When I first spotted this item on the Hemmings Daily newsletter I had to stop and think for a moment: "So who is Donna Mae Mims and why should I care?" The name seemed vaguely familiar but the pink Austin-Healey Sprite failed to register. I soon learned that this lady was the Sports Car Club of America’s first female National Champion. In 1963 she captured the SCCA H-Production Championship, driving a 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk I whose first owner was Dr. Jonas Salk, originator of the vaccine that eradicated polio by the end of the 1950s.
I was very much involved in road racing that year as a commentator and occasional competitor but my activities were focussed on the Canadian scene, which probably explains why I'd overlooked the American championships and, therefore, Donna Mae Mims. Now that I've been brought up to date I realise that her racing accomplishments were exceptional, and why the car she raced will be of such interest at Gooding & Company's Scottsdale auction on January 17 and 18.
Mims would capture three SCCA National wins driving the Sprite plus enough points to deliver her the H-Production championship with a 10th-place finish in the final event of the season. By taking the championship, Mims had proven her abilities to handle a race car.
In 1964, she campaigned an MGB in D-Production, but reliability issues prevented capturing back-to-back championships. Mims would then go on to race everything from a Formula Vee to a big-block Camaro, and even drove a rented Cadillac limousine with co-drivers Judy Stropus and Peggy Niemcek in the 1972 running of the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash. Following Mims’ ownership, the Sprite became just another used race car, though it was raced as recently as 1987.
The current owner acquired it in 2005 and completed an extensive restoration to 1963 specifications (assisted by Mims) in time for the Sprite’s 50th Anniversary celebration at Mid-Ohio in 2008. It will cross the block with no reserve, carrying an estimated price of between $70,000 and $90,000. The market for vintage race cars seems to be hot at the moment so it'll be fascinating to see what the Sprite will bring, especially with its winning history. Perhaps it's time to Think Pink again.
Recent Comments