Kathy Rude (born 1957) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

sports car driver who was one of the first female drivers to attract international attention. Growing up in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada, she began competing as a teenager in karting events. By her early 20s, after competing in

Formula Ford Formula Ford, also known as F1600 and Formula F, is an entry-level class of single seater, open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held across the world form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula For ...

and

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive direc ...

, she attracted the attention of several top-tier car owners. She was a member of the Mazda and the original North American

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

factory-sponsored

IMSA GT Championship IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada. History The series was founded in 1969 by John and Peggy Bishop, and Bill F ...

teams. In February 1982, co-driving a factory-sponsored

Mazda RX-7 The Mazda RX-7 is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, rotary engine-powered sports car that was manufactured and marketed by Mazda from 1978 until 2002 across three generations, all of which made use of a compact, lightweight Wankel rotary engine. ...

with

Allan Moffat Allan George Moffat OBE (born 10 November 1939 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a Canadian-Australian racing driver known for his four championships in the Australian Touring Car Championship, six wins in the Sandown 500 and his four win ...

and

Lee Mueller Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...

, she earned a GTU class victory at the

24 Hours of Daytona The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...

. During an IMSA sports car event at Brainerd, Minnesota in July 1983, she suffered horrific injuries in a crash which ended her racing career. Noted sports car champion

Brian Redman Brian Herman Thomas Redman (born 9 March 1937 in Burnley, Lancashire and educated at Rossall School, Fleetwood, Lancashire), is a retired British racing driver. Racing for Carl Haas and Jim Hall's Chaparral Cars, Brian Redman won the 1974, '7 ...

once referred to her as the only female driver he'd encountered who posed a genuine threat to win major professional automobile races. She is now a corporate safe driving instructor and speaker. From 1987 to 1994 she led safe driving and new car intros for Audi of America, Inc., driver clinics for Boeing employees through the Boeing Employees Automobile Club and did the initial instructor training for the then-new Audi Quattro Club. Kathy is also a breast cancer survivor including a stem cell transplant, trial drugs and radiation. Now doing well, she is married (since 1985) to Canadian sports-car racer and three-time Indianapolis 500 veteran Ludwig Heimrath, Jr. living in western Washington State.

External links

* 1956 births American racing drivers American female racing drivers Living people Sportspeople from Victoria, British Columbia 24 Hours of Daytona drivers Sportspeople from Washington (state) Canadian female racing drivers 21st-century American women Racing drivers' wives and girlfriends {{US-autoracing-bio-stub