SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — March is Women’s History Month and the crew at DirtFish Rally School is celebrating women in motorsport all month long.
DirtFish is running four all-women programs with a summit scheduled for Saturday, March 11.
Special guests include Michelle Mouton, the world's most successful female rally driver who is attending from Luxembourg, and highly-decorated driver Pernilla Solberg who is flying in from Sweden.
Josie Rimmer is a rally instructor with DirtFish and the founder of the Women in Motorsports initiative.
“We will have guests from every realm of motorsport — drivers, co-driver, techs, mechanics, media and the whole gamut,” Rimmer said.
DirtFish just celebrated its 12th anniversary and expects upwards of 500 guests to attend the women’s summit this weekend.
Rimmer says rally is one of the best sports in the world because there's no gender advantage and she hopes men will also support the summit to see a representation of women in the sport.
“When you put on the helmet you’re a racer so that’s what we’re really promoting,” says Rimmer. "We want to encourage and show young women that 'racecar driver' can be the answer to what they want to be when they grow up."
The summit will be live-streamed on Saturday but Rimmer says viewers should experience the summit in person.
“This can’t and won’t happen anywhere else so join us for racing, female-owned businesses, food trucks and live music from a female-fronted band,” she said.
DirtFish is considered the most prestigious rally school in North America and features a fleet of turbocharged cars. DirtFish teaches car control, increased confidence and safety behind the wheel through advanced driving techniques and utilizes more than 30 rally courses on a 100-acre property in Snoqualmie.
The former Snoqualmie Falls Lumber company survived the great depression and was even used as a set location for the cult-classic TV show Twin Peaks.
The mill closed in 1989 and was mostly vacant property until Dirtfish purchased the land in 2010. Since that time Dirtfish has attracted thousands of drivers from around the country and beyond who come to train in technical driving on loose surfaces — for fun or profession.
You can learn more about DirtFish Rally School on their website and to RSVP for the free Women in Motorsport Summit, click here