DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Judy Stropus still gets a kick sharing the story.
A longtime voting member of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America, Stropus vividly recalls receiving the ballot to decide the induction class of 2017. The esteemed list included all sorts of racing greats representing everything from sports cars to stock cars, motorcycles to hydroplanes; from legendary contributors to the hard-working veterans who have left indelible marks on the sport in some fashion.
And there among the sports car nominees, Stropus quietly read her own name. Understandably moved, the longtime pit road veteran – the “master” of timing and scoring, a skilled racer and a highly-respected public relations guru – Stropus did not waver on who she would select.
“When I filled it out, I wrote on the ballot that I’m going to vote for me,’’ Stropus explains deadpan. “And If I’m not allowed to vote for myself, then I vote for Scott Pruett.
“Of course, he won, and I joked with him, I hope you didn’t win by one vote,’’ she laughed.
Pruett did earn the honor in 2017, but Stropus received word this winter that she will now be joining the IMSA champion as an esteemed 2021 inductee at the Hall of Fame located at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
“I said, ‘No way, this is the sports car category and there are all these famous drivers, how does this happen?’” Stropus recalled. “I was pretty humbled by the news and had to keep it secret for months.’’
Stropus is the kind of person, the kind of larger-than-life personality whose real-life story and contribution to the sport can’t be done justice in 1,000 words. She is the intrigue at a dinner party, the personality magnet in any room.
Stropus has worked for racing greats such as Roger Penske, Dan Gurney and Bud Moore, timed the Indianapolis 500 before women were allowed in the garage and has been a respected stalwart at IMSA races for decades.
Born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1943, she and her mother emigrated to the United States in 1949, establishing a home in New York. Even while learning a new language and settling into a new way of life, Stropus was smart enough – and motivated enough – to graduate from her New York-area Catholic high school a full year early.
Her boyfriend at that time had a 1950 Jaguar XK120, which he used to teach the teenage Stropus how to drive. And it was during this time, her life would veer into the fast lane. Permanently.
“My boyfriend Paul and I were just standing in line for a movie one time and talking about cars and the people behind us ask, ‘Hey, you guys were talking about cars?’” Stropus said. “We were like, ‘Yeah, we have a Jaguar XK120 and a ‘57 Chevy.’ And they said, ‘You should join the Queens Sports Car Club on Long Island.’
“So we got involved. He was racing and I got involved with being editor of their newsletter, and I learned how to time there.”
It was the genesis and development of talents that would serve Stropus well for decades – propelling her into an unexpected career and ultimately into a revered position in the hall of fame.
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