She's not just the only journalist to be inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, but Denise McCluggage is equally renowned as a 1950s and 60s champion race and rally car driver. Still on the fast track at age 79, she reviews cars for AutoWeek, which she helped found, and writes two columns for her hometown Santa Fe newspaper. Along the way, McCluggage has penned seven books and had museum shows of her racing photographs.
When you test cars, how fast do you drive?
Assuming this might be read by the state police, never over the speed limit. However, I sometimes test cars on race courses so I drive very fast, over 100 miles per hour. I haven't slowed down that much. I still have excellent reflexes and good eyesight. I don't wear glasses because I had my "Cadillacs" removed as I like to tell people.
At age 79, when many people are winding down their work, you seem to be revving up. Where do you get all your energy?
Necessity. I am no different than anyone who works to make a living. Also, I prefer it. I've noticed that people who have been very active and then retire often times slow to a stop. And many I know who have retired and taken up something else with equal avidity seem to last longer.
How did you get involved in writing about and racing cars?
When I was at the San Francisco Chronicle, I took classes and wrote about midget cars racing school and discovered I liked dirt track racing a whole lot. At the New York Herald Tribune, I started in the women's feature department and then moved to the sports department. I always did what I wrote about so I could cover it from a participant's standpoint and because it gave me a greater understanding of a sport and was fun. I was in my 20s when sports car racing was just getting started. I told my editor I wanted to cover it, so I was writing about racing at the same time I was racing in North America, South America and Europe.
What were the races and rallies you are most proud of?
Winning the Grand Touring at Sebring in 1961 in a Ferrari. My co-driver was a jazz musician, so it was kind of cool winning that--a girl and a jazz musician. It blew people's minds a bit! There was the Grand Prix in Venezuela in 1957 and the Nurburgring in Germany in my Alfa Romeo. Just to drive that course was incredible. It was 13 or 14 miles long. I raced my Ferrari there, too. I was also one of the few Americans to do the international rallies and I think the only American on the factory teams.
You work in a male-dominated field. What kind of obstacles did you face in the old days?
To start with, three times I was supposed to drive at Le Mans, but they wouldn't let women drive there. Luigi Chinetti had won Le Mans and tried to get them to accept me as a competitor. Their answer was, "This is an invitation race and we do not choose to invite women." In the mid-1950s, the New York Herald Tribune assigned me to cover Indianapolis. I wasn't allowed in the garage area and had to interview drivers through a chain link fence. Then on race day, I went to the press box to get my seat assignment and they said "no women in the press box." That's where Western Union was, which was how we filed stories then and this was going to interfere with doing my job. Frank Blunk from The New York Times said, "Well, if you don't need The Herald Tribune, you don't need The New York Times," and he turned around and started walking down the stairs. The upshot was they let me in the press box.
Has this attitude changed?
Today, women can get in the press box and also drive, but there's still tremendous resistance because a lot of people consider racing a male thing. But more and more little girls are starting in go-carts. All the children are doing that now, because if you don't start as a child, you don't have a hope. It is all very, very serious and money-oriented and career-based.
You lecture and write about driving safety. How will you know when it's time to turn in your keys?
I don't know. It's going to be particularly difficult for me. If I have incidents that I can't explain, if suddenly there are a whole bunch of near-misses. Three or four years ago, I was having difficulty with night driving. That led me to have my eyes checked and after my cataracts were removed, I had twenty-twenty vision and good night vision again. My eyesight is still excellent. I don't push anything and my abilities have not diminished that much. I still drive pretty fast. Last year, I took an ice driving school for a story and I was as quick as anybody. Right now I'm still competitive. I can still blow a few doors off!
