Her Pinkness

Remembering Donna Mae Mims
I don’t remember exactly when I first met Donna Mae. It may have been when she was working on the false grid at Nelson Ledges or maybe when admiring her pink Corvette with the incredible mural of Marilyn Monroe on the hood. Her name sounded familiar since I had been following racing since the nearly 60’s, but it was only later I learned the extent of her accomplishments. Donna started racing in 1958 was the first and only one of three women to win an SCCA National Championship in H Production in 1963 in her pink Austin-Healy Bug eye Sprite in her pink coveralls and helmet. “I just always liked pink,” she said. Donna was an employee of the famous Yenko Chevrolet and worked with Zora Arkus Duntov among others in the development of Chevrolet Racing. She also raced Camaros, MGs, Corvettes, and Corvairs in places such as Sebring, Daytona, and Riverside. For one of her funnier escapades, she drove a Cadillac Limo in the 1972 Cannonball Run with an all girl team.

When many of her friends were gone or sitting in their rocking chairs, Donna was out bringing joy to everyone she met. Her story of going to her first SCCA meeting and loving it because two officials got in a fight is legendary. So is the story of how she and her husband bought a Corvette and she kept the car and ditched the husband. A member of the Steel Cities Region SCCA and Corvette, Corvair, and Sports Car Clubs, she was always ready to be part of the fun and making it happen. She volunteered with the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix from its inception. But Donna also had her serious side. She taught Sunday School at the Mt. Lebanon Methodist Church and had me come and speak to her class because she wanted them to know about Motorsports Ministries and how she “got her Church at the race track.”  Mostly I remember her always cheerfully greeting me in her pink outfit as she came early to chapel service so she could sweep the floor and help set up. A servant first and a legend second, there’s more pink in Heaven today. 

Chaplain Marvin Gray with help from Don Baker