- It was freezing cold in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and young, divorced Ruth Levy was ice racing on Lake Phalen in her new, white Porsche 356 1500 Speedster…handily beating her male competitors.
Ruth Levy was unique. She had guts, tenacity, and a real passion for speed.
In September, Ruth drove her 356 Speedster to Elkhart Lake’s Road America to race in a SCCA F-Production event, where she would be the lone female competing against 40 other cars of which 15 were 356 Porsches. Ruth finished 5th overall.
Bob Ballenger the 1st place podium finisher, also driving a 356 Speedster, once told me, “I had never competed against a woman SCCA racer before…and Ruth Levy showed everyone that was behind her how to drive a Porsche at Road America that day.”
The next Spring, Ruth, along with her daughters Jacqueline and Pamela, moved west to Los Angeles, where she would try to improve on her driving skills racing the Speedster at nearby Cal Club and SCCA events.
In May, Ruth debuted her Speedster at Bakersfield’s Minter Field in Saturday’s Ladies race with a 2nd place finish behind Mary Davis’ larger displaced Mercedes-Benz 300SL. On Sunday, Ruth entered the +1.5 CP, DP, EP race, where she was the only female driver. She finished 14th overall and 4th in Class.
In August the new Paramount Ranch course opened with Cal Club sponsoring the First Running event. Ruth Levy and her #253 Porsche 356 Super Speedster was featured on the program cover. Ruth entered the Ladies Race and won by 20 seconds beating Linda Scott in a MG-TD. Ruth raced her Speedster the same day against the men in the +1.5 Main Event, finishing a respectable 11th overall and 1st in Class.
It didn’t take long for Ruth Levy to be highlighted in MotoRacing…”worthy of mentioning…the fine driving of Ruth Levy in her Porsche Super Speedster.”
- Ruth was looking to move into a faster Porsche, and she got her chance in January when John Edgar asked Ruth to join the John Edgar Enterprises team…to co-drive his Porsche 550 Spyder along with veteran racer, Jack McAfee. Ruth would drive in the Ladies Races and under 1.5 litre events. Jack McAfee would drive in the FM races trying to win a National Championship.
The race schedule into the summer for Ruth would be Pomona, Santa Maria, San Diego, Paramount Ranch, Santa Barbara, Stockton, Road America, and Riverside.
In her first race under the John Edgar Enterprises, Inc. banner, Ruth drove the Porsche 550 during a rainstorm at Pomona to a 1st place podium finish ahead of the TR2 of veteran Mary Davis. Following Pomona, Ruth accomplished six wins in six starts.
Mid-way through the 1957 season, John Edgar sold his Porsche 550 to Phoenix business entrepreneur, Stan Sugarman. Both Ruth and Jack followed the 550 Spyder to a new racing team. Ruth drove the trusty 550 and Jack piloted a new 550RS Spyder for the remaining Southern California races. Both were winning events wherever they raced.
In September, Ruth met Denise McCluggage, an East coast Autoweek motorsports journalist and racer. The two teamed up to race at the Road America 500 in Denise’s 550 Spyder. They became a DNF courtesy of a leaky intake manifold.
The next month, Ruth and Denise teamed up in the 550 sponsored by Briggs Cunningham, for the Grand Premio International 1,000 km event in Caracas, Venezuela. Denise and Ruth would also be the first all-women racing team at this event. They finished 13th Overall and 4th in Class.
- Denise and Ruth teamed up again at the March 1958 Sebring 12 Hour Endurance Race driving a 750cc Abarth-Fiat “Double Bubble ” Zagato coupe under the name of the Scuderia Skidoo Racing Team -- sponsored by Alfred Momo.
Both Denise and Ruth got a lot of publicity at Sebring with their all-women racing team. They finished 116 laps before becoming a DNF in the record books.
It was at Sebring that Ruth realized that she wasn’t having any fun racing. Yes, Ruth was serious. She decided to say good-bye to motorsports competition and would never put on a racing helmet again.
So, what became of Ruth Levy when she stopped racing?
After her two daughters achieved independence, Ruth turned her energies into a full-time career as an artist-- producing oil paintings, drawings, and sculpture…and holding successful one-woman shows in Southern California. Ruth moved for a short time to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and then back to California with her husband, Olympic bicyclist, Wayne Raymond.
Fabulous 50s member, Pete Vanlaw, a long-time motorsports friend described Ruth’s world of sports car racing during the 1950s. ”It was a time of tremendous opportunity for the few women who were talented enough to compete with the men. Ruth Levy was certainly one of them.”
Pete had befriended Ruth when both were involved in writing about their lives. Pete was editing his film documentary, “For the Life of Me,” and Ruth was beginning her autobiography, “Don’t Race with Mother.”
She would periodically contact Pete and get together to talk about her past racing history—the events, former drivers, race cars and results.
Pete mentioned, “Sadly, as her health began to deteriorate, she found it increasingly difficult to drive on her own. As a result, her trips from Solvang to LA to meet became more infrequent.”
Ruth attended two motorsports events during 2013 and 2014. She was determined to be present at the “Legends of Riverside,” and the Porsche Club of America’s Zone 8 California Festival of Speed held at the Fontana Raceway, where she was invited as an Honored Guest and a featured panelist discussing road racing during the 1950s.
Manny Alban, then National President of the Porsche Club of America, drove Ruth on several parade laps around the Fontana circuit in a new Porsche 997 Cabriolet.
Manny recalled, “Ruth was excited to be in a Porsche again –At Speed! We talked about how the Porsche Club of America established a Club Racing Series…where women can compete in sanctioned races on a national level.”
As a featured panelist at the California Festival of Speed event, it had to be super nostalgic for Ruth—reminiscing about her racing 356 and 550 Porsches on the legendary racecourses throughout America and abroad.
Sadly, Ruth Levy Raymond passed away on December 23, 2014, at age 84.
Ruth will be remembered as an artist, a poet, a singer, an author of children’s books, and beyond those accomplishments…a world-class Porsche race competitor in what was a male-driven sport.
May her memory always be a blessing…Race In Peace, Ruthie.
*Lee Raskin is an internationally recognized Porsche 356/550 historian and author of acclaimed photographic biographies.
Copyright Lee Raskin 2026
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Photo Credits: Ruth Levy Collection, Allen R. Kuhn / Vintage-SportsCar-Photos.com, Edgar Motorsports Archives, Peter Vanlaw Collection, MotoRacing, PCA Panorama , Lee Raskin Collection.
