Catchfence

In the sponsor-driven world of auto racing, a number of teams have been hit by tough times, with even upper-echelon teams and top-notch drivers struggling for sponsorship dollars. The women in auto racing are no exception to this statistic, and over the past few years, drivers like Jennifer Jo Cobb and Alli Owens have had to come up with money of their own to field cars in NASCAR’s top series: Cobb’s main sponsor in the 2010 Camping World Truck Series was a clothing line she owns, and Owens brought fans on board with her dream to race in the Truck Series race at Daytona in February 2011. Now there’s a new organization that wants to help women like these and others with funding for equipment – and hopefully, a better chance at winning.

Race4Girls is an organization founded by Tracey Passantino earlier in 2011 with hopes of bringing female drivers in top racing series – currently listed as the Sprint Cup Series, Nationwide Series, Camping World Truck Series, IndyCar, ARCA, World of Outlaws, and American Le Mans Series – some support. “The incentive to become a registered driver has to do with qualifying by earning points doing different things,” Passantino said. “Once somebody has qualified, then they can earn the grant (for equipment).” Registered drivers also have to get fans involved by bringing them to the website to make contributions. “If we can get better equipment for these girls, then maybe they have a better chance of running, earning more when they finish.”D

- Yahoo!