In Honor of Women's History Month
We Salute Nitro Nellie Goins
(Info Taken from Draglist.com)

Click Here to View the Article in the November 1971 Issue of "Ebony Magazine" Entitled:
"Nitro Nellie - Lady Drag Racer Pits Persistence and Guts Against Racing's Best "

In Honor of Women's History Month
We Salute Billye Jean Dent Armstrong
(Story Submitted by Terrey Johnson - photos pulled from QMB 2008 Black History Files)

"Mean" Billye Jean Dent Armstrong, has been around drag racing since the late 1950s. Billye Jean was most comfortable inside her '67 Chevy SS Chevelle. This history blazing woman in the 1960s became the first Black woman to compete in a nationally televised major IHRA event. Wendell Scott, the first Black stock car driver in the US, often referred to Billye as "the fastest Black woman in the East."

Billye Jean & Wendell Scott (on right)

Lack of sponsorships drove Billye Jean, into a 20-year retirement in 1975.
But in 1995, "Mean" Billye Jean reappeared on the drag strip to the amazement of all who watched her. Billye Jean was operating on a shoestring budget, but she managed to find a way to compete. Although still in need of a major sponsor, her plans were to participate in as many NHRA and IHRA events as possible in the late 1990s.

"If only I had more sponsorships, I could have done a lot more"
--- Billye Jean Dent Armstrong