Women of the Wheel: Cheryl Glass

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 5 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Cheryl Glass (1961-1997) was an American driver and one of the first African American female racing drivers. She competed in sprint car driving in the Pacific Northwest and attempted a national level career as well.

For Further Reading:

This month, we're talking about Women of the Wheel – icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes, skates and potter's wheels. These women harnessed the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an I-Heart podcast.
0:09.3	Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
0:14.4	This month we're talking about women of the wheel, icons who turned motion into momentum
0:19.0	and spun their legacies on spokes, skates, and potter's wheels.
0:23.3	These women harness the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.
0:29.9	Today's Womaniken was one of the first African-American female race car drivers in the United States.
0:35.4	Her ambition, strength, and style made her a trailblazer in a sport
0:38.8	with few women. Let's talk about Cheryl Glass.
0:49.0	Cheryl Glass was born in 1961 in a small town called Mountain View, California. Two years later, her family
0:55.7	moved to Seattle. Cheryl's parents were professionals who raised an overachiever. Her mother
1:01.3	was an engineer for Boeing, and her father built cars. Cheryl herself was an entrepreneurial
1:06.8	kid, running her own ceramics business. She even sold some of her dishware to department stores.
1:13.4	When she was nine years old, Cheryl's dad, Marvin, helped her buy her first racing car.
1:20.0	When Cheryl was growing up, there weren't many black race car drivers and even fewer women.
1:25.4	But Cheryl didn't care. She was busy. She raced sprint cars,
1:29.8	powerful, fast, low-to-the-ground racers. She achieved regional, state, and national titles,
1:35.9	and crowds started to notice. Cheryl earned the nickname, The Lady. By the time she was 16 years old,
1:42.4	she graduated high school with honors.
1:45.1	Not long after, she was named one of the top 10 drivers nationally.
1:52.6	Two years later, Cheryl enrolled in Seattle University to study electrical engineering.
1:57.7	She didn't end up graduating and instead pursued her sprint car career at Skagit's Speedway
2:02.3	in Mountburn in Washington.
	...

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