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1941-1992

Maria Grazia "Lella" Lombardi was born in Frugarolo in the Piedmont region of Italy. Her first job was as a delivery driver for the family butchery business. Starting her racing career in karting, she moved on to Formula Monza (a 500cc competition) in 1965. In 1974, she became the first female racing driver to qualify and compete at the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch. In 1975, she was signed to the March Formula One team. She competed in twelve Grand Prix, picking up a half point in the truncated 1975 race in Spain. The race was stopped after 28 laps when a Rolf Stommelen crash claimed the lives of four spectators. Lella was in sixth place at the time and was awarded the half point.

She later moved into sports car racing. In 1979, she won the 6 Hours of Pergusa and the 6 Hours of Vallelunga. She also competed four times at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. She retired in 1988, founding her own racing team, Lombardi Autosport in 1989. She died in 1992, at the age of 50, from breast cancer and was survived by her long-term partner Fiorenza.

1940-1988

Mike Beuttler began his race career in Formula Three, graduating to Formula Two then made his Formula One debut in 1971. He drove a March car for a private team which was funded by a group of stockbrokers. He earned the nickname ‘Blocker’ for his tough racing style. Not liking to be overtaken, he made an effort to block anyone who tried to get past.

While Beuttler did not achieve a points-scoring finish during his career in Formula One, he did achieve six top-ten finishes in the 28 races in which he competed between 1971 and 1973. He retired from racing in 1974, at the age of 34, when the backers of the team where unable to continue financing him.

After he retired, he moved from his native England to Los Angeles in the USA, where he died from AIDS related complications at the age of only 48 in 1988.

Michelle Duff was born in Canada in 1939. As a teenager she was fascinated by her brother’s 250cc BSA motorcycle, learning to ride it in the back streets of Toronto.

Duff was the first North American and only Canadian to win a World Championship Grand Prix, of which she won three: the 250 Belgian GP in 1964, with lap and race records, the 125 Dutch TT in 1965 and the 250 Finnish GP, also in 1965. Duff was the first person to lap Spa-Francorchamps circuit at over 190kph on a 250, the first North American to lap the Isle of Man at over 100mph, and the second person to do so on a 500cc G50 Matchless. 

In 1984, she changed her name to Michelle and commenced transition, separating from her wife.

Now 85, Michelle is an accomplished author and wildlife photographer. She was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1994.

While he was at college in Florida, Hurley Haywood started racing a Corvette in local autocross events, beating Daytona star Petter Gregg. An impressed Gregg soon signed Haywood up to be his co-driver in sports car racing. Their first victory was in the Six Hours Watkins Glen event in 1969. That same year he was drafted to fight in the war in Vietnam and returned unharmed a year later. Haywood immediately threw himself back into racing. His record is impressive, with three wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1977, 1983 and 1994), five wins at the 24 Hours of Daytona between 1973 and 1991, and two wins in the 12 Hours of Sebring (1973 and 1981).

Despite this success, he later wrote about the pressure on him to conceal his sexuality: “I was afraid,” he says and “I didn’t want it to get out.”  He came out as gay at the age of 71 in his autobiography ‘Hurley: From The Beginning’, published in 2018. 

Ralf Schumacher was born in Germany six years after his illustrious brother Michael. They are the only siblings to have both won Formula One races. Ralf took the route to Formula One via karting, Formula Three and Formula Nippon. He made his Formula One debut in 1997, driving for Jordan. He switched to Williams between 1999 and 2004. His first win for Williams came in the San Marino Grand Prix in 2001. That same season he also won in Canada and Germany, finishing fourth overall for the season. He took three more wins during his time with Williams. His final Formula One team was Toyota, with more modest results until he moved to Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters racing until 2012. His best season in this category came in 2011, when he finished 8th.

Having divorced from his wife in 2015, Ralf Schumacher announced in July 2024 that he was happily in a same-sex relationship. 

Danny Watts was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and started karting at the age of four. After five seasons in karting, he progressed to Formula First single-seater racing, taking 12 wins. In 2000, he moved to Formula Renault, winning the championship in 2002. Between 2003 and 2004 he drove in the Formula Three championship. In 2007 he started nine years of competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His best finish was fifth overall and first in class in 2010, where he was part of the Strakka Team with Nick Leventis and Jonny Kane.

He retired in 2017, at which point he came out as gay.

Stephen Rhodes is an American stock car racing driver. When he made his debut in 2003, he became the first openly gay driver to compete in a NASCAR national touring series event.

Growing up in the backyard of stock car racing in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Stephen dreamed of racing at NASCAR’s highest level. He began his quest at the age of eight, competing in go-kart competitions amassing 31 wins in 55 races during his first year of competition. By 1999, Stephen had moved onto racing four-cylinder stock cars, competing full-time at Wayne County (NC) Speedway where he was named “Rookie of the Year”. Stephen joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) ranks in 2003, where he competed at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, CA, and Martinsville (VA) Speedway and recorded two top 20 finishes. He came out at age seventeen, one year before he made his NASCAR Truck Series debut.