The Women With Drive Summit IV, which takes place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from December 9-11, has been in the making for 30 years, according to their Executive Director, Cindy Sisson. Speaking to Paddock Eye on Friday, Sisson said that she was the head of marketing with the LPGA, where she held a press conference at the Golf equivalent of the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show to ask how the sport gets women involved without their being lawsuits and bad-mouthing so they came up with the idea of teaching the sport about the economics of having women involved in the sport.
The event was meant to be held in Daytona, where the LPGA is based; however, it sold out, and it was moved to Orlando. About 400 people attended the event, and there were CEOs from every Golf organization, which changed how the sport was marketed to women.
Sisson explained that the PGA, LPGA, the national golf federation, the USGA, and the Women’s Sports Foundation, and at the time, the President of the Women’s Sports Foundation was Lyn St James, who was the 1992 Indianapolis 500 Rookie Of The Year.
Sisson says Lyn St James was on the Golf Summit Committee; 30 years later, she received a call from Matt Crews, the founder of the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, and he said to Cindy that he wanted to do something big for women in motorsports because has ever done that. He told her to think big, and Sisson responded that she would hold a summit like in 1991. she called on Lyn St James and a girl, Tina Budd, who now works with her on the Women With Drive Summit.
The event was held at the George Jones Bar in Nashville, and it was a sell-out with 110 people. They felt that they were on to something. The next summit occurred in 2021 when Beth Paretta’s female-forward team debuted at the Indianapolis 500. Lyn was on the grid at the start of the race, and she started crying and said she no longer felt alone. That is the Genesis of Women In Motorsport North America.
Sisson says that this year, they received calls from PRI and IMS. Roger Penske has been great, and he will be hosting the Breakfast on Tuesday morning this year.
This year, they aim to have 600 people at the Summit. Regarding Hailee Deegan, who has made the switch from NASCAR to INDY NXT, presented by Firestone, Sisson said that she believes it is fantastic that she has made the switch. Deegan signed to race for HMD Motorsports for 2025 and made her on-track debut at the Chris Griffis Memorial test on Friday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Sisson has been impressed with how Formula One’s Drive To Survive has helped girls get interested in Formula One. She has had high school girls come up recently to say that they want to be Formula One engineers, but she feels there is more to Formula One, such as series here in the United States, such as the NHRA, INDYCAR, and NASCAR.
Cindy wants Tatiana Calderon back racing in the United States and feels the Colombian has untapped potential. Cindy hopes Tatiana will get back into INDY NXT presented by Firestone and back up to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, where she raced for AJ Foyt Racing in 2022.
The Women With Drive Summit IV will take place from December 9 to 11 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. For further information, click here.