If you don't know who she was, you should. I was standing with Denise McCluggage in the hotel lobby at Long Beach. We were there for the Grand Prix. Bobby Rahal walked up and introduced a friend to Denise. By way of explanation, he said, “She’s like Danica, but nice.” Indeed Rahal and Danica Patrick had their disagreements, which were quite recent at the time, but what he said was true: Denise McCluggage, who died Wednesday at the age of 88, was a pioneer, which is not a word I apply loosely. Denise was before Shirley Muldowney. Before Janet Guthrie. And way before Danica Patrick. Denise was a journalist, a sportwriter in New York when there were no women sports writers, much less...
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