July 31: Louise Smith, NASCAR’s first woman driver, was born on this date in 1916

Everything that Louise Smith meant to NASCAR, beyond being the first woman to compete in the series when it was still a bunch of barnstormers in the 1940s and '50s, can be explained by the photo above. Already an experienced driver — despite the wishes of her husband — Smith was running in 1949 at the Occoneechee track in North Carolina when her car went airborne, rolled and took out several trees. Rescue workers needed a half-hour to cut Smith free, but she was soon back on the circuit. Between 1945 and 1956, Smith won 38 modified stock races, and stayed close to racing until her death in 2006. Here's a taste of how raw NASCAR could be in that era, via rare footage of 1953-54 races at the Peace Haven speedway, then one of the fastest half-miles of dirt in the nation. Compared to this, Eldora looks like a holiday parade.