A bunny and his pony
05/20/2023
Even in the sixties, motorsport was no longer a purely male domain. In the US drag racing scene in particular, a surprising number of women were giving the men a run for their money on the country's quarter-miles. One of them was Carol Burkett, who after a brief stint at the Playboy Club Baltimore was called "Bunny" by her friends and made the white rabbit her trademark.
Even before she had her driver's license, Bunny was pushing her boyfriend's '55 Mercury to the limit on the runway of Washington Dulles Airport, which was still under construction. For her first car of her own - a '64 Ford Mustang - the first accessory she bought was a pair of fatter rear tires. After another Mustang from the assembly line, she moved up to the Pro Stock class in 1973 with a pink Ford Pinto (see picture).
In 1986, in a Chrysler Laser, she finally achieved what only one woman had done before: winning the national championship in the highest dragster class: the alcohol-powered Funny Cars. Even a fatal accident and three resuscitations in 1995 could not end her career. It didn't end until 2020, when she died (off the track) at the age of 74. Until then, she had driven at least one official race every year - since 1965.
