OTOF

Better Than Any of Them

[The Santa Fe New Mexican via ProQuest - Rcvd: Aug 24, 05:08 AM EDT]

_Publication Date_: 19991030
_By_: Stephanie van Dyck

Enchantment Years

When one expresses amazement at Denise McCluggage's life as a woman
race-car driving in the 1950s, sports reporter for New York Herald
Tribune, testing cars like Ferraris she just shrugs it off. Not a
self-consciously modest shrug, more a truly dismissive shrug.

"I never knew a lack of obstacles," McCluggage, 72, said. Like any
seasoned race-car driver, she just steered around those obstacles
without batting an eye.

McCluggage, born in Kansas and a resident of Santa Fe for 21 years,
discovered her love of cars early.

"I always liked cars, ever since I was little," she said. "I was also
interested in writing for newspapers." The two intersected when, after
graduating from Mills College, she wrote a piece on a midget race-car
driving school for the San Francisco Chronicle.

"Midget cars, that is," she said. "(Racing) looked like fun, and I
wanted to try it. A friend arranged it and got me in. Turns out I had
a knack for driving race cars on a dirt track."

Asked how being a woman affected her ability to race, McCluggage said,
"I was better than any of 'em."

There were other women racers in those days, she said. "Women were not
kept out of it in Europe. (The United States) was Neanderthal (when it
came to women racers), old men with bellies hanging over their belts,
telling women they weren't even allowed in the garage area. Even the
drivers thought it was stupid."

While journalism came first, McCluggage kept up her love affair with
cars and racing. "You can excuse anything by saying you're doing a
story on it," she said. Her credentials usually let her get past the
garage area, but occasionally she still had a fight on her hands.

"I was not allowed in the press box (for one race), even with
credentials from the New York Tribune. A male friend from the New York
Times was with me, and said to them `Well, I guess you don't need the
New York Times here either,' and started back down the stairs with me.
They let us both in," she said.

"Economics eventually overcame sexism," she said, and women with
corporate sponsorship were allowed to race.

McCluggage said that although she won money racing (she won trophies
on three continents), she never considered herself a professional
driver. "I remember the cars but not the races," she said.
"Professionals remember the races."

McCluggage doesn't race much anymore. "I did a celebrity race a few
years ago. I kept hitting the wall really whacked it hard once. I
decided I'd become like a bear on roller skates it was not doing it
well that got the attention but doing it at all. I knew it was time to
hang it up. But I confess I'm still tempted I was invited to a Miata
race in Japan. But I thought, `come on.' This is not exactly like
riding a bicycle. To stay competitive you have to keep it up. You can
do yourself real injury in a race."

Asked about her advice to other seniors, McCluggage said, "Be sure to
get your discount at the movies. I realized when I did this that I was
putting something over on them. I don't feel much different. OK, it
takes a little longer to do things. The falls don't hurt more, but
they do take longer to heal."

Speaking of falls, McCluggage also reminded seniors to ask for
discounts at more than movie theaters. "Did you know that bungee
jumping is free to people over 60? See how much you can save?" she
said.

Stay active, she added. "Continue to do what you like to in-so- far as
you are able. I can't do everything I did when I was 25. It's very
annoying to know that age alone can limit your lung capacity. But
there is much you can do to increase it."

To stay active, McCluggage skis (she has a book on skiing called The
Centered Skier), plays tennis and writes. She has a syndicated column,
"Drive, She Said," in 80 papers across the United States and Canada.
She also has a column in the New York Times and one in AutoWeek
magazine.

McCluggage said that age is largely psychological. "It depends on your
attitude. If you find yourself thinking of yourself as old, you've
bought into a very debilitating belief system." She still thinks of
herself as young, she said. "I feel contemporary with my friends in
their 40s, except they have a very odd memory of what music was
popular in high school."

The dangerous side of feeling younger than you are, she cautioned, is
that you may underestimate your limitations. McCluggage was herself
reminded of this when it came, not surprisingly, to driving.

"The dangerous thing about decreased vision is that you don't know
what you're not seeing you always have to drive as if you're in the
middle of a snowstorm," she said. "You have to adjust to your
capacity. This is why I don't race anymore."

Older people need to look at cars differently that they used to, she
said. "People shrink. Older people may be used to driving Lincolns,
but smaller cars are easier to get in and out of, see out of, and
park. Just because it's familiar doesn't mean you should stick with
it."

Older people should drive differently, too, she said. "If people drive
too fast on the interstates, then stay off the interstates. Don't make
left turns across traffic only turn where there are lights. Sometimes
you feel the pressure of someone telling you ~`go,' and you go at the
wrong time. Plan car trips to lower your exposure to risk. I delight
in finding the least-crowded route through town. I get to see new
neighborhoods that way."

"Finally," she said, "figure out a way to wean yourself from cars. I'm
doing this I've quit racing.... The most difficult thing to face is
giving up driving completely. But it is a consideration you've got to
make."

McCluggage is thankful that consideration is not one she has to face
at the moment. She is still happily driving and testing cars. "This
week it's a BMW.

Last week it was an Infiniti, next week it's an Audi Quattro," she
said. "Probably the best perk of my job."

225TTR

Great article. Good find!

OTOF

I loved the "bungie jumping for free after 60." Hope I'm having that much fun at 72!!

cubstter

Loved it!! May we all have that much fun when we're 72!!! Thanks Denny!!

smallTTs

Denise McCluggage is an exceptional woman, and exceptional carperson. Thanks for the post.

Lloyd of the Rings

<p><img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/keyfob.jpg">
"The key to having fun"

ChrisTTopher Lloyd

2001 225 TTQ coupe Silver/Ebony
Premium package, Audio package, Navigation System