Today in motorcycle history, December 26, 1972

  


  

  The first woman of color in the world to win a professional motorsports event, Peggy Llewellyn, is born in San Antonio, Texas. 

  Of American, Jamaican and Mexican descent,  Peggy Llewellyn wins the 2007 NHRA POWERade Prostock Motorcycle title in Dallas, Texas, becoming the first woman of color to win a professional motorsports event.  

  Riding motorcycles since she was seven, Llewellyn was seemingly born with the need-for-speed.  In 2001 Peggy was able to get six NHRA starts but, unable to secure a sponsor, she found herself studying for a real estate license as a means to eat and keep bill-collectors off her ass.  It didn't take long to realize selling turf wasn't to be the career for her, so back to the track she went.  With natural talent and a gritty determination she finally locked up a sponsor and was able to race full-time.
  Then, in 2007, as well as qualifying for the inaugural NHRA 'Countdown to 4' and 'Countdown to 1', allowing her to finish in the POWERade Top 5, she also did a career-best time with a 6.928 seconds at a leg-wetting 193.24 mph.

  Peggy Llewellyn made history again in 2010 when she became the first woman of color to own, operate and race for an NHRA drag racing team, 2 Wheel Woman Racing.