Ashley Cassidy

Ashley Cassidy is an American racing driver known for her career in the IndyCar Series and the F1 Rejects Indy Championship Series. She is the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500, having done so in 2015.

Early Career
Daughter to IndyCar legend Brendon Cassidy, and sister to multiple CART champion Brendon Cassidy Jr, it was seemingly inevitable that Ashley would have a career in motorsport. Initally, she was interested in racing motorbikes, but met little success, and switched to karts when she was 13. Ashley quickly moved through the ranks, and made it to US F2000 in 2006. She won 7 races and the championship before moving to Star Mazda for 2007. The step up proved challenging, but Ashley found her feet late in the season, winning the last 3 races, before taking the championship by storm in 2008. After a tough debut season in Indy Lights where she failed to win a race, she found her form early in 2010 and won 7 of the 13 races to take the title, and a seat with her family's team in the IndyCar Series.

IndyCar Series (2011-2014)
Ashley's debut season in IndyCars was initially not very successful, as she struggled on the road courses and street circuits that made up the start of the season. In the second half of the season, however, she began to get more comfortable, eventually culminating in her first win in the series at Kentucky. She continued to improve throughout 2012, winning 3 more races at Detroit, Texas, and Fontana. In 2013, Ashley established herself as a title contender with 2 early wins at Barber Motorsports Park and Long Beach, before cementing her championship lead with 2 more wins at Iowa and Pocono. Unfortunately, 4 DNFs in the next 5 races crippled her standing, and despite a dominant win at Fontana, she did not win the championship.

2014 was going even better for Ashley, with 5 more wins and a 59-point margin over 2nd place - until IndyCar collapsed in August. The season was never completed, making Ashley unofficially the 2014 champion, but that was little consolation to her. However, when it was announced that the remains of IndyCar were to be merged with the Formula One Rejects Big Car Championship, Cassidy Racing were among the first applicants to join the new F1 Rejects Indy Championship Series.

2015
Ashley headed into 2015 the favourite to take the title with Cassidy Racing - however, once the season began, severe unreliability crippled her campaign before it even began, with 7 retirements from the first 9 races. Still the two races she finished, she won, those being the Cessna 400 at Kansas, and the 99th Indianapolis 500, thus becoming the first woman to win the Indy 500 in the process. All but one of her finishes that year were inside the top ten, and despite the Panoz-Toyota combination used by Cassidy Racing, she still managed to end the season 10th in points.

2016
For 2016, Ashley will remain with Cassidy Racing, who will switch to a Reynard-Honda combination in an attempt to make a full-on title charge.