Women Drivers

In Kansas Auto Racing Prior to 1960

Women were not allowed to compete against men in organized auto racing at all before World War II. Cejay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas and Jayhawk Amusement Park Speedway in Newton, Kansas were just two of the very few places in the Midwest where women drivers could compete on a regular basis against their male counterparts in the late 1940s and the 1950s. The women drivers at those racetracks had started out as a novelty with the ladies racing only in special events against just each other but Cejay Stadium owner and race promoter Carl Johnson and Jayhawk Amusement Park Speedway race promoter Earl Mills soon recognized the publicity potential of allowing women to compete in their regular races.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Miss” Calvert

Lee Cornish with her first stock car

Lee Cornish with a Hudson owned by Lawrence Brooks of Arkansas City, Kansas

Lee Cornish with a Ford coupe owned by Don Hartman of Arkansas City, Kansas

Shirley Hamilton at Dodge City, Kansas

Ileen Goodman

#55 Ileen Goodman at Cejay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas

Ileen Goodman celebrating after winning a race at Jayhawk Amusement Park Speedway at Newton, Kansas

An undoubtedly posed photo of Ileen Goodman in a hot rod at Cejay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas in 1949

Elfrieda Mais

Flodette Roberts

Ileen Goodman with the 1937 Ford in which she won the female championship in 1949

Ileen Goodman and her Pabst Blue Ribbon Ford

Will Forrest standing beside his sister, Ileen Goodman seated in the #55 Ford sedan

Shirley Hamilton at Dodge City, Kansas

#21 Ionamae Rebenstorf and #24 Ileen Goodman get together at Cejay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas in 1949

Cejay Stadium racing promoter Carl Johnson presenting Ileen Goodman with an award after she won the 1949 championship for female racing drivers

Polly Matlock is shown here with husband Bill Matlock on her left and Bob Arrington on her right

Elfrieda Mais

Elfrieda Mais at left with husband Ray Laplante

Elfrieda Mais

Jody Palmer

“Miss” Calvert, described as a French woman and a former Red Cross driver who had served in World War I, drove exhibition laps during breaks in the IMCA races at the Mid-America State Fair in Topeka, Kansas on September 17, 1921. Her fastest time for two laps was 1 minutes and 20 seconds.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lee Cornish

Leola Sylvia “Lee” (Clary) Cornish was born on October 1, 1916 at Bedford, Iowa and moved with her parents to South Haven, Kansas in 1924. She started racing jalopies in October of 1949 against other women drivers at Cejay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas. In that first race, all the other competitors dropped out leaving Cornish with the win. She enjoyed the racing so much that she wanted to continue doing it so the next week she competed against the men. That first car was a #33 Plymouth stock car owned by her brother, Marvin Clary.

Cornish’s first grandchild was born in 1950 so she was occasionally referred to as “Grandma Cornish” over the public address system and in published racetrack publicity.

Cornish won the “C” feature racing against the men at Cejay Stadium on June 17, 1950.

Her husband, George “Sailor” Cornish was an electrician for the Wichita Board of Education when not working on her racing cars. He continued to choose Plymouths as he felt the frames were stronger making them safer cars for her to race.

After Marvin Clary quit racing, Cornish purchased another Plymouth from a used car lot for $55, painted it #16, and raced it.

It was difficult to find a racetrack that would allow her to compete but when other drivers would learn of a race that would accept her entry; they would often call her on the phone and tell her about it.

Although a regular competitor at Cejay Stadium, Cornish occasionally ventured to Jayhawk Amusement Park Speedway in Newton, Kansas; “77” Speedway at Arkansas City, Kansas; and ABC Speedway at Alva, Oklahoma.

She went to Robbins Speedway at Wichita when it first opened in 1955, checked her car in, and was preparing to race it when an official came to her pit, told her that her entry was being withdrawn, and she would not be allowed to complete there since she was a woman.

On one occasion, a promoter arranged a match race between Cornish and future Indy “500” driver A. J. Shepherd. Shepherd was much faster and made it look as though he was really trying to win but then spun his car out near the end and, thus Cornish was “allowed” to win the race.

Cornish’s cars were overturned on a number of occasions, as the male drivers seemed to like to shove her around. She did not think many of the men liked her racing with them but driver Bill Mears was her most vocal critic. (Mears was the father of future Indy drivers Rick and Roger Mears.)

All of the racetracks that had let her race closed in the mid-1950s leaving Cornish no place that would allow her to compete, so she reluctantly gave up participating in the sport.

Lee thought it was wonderful that her husband, George had let her race all that time and helped out with the car. George said that he did not think it was all that dangerous what with roll cages and the relatively slow speeds that Lee ran at.

When George was asked if it was not a pretty expensive sport to compete in, he replied that it did not cost as much as going out for the evening and getting drunk plus he felt a lot better the next day!

After given up racing, Lee and George moved to a small farm near Conway Springs, Kansas.

Lee passed away on February 24, 2007 at Oxford, Kansas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Florence Edwards

Florence Edwards, driving a miniature car known as “Baby Mine”, defeated a male driver named Young in his regulation racing car in a two-lap match race on the half-mile West Side Racetrack in Wichita, Kansas on November 8, 1917. Edwards held an official competition license with IMCA in 1918.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ileen Goodman

Ileen Merle Dessie (Forrest) Goodman, wife of Samuel C. W. Goodman, was born on January 31, 1916 at Argonia, Kansas. She started racing in women only races in 1949 winning the women’s championship at Cejay Stadium in Wichita in her rookie year. She then advanced to racing against the men at the few racetracks that would allow her to do so such as Cejay Stadium and Jayhawk Amusement Park Speedway which was at Newton, Kansas.

According to Goodman, she was the first female racing driver ever to be sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.

Goodman passed away on February 3, 1999 at Wichita, Kansas and is buried in White Chapel Memorial Gardens in Wichita.

Goodman came from a large family of auto racing drivers. Her brothers Harold, Carroll, and Will Forrest were all prominent Kansas drivers. Goodman was also a great aunt to Indy 500 drivers Rick and Roger Mears and a great-great-aunt to current NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Casey Mears.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shirley (Hamilton) Messenger

Shirley Hamilton drove in her first powder puff derby at the age of 17 at McCarty Speedway in Dodge City, Kansas on September 15, 1956 winning first place in a field of 15 cars. Her second race was on the same racetrack on August 10, 1957 where she tried a pass for the lead on the outside and wound up off of the race track. Her third and final race was at Liberal Speedway at Liberal, Kansas on September 17, 1957 where she again finished first in a car from Hooker, Oklahoma.

Shirley went on to graduate from St. Mary of the Plains at Dodge City, Kansas and open her own accounting and tax service.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elfrieda Mais

Elfrieda (Hellman) Mais was born on June 19, 1892 in Indianapolis, Indiana and made her home in Dodge City, Kansas for a time during World War I. She started working as an airplane stunt woman and wing walker in 1910 but switched to driving racing cars in 1912. Racing sanctioning bodies of her time did not allow women to compete against the men so Elfrieda’s efforts were mostly confined to speed trials against the clock and stunt driving exhibitions. She plied those skills at an IMCA race at West Side Speedway in Wichita, Kansas on July 4, 1916 where she set an unofficial two-lap track record of 1 minute, 24 seconds on the half-mile racetrack. Four days later (July 8, 1916), she ran two laps on the half-mile racetrack at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson in 1 minute, 20.2 seconds. She lowered that time to 1 minute, 11.6 seconds on the half-mile Kansas State Fairgrounds racetrack on July 5, 1920. She also ran on the one-mile racetrack at Salina, Kansas on Labor Day of 1921. She returned to Wichita on August 7, 1932 where she again ran speed trials during breaks between the auto races at the Bo Stearns track north of town.

In 1911, Elfrieda married John A. “Johnny” Mais who drove racing cars and competed in the 1915 Indianapolis “500”. Elfrieda was later married to Ray Laplante but continued to appear at racetracks and in stunt shows as “Miss Elfrieda Mais”.

Elfrieda Mais was fatally injured on September 27, 1934 when the car she was driving ran into a road grader and overturned down an embankment after she had crashed through a blazing board wall during a stunt-driving exhibition at the Alabama State Fair in Birmingham.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Polly Matlock

Pauline “Polly” Matlock was born 1924 and was the wife of Bill Matlock. Newspaper stories indicate that Polly drove jalopy stock cars in some of the women only races run at Cejay Stadium in Wichita, Kansas in 1949. She passed away in 1998.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hazel Nichols

Hazel Nichols was to drive exhibition laps in a racing car during a break between races on November 7 and 8, 1917 at the West Side Racetrack in Wichita, Kansas but her effort was canceled due to her car being “crippled”. Nichols held an official competition license with IMCA in 1918.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jody Palmer

Wilma Joann “Jody” (Loewe) Palmer was born on March 17, 1936 in Arkansas City, Kansas and drove jalopies at “77” Speedway south of Arkansas City in the late 1950s. She died on February 7, 2007 in Wichita, Kansas and is buried in the Parker Cemetery east of Arkansas City.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ionamae Rebenstorf

Ionamae Rebenstorf, wife of Bert Rebenstorf, was born July 11, 1915 in Wichita, Kansas and grew up in that city. She raced jalopy stock cars against other women drivers at Cejay Stadium in Wichita in 1949.

Bert and Ionamae moved to Branson, Missouri in 1961 where she taught courses in millinery. Ionamae passed away in Branson on August 1, 1999.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flodette Roberts

Flodette Roberts drove exhibition laps in a Hudson racing car during breaks in the IMCA racing program on September 15, 1919 at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, Kansas and on September 19, 1921 at the Mid-America State Fair in Topeka, Kansas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you know anything more about the involvement of these ladies in automobile racing or if you know of any other female Kansas drivers who participated in the automobile races during these years, please contact Bob Lawrence.

Thank you to:

Larry Brooks, George Cornish, Lee Cornish, Marian Cornish, Loretta Cox, Jim Edwards, Michelle Kristek, Shirley Messenger, and Jim Petty