Kelly Sutton

Kelly Renae "Girl" Sutton (born September 24, 1971) is an American former NASCAR driver. Sutton started 54 races, mostly in her family-owned No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado, in the Craftsman Truck Series. She was the only stock-car racer, male or female, known to race with multiple sclerosis before Trevor Bayne's diagnosis in 2013.

Beginnings Sutton began racing at the age of ten before her career was halted due to her diagnosis of MS at the age of sixteen. She resumed racing in 1992 at Old Dominion Speedway, driving in the Pro Mini Stock Series. During her first year of competition, Sutton won the Hard Charger and Sportsmanship awards. During her three years competing in the series, she won seven feature races and won the Most Popular Driver award all three years.

Return to racing Sutton would not race again until 1997 in the Allison Pennsylvania Legacy Series. She won two feature races and the Most Popular Driver Award. The next year, she competed in the Parts Pro Truck Series, where she won one qualifying race and the Oral B Close Brush Award.

In 2000, Sutton advanced to the NASCAR Dash Series, where she competed in two races and had a sixteenth-place finish. She posted her first top-ten in the division the following year, before competing full-time in 2002, winning the Most Popular Driver award and finishing third in rookie standings.

Craftsman Truck Series Sutton made her NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut in 2003 at Memphis Motorsports Park, where she started 34th and finished 27th after suffering early transmission failure. She ran three more races that year, her best finish being a 19th at the season-ending Ford 200. She made her first full-time bid for the championship in 2004, with sponsorship from Copaxone. She finished seventh for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors and 26th in championship points, her best points finish to date. Her best finish that season came at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway, where she finished 20th. She returned in 2005, posting a career-best fifteenth-place run at the Quaker Steak and Lube 200, despite dropping to 29th in points. She had a big accident at Kansas during the season when she went upside down in turns 3 and 4 during the O'Reilly 250 after contact with Chris Fontaine, who had wrecked in front of her earlier.

In 2006, she competed in twelve races. During the O'Reilly 250 at Kansas, the same race she flipped in a year earlier, she had another bad accident, this time losing control of her truck on the backstretch and just missing an opening on the inside wall before slamming into the wall, almost flattening the driver's side of the truck. She was extracted from the truck to a local hospital, but she survived with minor injuries. Fellow NASCAR driver Jeff Fuller would have an accident almost similar to this later in the year in a Busch series race at Kentucky when he spun to avoid a spinning Jason Leffler and slammed into an opening on the inside wall, only it was the passenger side door that was flattened, and he survived with minor injuries. Brad Keselowski was hired to drive in two races that her team was entered in, but that she could not race in due to her injury. Her best finish was a nineteenth at Gateway International Raceway.

For 2007, Sutton drove three races in the No. 51 truck for Billy Ballew Motorsports. In June 2007, Sutton finished 20th at the Toyota Tundra Milwaukee 200, her last race to date.

Motorcycle accident On Sunday, April 7, 2013, Sutton was severely injured in a motorcycle accident while riding as a passenger. The person she was riding with died. She was taken to an area hospital in critical condition.

Motorsports career results NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Pts Ref 2003 Sutton Motorsports 02 Chevy DAY DAR MMR MAR CLT DOV TEX MEM27 MLW KAN KEN GTW MCH IRP NSH BRI RCH NHA23 CAL LVSDNQ SBO TEX MAR PHO35 HOM19 63rd 340 2004 DAYDNQ ATL32 MARDNQ MFD20 CLTDNQ DOV27 TEX30 MEM31 MLW25 KAN35 KEN23 GTW21 MCH25 IRPDNQ NSH28 BRIDNQ RCHDNQ NHA24 LVS35 CAL25 TEX35 MAR34 PHO35 DAR36 HOM34 26th 1432 2005 DAY17 CAL26 ATL31 MAR27 GTY28 MFD26 CLT15 DOV31 TEX29 MCHDNQ MLWDNQ KAN31 KEN26 MEM20 IRP31 NSH36 BRIDNQ RCHDNQ NHA29 LVS28 MARDNQ ATLDNQ TEXDNQ PHODNQ HOMDNQ 29th 1315 2006 DAY29 CAL28 ATLQL† MAR GTY19 CLT27 MFD21 DOV36 TEX24 MCH25 MLW32 KAN36 KEN MEM IRP25 NSH26 BRI NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 34th 977 2007 Billy Ballew Motorsports 51 Chevy DAY CAL ATL MAR KAN33 CLT MFDDNQ DOV TEX33 MCH MLW20 MEM KEN IRP NSH BRI GTW NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 66th 231 † - Qualified but replaced by Chad Chaffin.

Goody's Dash Series NASCAR Goody's Dash Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Pts Ref 1995 N/A 02 Pontiac DAY FLO LAN MYB SUM HCY CAR STH BRI SUM GRE BGS MYB NSV FLO NWS VOL HCY HOM N/A 0 2000 N/A 02 Pontiac DAY MON STA JAC CAR CLT SBO ROU LOU SUM GRE SNM MYB BRI HCY JAC USA LAN 46th 229 2001 DAY ROU DAR CLT LOU JAC KEN SBO DAY GRE SNM NRV MYB BRI ACE JAC USA NSH 32nd 640 2002 DAY HAR ROU LON CLT KEN MEM GRE SNM SBO MYB BRI MOT ATL 12th 1585 2003 DAY OGL CLT SBO GRE KEN BRI ATL 8th 965