If you were going to take up an activity that would cover all aspects of motorsport, what would it be? Between boats, planes, bikes, dragsters, etc. etc., about the only commonality I can think of in motorsports is the burning of hydrocarbons. Turns out I’m wrong.
Timing and scoring events crosses all boundaries, from IndyCar, NHRA to NASCAR to road racing to land speed racing, all need timing and scoring. The person who wrote the book on the specialty of timing for teams, literally–THE STROPUS GUIDE TO AUTO RACE TIMING AND SCORING–in 1975 is Judy Stropus. She has been in the pits and on the timing stand for just about every top team in the early days of the sport, B.C. (Before Computers).
How about the Bud Moore Trans Am Cougars and the AMC Javelin team in Trans-Am? Judy was timing for Roger Penske when Mark Donohue won the Indy 500 in 1972. Mark left the Indy 500 festivities to give Judy a ride to the airport for her next assignment, timing for Peter Brock and the BRE Datsuns. You name it, Judy’s been there…done that.
Back in the day, before gigabyte computers, it took some teams multiple stop watches and incredible concentration to keep track of multiple drivers, yours and your competition’s, for 12 or more hours. Judy had the talent to use just one stopwatch to keep track of all the cars during qualifying and practice. Her ability to sit for the entire 24 hours at Daytona and LeMans and score each car in the race for the entire time without stopping became her trademark.
If you were going to be in the business of scoring, you had to be born with the right stuff. Judy says it’s much like race car driving. She found she had a near “savant” ability to do that when she started attending club races with her then boyfriend, who was driving a Jaguar XK120 as a member of the Queens (County) Sports Car Club in New York. That’s a long way from traveling on Roger Penske’s private jet, but Judy’s ability was quickly recognized. “The girls all did the timing and scoring, and they were surprised at how good I was, never having done it before.” When her ability became widely known, and after the Cougar team discovered her, two years later Roger asked her, “Why aren’t you working for me?”… and a 20-plus-year timing career flourished.
During that time, Judy also ran her own public relations company, JVS Enterprises, which represented a number of high-profile clients such as Chevrolet, BMW, Duracell, Mattel, etc. Currently, although she is semi-retired, she continues to work on P.R. projects, including representing EVRO Publishing in the U.K. promoting such books as David Hobbs’ autobiography, “Hobbo: Motor Racer, Motor Mouth,” and her mentor Karl Ludvigsen’s “magisterial” two-volume treatise entitled “Reid Railton, Man of Speed.” Karl is one of the pillars of automotive journalism. Porsche, Lotus, BRM, Corvette, Novi and many others have had their Definitive Archetypal Marque Histories written by Mr. Ludvigsen. The fact he recommended Judy Stropus to promote his latest, and most extensive effort, says a lot about Judy’s standing in the (mostly male) automotive world.
I asked Judy what has been her biggest barrier in her career, in particular as a race-car driver. “I’ve been very much accepted in my profession as a timer and a P.R. person, but when I decided to race cars, it was whom I call the ‘I.A.M.s…Insecure Adult Males…’ who tended to resent me. That didn’t last long as I quickly improved and managed to beat them regularly. I’ve been fortunate to have won several awards over the years, including the Jim Chapman Award for my P.R. work and the RRDC Bob Akin Award for my overall accomplishments as a racer, so I do feel very well accepted in this business.”
Judy competed in the Brock Yates-organized Cannonball Run in 1972, and the actress Adrienne Barbeau played a part very loosely based on her in the movie. Judy says, “I don’t like to talk about it, because one of our drivers fell asleep and rolled the limo we were driving. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. But if you Google my name, the Cannonball Run is one of the first things that pops up.
“One of the achievements I’m proud of is helping set up (for BMW) the Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya ‘car swap,’ in which they drove each other’s cars on the Grand Prix circuit at Indianapolis Raceway in June of 2003. Jeff drove the Williams F1 BMW FW25 and Juan drove the NASCAR Chevrolet. They both said it was one of the highlights of their careers, and it got huge press.”
Judy is a member of the road Racing Drivers Club (RRDC) and has been honored in just about all the top levels of auto racing and public relations. Born in Kaunas, Lithuania “many years ago,” Judy resides in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
–Duane Carling