F
rom a financial perspective, these aren’t the easiest days for even established IndyCar teams, let alone new ones. But Beth Paretta isn’t letting that stop her from her goal of creating the first all-woman team to compete in the Indianapolis 500.
Paretta, a longtime auto sales executive who has worked with the likes of Fiat Chrysler and Aston Martin, is in the thick of trying to turn the dream into a reality after announcing in May the formation of Grace Autosport. The team, which has fewer than 10 employees and is in the relatively embryonic stages about eight months from the 100th running of the Indy 500 next year, is searching for an alliance with a larger team plus sponsorships. And Paretta said she is making progress in those realms. The ultimate goal of the team, she said, is to encourage and inspire young women to get jobs in STEM-related fields, motorsports or otherwise.
Beth Paretta
Grace Autosport | Team Principal
“The reality is there are many women working in racing, but because they’re all kind of scattered about on different teams, the average viewer doesn’t necessarily realize that there are a lot of women involved and they can do this,” Paretta said. “So the idea was if we had a team that was all women, it’d be a great visual so you could realize that women are side by side, elbow to elbow, and the larger message becomes: ‘Women can do these kinds of technical careers.’”
— Adam Stern
