Sabine Schmitz, German Racing Legend, Dies at 51
In the world of racing, almost every legend is a man. It is an industry dominated by men, and women struggle to find their place in it, much less to actually make history. But for Sabine Schmitz, that was just another challenge.
She was, and still is, the only woman to ever have won the 24-hour race at the famous Nurburgring racing track in Germany, as well as being a beloved member of the show “Top Gear”. She passed away on March 16 of this year at age 51, after a long battle with cancer.
Schmitz grew up in Adenau in Western Germany. She was born to a wholesaler and hotel manager in the village of Nurburg, less than a mile from the Nurburgring track. And although she trained to work in a hotel, she knew that she wanted to be a driver from the time she was 13: “It’s in my blood.”
Winning the 24-hour race in 1996 wasn’t enough: Schmitz also won it the next year. She was called the “Queen of the Nurburgring”, as well as the “fastest taxi driver in the world”, for she would take paying customers for a high-speed lap around the track. After she joined “Top Gear” in 2016— after many appearances on the show—she became loved by even more people.
Growing up so close to the Nurburgring, whose main track, the Nordschleife, is 12.9 miles long and has 73 turns, it was basically her playground. According to Schmitz, she has driven that track over 20,000 times.
Schmitz first completed the track at 17 years old, but it wasn’t in a racing car. She took her mother’s car, added racing tires, removed the license plate, and raced it around the track—all before she even had a driver’s license.
Schmitz wasn’t just loved for her racing prowess and record breaking. She was a lively,energetic, fun person. Watch any clip of her racing or talking and you can see how infectious her happiness is.
Chris Harris, a “Top Gear” host, said of her: “I think she loved how much she could shock middle-aged men who thought they could drive a bit— until they saw what she could do.” And it was that lively personality that made her a true racing legend.
Along with her win at the 24-hour race, her other most memorable moment came in 2009, when on “Top Gear” she tried to lap the Nurburgring in under 10 minutes, and did it at 10 minutes and 8 seconds— in a Ford van. She passed motorcycles and sports cars in nothing but a delivery van.
Schmitz is survived by her husband, with whom she founded the racing team Frikadelli racing, as well as her mother, half brother, and two sisters.
Perhaps Schmitz’s legend and personality can be best described by her: “It’s really fun to scare people. They love to get scared, so they pay me for that.”
