'First Lady of Motorsports' Linda Vaughn Still Shifting Gears at 78

She’s never started the Indianapolis 500 or Daytona 500, but Linda Vaughn has likely visited victory lane more times in her career than Richard Petty, Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt and any of her other closest friends in auto racing.

Vaughn has been a fixture across every major racing series in the U.S. for nearly six decades, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA. If there’s a big race, like the Indianapolis 500 or Daytona 500 or U.S. Nationals, you’ll likely find Vaughn there.

Nicknamed “The First Lady of Motorsports,” the Georgia native has been a roving goodwill ambassador who has not only become a savvy marketing expert for the companies she’s worked for over the years, but has also become a close confidant of the biggest names on both four and two wheels.

It’s been a rough last few years at times for Vaughn. Her longtime boyfriend passed away unexpectedly, she suffered a heart attack shortly thereafter in 2016, and broke her shoulder and suffered a concussion in a serious fall in 2020. And then there was a significant downturn in income for at-track and personal appearances due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced her to sell a few of her pristine collector cars just to pay the bills.

But Vaughn is resilient and is looking forward to a comeback of sorts in 2022 as the pandemic wanes. She’s already been at Daytona (NASCAR), Pomona (NHRA) and Fontana (NASCAR) in the last couple of weeks.

Vaughn got her first taste of cars and racing from her then-boyfriend’s involvement in a local Dalton, Ga., car club and drag racing in the late 1950s.

“The club was the Road Ravens and I got all the girls together and we formed ‘The Ravenettes,’” Vaughn told Autoweek. “We used to go for rides, I cooked for the guys while they worked on the cars on a Friday night so they could go racing on Saturdays, and things like that.”

While she had plans to become a dental hygienist, Vaughn was encouraged to try out for a trophy girl contest at a local race track, won the contest, was then named “Miss Queen of Speed” for NASCAR’s 1961 Dixie 400 at Atlanta International Raceway, and suddenly at the age of 18 her career was quickly on the fast track.

And she’s been speeding along ever since.

Vaughn will be the first to admit her natural beauty helped her. The honey blonde fan favorite with the smooth southern drawl laughs when she calls herself a racing version of Dolly Parton, both having “big hearts,” but that she looks better in a firesuit.

Early in her career, some wives and girlfriends of drivers were jealous about Vaughn’s interactions with male drivers. But she quickly made it clear that she was no threat to their relationships and eventually became close friends with countless spouses.

Married once to former drag racer Billy Tidwell and divorced in 1986, Vaughn never had children. But she smiles when she calls her racing family her children.

“The Foyts, Andrettis, Unsers, all of them, I watched a lot of their kids grow up and become racers,” Vaughn said. “We’re all like one big, extended family.”

Vaughn parlayed her beauty and the marketing prowess she got from her time at the University of Georgia—she smiles when she calls herself a “proud Bulldog”—to become the face of and spokeswoman for some of the largest automotive brands around.

None was bigger than her representation for more than two decades of Hurst Shifters, which came with the colorful nickname “Miss Hurst Golden Shifter.” Vaughn and Hurst were synonymous with each other and she became not only the company’s most successful salesperson, the resulting publicity made Hurst one of the biggest brands in the racing and auto parts industries.

Vaughn, 78, continues to be driven by the same thing that has been her mantra and calling card since winning that first contest.

“Passion,” she said emphatically. “It’s my passion, I love the competition. I'm a sports girl. I like all sports, football and hockey, but racing is my sport. It’s absolutely the most passionate sport ever. To go with Mario Andretti on the World Tour, to be a part of the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, the U.S. Nationals, all the car shows, it’s just pure love and passion.

“Really, truly, I've been married to racing. And it's been by choice. I can have lots of guys, I know that, but I'm not interested. I physically and mentally am married to racing. I really am.”

But being around racers and racing is only part of Vaughn’s passion. She’s also a self-proclaimed “people person” who loves the regular interaction with fans, posing for photos, signing autographs and making appearances at race tracks, auto shows, conventions and more.

In addition to appearing in countless print and TV ads for Hurst and the other companies she has worked for over the years, Vaughn also appeared in several movies, including the 1976 film The Gumball Rally and the 1983 film Stroker Ace, with the late Burt Reynolds.

But of all the things she’s achieved in her career, Vaughn is most proud of her induction into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2019, along with a number of other luminaries in that same induction class, including Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, Scott Dixon, Don Prudhomme, Dario Franchitti, Don Schumacher, Augie Duesenberg, Kevin Schwantz and Phil Remington.

“I was just so honored because when Mario (Andretti) called and told me I made it, I mean, that’s top of the line,” Vaughn said. “I was thrilled to be there and also with Tony Stewart, who I literally watched grow up.

“I’m just so thrilled because both fans and my peers voted for me. It was quite an honor to be in the Hall of Fame and made my family real proud. I always told my mother I would make her proud. Heck, I turned down both Playboy and Penthouse to pose naked. I told them I could make more money with my clothes on.”

Like millions of others, the longtime Southern California resident barely worked in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was heartbreaking because we had to cancel all our plans, all my show dates and races, not being able to be with the fans and my friends and my loved ones, all because of COVID,” Vaughn said.

To make matters worse, Vaughn fell and needed shoulder surgery that sidelined her for six months. With no money coming in, she had to make some tough decisions, she admits.

“My word, I had to sell some of my cars, but the show must go on,” she said. “I sold my 1979 Hurst Olds to Mr. Bruce Smith, who is a collector, and they put it on display in the main showroom of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America.”

A mannequin of Vaughn stands next to her prized Oldsmobile at the Hall of Fame, but she once again recalls with her great sense of humor that there’s a problem with the mannequin.

“The president of the Hall of Fame, George Levy, said he’s going to have all of the inductees sign the trunk of my car,” she said, adding with another laugh, “but I told him he has to put more ‘padding’ in the mannequin because it’s a little flat.’ It’s a real good likeness, it’s just a little flat.”

Things got better for her somewhat in 2021, as she was able to get back to doing some shows and races in-person, but Vaughn expects 2022 to be almost fully back to normal and the way things were pre-pandemic.

She’s even going back to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in Daytona Beach next week for the 2022 induction ceremonies, which will honor, four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, championship winning drag racer and crew chief Dick LaHaie, NASCAR team owner Jack Roush, Terry Vance and Byron Hines from the motorcycle world. Also going in this year are Autoweek co-founder, media and racing pioneer Denise McCluggage, sports car designer Peter Brock, the founders of Harley-Davidson—Arthur, Walter and William Davidson and William Harley—as well as NASCAR pioneers Banjo Matthews and Raymond Parks.

Even though she could retire, Vaughn has no plans to do so. She is enjoying herself so much, and has a lot of folks to see this year that she didn’t see or get to interact with the last couple of years.

“There’s no off-season for me,” Vaughn said. “But I have slowed down quite a bit. I’ve had heart operations, y’all almost lost me a few years ago (2016, after suffering a heart attack). I found out how much people loved me for me when I was in the hospital. I got so many flowers and so many cards and it was just pure love and prayers that kept me going because they thought it was going to die, I thought I was going to die. They even summoned my family in.”

She once again turns to humor to somewhat numb the seriousness of all she went through.

“I told my heart doctor I'd really be pissed if I died right now because I’ve got to go to the Indy 500,” Vaughn laughed. “It was the first time I’ve missed the 500. Jeff Gordon sent me a shirt with ‘Indy’ all over it. I had it all over my gown with all the tubes sticking out.”

But COVID did prove to have one good benefit of sorts.

“I'm in love for the first time with a four-legged dog,” she said with yet another laugh. “I have never had a dog because I traveled so much and it wouldn’t be fair to the dog. Well, now I have a dog and his name is Curly Joe Cocker, a chocolate brown Cocker Spaniel. Yep, Curly Joe Cocker, he’s my rocker. I love him so much! We bonded all during (COVID). I cooked a lot for him, he gained 10 pounds and I gained 30!”

The pandemic also helped Vaughn do a lot of things she had put off for ages, including going through her closets and began jotting notes and doing tape recordings for what she hopes will eventually be the sequel to her first book, Linda Vaughn: First Lady of Motorsports, which came out in 2016.

“Every time I think of a story, I pick up my little tape recorder or I write notes,” she said. “I have books and books of notes all around the house, in the bathroom, on the floor, down the hall. When I think of something, I try to write it down. I want to do a second book because the first book was more of a pictorial.

“I would like to pick up where I left off from the first one and tell more in-depth stories about Mario and the Andretti’s, A.J. and the Foyts, ‘Big Daddy’ (Don Garlits), Don Prudhomme, the Unsers, Peter Revson, Jimmy Clark and others. I want it to be a real good book.”

Of the thousands of race car drivers and cars she’s been around in her life, Vaughn likens her staying power to that of an iconic classic car—or “classy chassis” as some have also good-naturedly said about her.

“I’m like a ’57 Chevy,” she laughed. “That was the first car I fell in love with. I had a passion for it, almost sexual. I even had my first kiss in a ’57 Chevrolet.”

Even today, Vaughn still has a number of classic cars and hot rods she owns and drives. While she used to do much of her own work on her cars when she was younger, like change the oil, and even attached a muffler, she’s scaled back in recent years. All she does now is wash her rides, as she doesn’t like taking her “babies” through car washes.

Even though her appearances at places like Daytona, Indianapolis, Pomona and more number in the hundreds, Vaughn still has a bucket list of things she’d like to see or achieve.

At the very top is attend the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England (June 23-26 this year), as well as to return to two of the most prestigious car events in the world, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, as well as the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance car show in Florida (this weekend, March 3-6).

The on-the-edge element of racing has always held Vaughn’s interest, but she also knows the risks that come with it, as well, as she’s lost a number of close friends over the years to tragic accidents.

“I told someone once that in our sport we can have breakfast with someone in the morning and be going to the funeral home at night,” Vaughn said. “Our sport is highly, highly dangerous. But I think it brings us closer and we love each other so much deeper.

“There’s a passion and compassion, it truly is like a family. It’s so wonderful to be accepted into all forms of motorsports, which I have been and still am. That's a real treasure. It’s like the Hope Diamond to me. Racing is a lot like music, it never ages. There's no age limit to good music and good motorsports.”

And speaking about there not being an age limit, Vaughn was asked what has been the secret of her longevity in the sport.

“I used to say, when I die, I hope to get hit in the pits by Richard Petty, and then I changed it to Mario Andretti, then I changed it to Tony Stewart, and then I changed it to a Top Fuel dragster blowing up in front of me,” Vaughn said. “The secret to my longevity is just I love it, I really do. The longevity is the love and the family ties.

“I think that keeps me young. I'm upset because I can't run or swim or dance and do all the things I used to do. That really does piss me off, I have to admit, because I’ve got boogie rhythm in my feet (she laughed).

“My heart is big. And I have a wonderful heart doctor that's keeping me going. So I'll keep on working so long as my heart keeps ticking. The bottom line is as long as the people want me, I'll still do it, with love.”

And as long as her fans and the racing world still love her back, Linda will be keeping the pedal to the metal and feeling a need for speed.

“I may have 14 stents, my shoulders are working with six screws in them, and I'm not dancing in the street like I used to be able to do, but I can still throw the clutch and shift gears.”

Follow Autoweek correspondent Jerry Bonkowski on Twitter @JerryBonkowski