The First Lady of Dirt: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Racing Pioneer Cheryl Glass

The incredible, little-known story of the first successful Black woman in the sport of auto racing in the United States.

Early in her career, Cheryl Glass looked like a lock to become the first Black woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500. From racing quarter midget cars at ten years old to Indy Lights in her twenties, Cheryl was on her way towards a winning career in auto racing.

In The First Lady of Dirt: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Racing Pioneer Cheryl Glass, Bill Poehler tells Cheryl’s full story for the first time. He recounts how Cheryl rapidly became the first successful Black woman in the sport, yet frequently encountered racist and sexist taunts from other drivers and fans throughout her career. While appearing to have it all—talent, ambition, looks—she faced many challenges on and off the track and her life soon spun out of control.

Featuring exclusive interviews with Cheryl’s mother, friends, and competitors, The First Lady of Dirt takes you behind the scenes and in the driver’s seat of Cheryl’s life. Poehler, an amateur racer himself, places the reader at the track, smelling the dirt and fumes, hearing the roaring engines and crashing metal, and feeling Cheryl’s joy and pain. It’s the inspiring story of a racing pioneer and a tragic tale of the pressures that are often hidden from public view until it’s too late.

Bill Poehler is an award-winning journalist who has spent his career as a reporter at the Salem Statesman Journal, part of the USA Today network in Salem, Oregon. His work has appeared in such newspapers as USA Today, Washington Times, The Indianapolis Star, The Detroit Free Press, Des Moines Register, The Tennessean, Cincinnati Enquirer and Reno Gazette-Journal as well as on Yahoo.com, MSNBC, Oregon Public Broadcasting, KGW TV, and KOIN TV. Poehler has won awards from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, the Best of Gannett, and from the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association for his writing and contributions as a journalist. He is the author of The Brown Bullet: Rajo Jack’s Drive to Integrate Auto Racing.