Price: $37.04
Neva “Grandma” Burright, born amidst the exhilaration of a race track in 1883, carved out a prestigious 57-year career as a harness racing driver. Her journey took her from humble county fair races to the thrilling world of post-World War II pari-mutuel harness racing. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, her daring feats were the talk of the nation, reported in major newspapers from Boston to Honolulu.
In 1943, Grandma Burright etched her name in history by becoming the first woman to clinch a Grand Circuit race. She outperformed the renowned Sep Palin, “the aristocrat of drivers,” despite his substantial financial backing from automotive heiress Frances Dodge Johnson. In this same race in Delaware, Ohio, Grandma Burright, alongside her trusted bay gelding, Luckyette, took the harness racing world by storm. They set an unprecedented record for women drivers over a half-mile track, clocking in at an impressive 2:04 ¾.
Grandma Burright’s victories weren’t just celebrated on the track. Mainstream magazines like Coronet, Esquire, Hit!, Life, and Look paid tribute to her in their features. She even graced national television in 1954, baffling the panelists on the popular show, ‘What’s My Line?’
In ‘Grandma Burright: The Queen of Harness Racing’, author Kevin Groenhagen delves into the multifaceted life of this extraordinary woman. Beyond her racing career, he explores her roles as a wife, mother, and grandmother. Groenhagen paints a compelling picture of how this small, unassuming woman with limited means managed to overcome a series of heartrending tragedies – the loss of her husband, two grandsons, and two sons within a span of 12 years, to rise as the undisputed ‘Queen of Harness Racing.’