before or during the 2024 season, and the team rebranded to Hyak Motorsports. JTG Racing drivers had multiple top-ten finishes at Texas Motor Speedway under the Geshickters’ ownership, including Jon Wood’s eighth-place finish in the 2005 Nationwide Series, and a ninth-place effort from Ricky Stenhouse during the 2023 Cup Series.
Jessica Fickenscher and Kayla Ochocki
If you’ve seen a race or other event at Texas Motor Speedway and enjoyed yourself, you’ve got Jessica Fickenscher and Kayla Ochocki to thank.
Fickenscher serves as Chief Experience Officer of Speedway Motorsports, developing Fans First initiatives to provide a wonderful experience on race day. She also leads capital improvement and property development, helping the raceway maximize its space. Ochocki is the Texas Motor Speedway Director of Guest Services, having started her career in 2008 as an intern with Speedway Children’s Charities Texas Chapter. She builds fan-centric experiences and strategies to delight fans now and in the future.
Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick waited until near the end of her full-time IndyCar career to put up the best finish at Texas Motor Speedway. Competing in the Firestone 550 in 2010, Patrick led one lap and ultimately finished in second place. It’s the best finish by a woman at the speedway.
In 2012, Patrick competed in both the Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series. Once again, she had great results at Texas Motor Speedway. Her eighth-place finish at the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Texas was her best of the season. That same year, she posted her first lead lap finish at the AAA Texas 500.
Hailie Deegan
As the daughter of motocross rider and racing driver Brian Deegan, Hailie Deegan got introduced to racing early in her life. She was racing dirtbikes at seven years old and soon moved into off-road racing, competing at junior levels. Today, she competes in the ARCA Menards Series West and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
To date, Deegan has competed in 69 races in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, finishing in the top ten five times. In 2023, while driving for ThorSport Racing, Deegan finished in sixth place. That’s tied for her personal best in the series, and it’s the best NASCAR finish a woman has had at Texas Motor Speedway.
