Roberta Maxine Leighton (née Haslam; April 27, 1932 – November 15, 2002) was an American drag racer. She was the first woman licensed by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to race competitively. She was also the first woman to win a national title, in the 1962 U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis, in the J/S class. In 2002, shortly before her death, she received a lifetime achievement award at the World Finals at Pomona.

Racing career

Leighton started drag racing in 1952. Along with other family members, she was a member of the

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, which ran Inyokern Dragstrip in the high desert of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Leighton became interested in cars at age 10 around her father who was a mechanic. Leighton, like fellow racers

Carol Cox Carol Cox is a pioneering American woman drag racer. She is the first woman to win at a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) national event. History Cox was based in Whittier, California.Burgess, Phil, ''National Dragster'' editor. "Carol Cox: ...

and Shirley Shahan, campaigned to allow women to compete equally with men. Leighton, in 1963, was the first woman licensed to compete in NHRA's Gas class. She was good friends with fellow racer Shahan, and shared a sense of camaraderie with the other women racers, including Cox, Shirley Muldowney, Barbara Hamilton, and

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. Leighton's husband, Robert (commonly called Gus) served with a number of sanctioning bodies, including the

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(SCTA). Her sister, Phillys ("P.J."), married well-known racer Bernie Partridge, a friend of NHRA founder Wally Parks and himself a later NHRA Vice President. Leighton was uniquely well placed to get changes made. In 1962, Leighton won her class (J/Stock) at the U.S. Nationals at

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

, in a 1960 Chevrolet El Camino. She later turned the Camino into an injected alky-burner. Her son, David, still owns the 1960 J/S-winning Camino, which he hopes to put back on the strip some day. Leighton suffered third-degree burns in a 1963 house fire, keeping her out of racing until 1965. Pioneering skin grafts by doctors at the

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hospital helped save her ankles and her racing career. She came back to sportsman class racing in 1965, and kept racing in competition classes until 1978, when she switched to

bracket racing Bracket racing is a form of drag racing that allows for a handicap between predicted elapsed time of the two cars over a standard distance, typically within the three standard distances (1/8 mile, 1,000 foot, or 1/4 mile) of drag racing. Goal ...

for twelve years.

Later life and death

In later years, Leighton served as a track official, working at national, division and local races. She also helped run Inyokern Dragstrip. Leighton died of cancer on November 15, 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leighton, Roberta 2002 deaths Dragster drivers Female dragster drivers American female racing drivers 1932 births 20th-century American women