Elisabeth Junek

No way did Elisabeth Junek look like a racing driver. She was, well, a woman to begin with, and there were not many of them hefting potent racing cars around in the 1920s. And she was petite, her fair hair framing a kind, gently smiling face. Even when she raced she always wore skirts, topped by a white blouse. But at the wheel of one of her Bugattis, she was dynamite. Out came no-nonsense determination and courage, which she applied to her racing with a fast, shrewd mind to beat some of the greats of her day, among them Tazio Nuvolari, Achille Varzi, Luigi Fagioli, and René Dreyfus.

The men, of course, fancied her like crazy. She was a favorite of Vincenzo Florio, the inventor and patron of the Targa Florio. Even the dour Varzi, who was a bit of a ladies man, was known to wink in her direction and hold her small hand far too long after he had shaken it. Elisabeth took all this flirting in good spirit and was courteous to them all—until she raced against them. Then her claws came out and she gave no quarter, as good at the cut and thrust of motor racing as any of them, and at times better.