Beth Paretta, formerly the motorsports director for Dodge, announced the formation of Grace Autosport, a team with an all female staff, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday.
The team has a goal of competing in the 100th Indianapolis 500 next season with veteran driver Katherine Legge behind the wheel. The team also is taking part in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiative to get more women involved in racing.
“For us, true success will be measured by how many girls and women we can encourage to pursue a STEM career,” said Paretta. “Having said that, we are here to win and our goal is within 10 years to make sure a woman’s face will grace the BorgWarner trophy.”
Under Paretta’s leadership, Dodge scored the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship with driver Brad Keselowski and claimed the GTLM Manufacturers title in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
The team has also named aerdynamicist Catherine Crawford and engineers Lauren Elkins and Jessica Rowe who all bring a wealth of experience to the table.
