As a journalist, she was barred from the pits and the press box - so she went around the barrier the only way that made sense: she got in the car. She won at Sebring. She won at Monte Carlo. Then she wrote about it better than anyone who had only watched.

She raced against the biggest names in the sport and didn't just keep pace — she earned their respect, lap by lap. Speed was her credential and her argument. She co-founded Autoweek, brought Zen philosophy to the cockpit, and remains the only journalist ever inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame.

She didn't cover motorsports culture. She was motorsports culture - built for speed, sharp behind the wheel and at the typewriter both, insisting all along that permission was never the right place to start.