SCHENLEY PARK
VINTAGE GRAND PRIX
PITTSBURGH

Donna Mae Mims
~ Honorary Race Director ~
28^th Annual Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix

DONNA MAE MIMS After buying a 1957 Corvette, Mims got the racing bug and soon stepped up to a ’58 Fuelie Vette from Yenko Chevrolet. Her first event was the 1959 Donora Hill Climb. It wasn’t long before she racked up her first win in the B Production at the Cumberland, MD Nationals in 1961. By 1963, she was driving a pink 1959 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite that had incidentally once been owned by Polio vaccine developer, Dr. Jonas Salk. That car carried her to the title in 1963, the first national championship recorded by the SCCA for a female driver.

Besides the championship-winning Bugeye Sprite, Mims at one time or another also owned a pink Corvette, Corvair, Triumph TR3 and an MGB. Besides her fondness for the color pink, Mims was also known for her blonde hair, good looks and aggressive driving, always charging and never letting the boys push her around during her 14-year racing career.

THINK PINK Bugeye Sprite The legend of the Pink Lady was cemented when Mims took part in the inaugural Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, better known as the Cannonball Run, back in 1972. Her all-female team included teammates Judy Stropus and Peggy Niemcek, who raced in a 1968 Cadillac limousine, they were sponsored by the Right Bra Company! Adrienne Barbeau portrayed Mims in the 1981 classic movie, “The Cannonball Run.” She raced many times in Sebring, Daytona, and Riverside and was able to go toe to toe with some of the best drivers in the country at speeds up to 140 miles per hour.