Whoever said that women and old people can’t drive has been proven wrong by Shirley Veine. Shirley isn’t your average lady – she’s 82 and drives like a speed demon.
At an age when many expect her to be cooped up at home, watching repeats of I Love Lucy, she instead spends her weekends in the fast lane or at events like the Sun Valley Road Rally last month. The event closes down Highway 75, near Ketchum, Idaho, and competitors are let loose in their machines. Veine made her first attempt last year, when she took her “‘Vette” to an impressive 166mph, but the octogenarian wanted more. And she got more this year when she raced her yellow automatic (“easier on my hips”) 2000 C5 Corvette Z06 to 171mph.
In a radio interview during the run-up to the race, she said, “We put headers and a larger air intake valve on it. They put it on the dyno last Thursday and she got up to 181.” It was however quite impossible to surpass 180mph at an altitude of 5,000 feet – the car would have less power, and wind and weather factors would alter performance dramatically. Shirley had a more realistic goal of somewhere between 170 to 175mph.
Shirley grew up during sixties when the car craze culture was in full swing. She learned to drive in a ’49 Olds 98 and soon developed a passion for fast cars. Today, she spends as much time as possible with her family, who are equally supportive of her unusual hobby (for her age) and even started the Facebook page GoGrannyGo Corvette. Shirley is amassing quite the fanbase, possibly even more than the rally’s winner who drove a Bugatti Veyron (nicknamed ‘Hellbug’) to 235.7mph.
Shirley promises that she’ll be back next year, faster than ever, and she doesn’t plan to stop doing what she loves.
Get into the backseat with her during the rally:
What a lady!
