Patricia Moise-Sawyer () is a former

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

driver. She drove in five

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

races from 1987 to 1989, and 133

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

races from 1986 to 1998. She is the wife of former fellow NASCAR driver

Elton Sawyer Elton Everett Sawyer (born November 5, 1959) is an American former NASCAR driver. He is married to former NASCAR driver Patty Moise, and is the older brother of Roger Sawyer, who has also competed in NASCAR. Sawyer is currently the senior Vice P ...

Racing career

Moise began racing at the age of 16, when she drove road course races in the

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Automobile Competition Committee for the United States, ACCUS arm of the Féd ...

series. She made her Busch Series debut in 1986 at Road Atlanta, driving the No. 47

Buick Regal The Buick Regal is a line of mid-size cars marketed by Buick since 1973. Serving as the premium mid-size/intermediate car of the Buick product range for nearly its entire production, the Regal initially served as the divisional counterpart of t ...

for Randy Hope. She qualified third and finished 30th due to engine problems on the first lap. She ran another Busch race that season at

North Carolina Speedway Rockingham Speedway and Entertainment Complex (formerly known as North Carolina Speedway from 1998 to 2007 and North Carolina Motor Speedway from 1965 to 1996) is a D-shaped oval track in Rockingham, North Carolina, United States. The track ...

, finishing 34th. She also became the first woman to lead a Busch Series event. In 1987, she fielded her own team, the No. 37 Buick. She posted two top-tens in twelve starts, but also had six DNF's, finishing 31st in points. She also made her Cup debut at Watkins Glen in the No. 89

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

owned by

Marc Reno Marc or MARC may refer to: People * Marc (given name), people with the first name * Marc (surname), people with the family name Acronyms * MARC standards, a data format used for library cataloging, * MARC Train, a regional commuter rail system ...

and

Ernie Irvan Virgil Earnest Irvan (born January 13, 1959), occasionally referred to as Swervin' Irvan, is an American former professional stock car racing driver. A retired NASCAR competitor, he is perhaps best remembered for his comeback after a serious head ...

. She finished 33rd after a crash. The next season, she dropped to 34th in points and did not finish in the top-ten in eleven starts. She also ran two Cup races for Hope that year, the

Pepsi 400 The Coke Zero Sugar 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway. First held in 1959, the event consists of 160 laps, , and is the second of two major stock car events held at Daytona on the Cup Series ci ...

and at Watkins Glen, with her best finish being a 26th. In 1989, she switched to the No. 45 Buick. She posted two sixteenth-place runs and finished 35th in points. She also made her final two Cup starts, at Daytona and Talladega in her own car. Her best finish was 33rd. In 1990, she sold her team to Mike Laughlin and made the most starts of her career, 24. Despite not finishing in the top-ten, she finished a career-high 22nd in points at season's end. During the season, she married her husband Elton, whom she joined as a teammate part-time the following season at Dilliard Racing, where her best finish was a 15th at

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

. She only made one race the next season, finishing 14th in her own No. 42 at Watkins Glen. In 1994, she ran six races for Doug Taylor, who signed her to drive the next season. She had a seventh-place run at Talladega in the No. 40 Ford and finished 25th in points. Unfortunately, she was released, and Sawyer started a team for her, the No. 14. Moise ran 18 races and finished 37th in points. She ran one race the next year in the car at Dover, but wrecked early in the race. In 1998, her team was purchased by

Michael Waltrip Racing Michael Waltrip Racing Holdings LLC, doing business as Michael Waltrip Racing ("MWR"), was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed full-time in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The company was as a 50–50 partnership betwe ...

, and she signed to drive the car. Despite a top-ten at

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, she had trouble making races and finished 37th in points. She has not raced in NASCAR since.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

Busch Series

ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

*
NASCAR.com biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moise, Patty Living people 1960 births Racing drivers from Jacksonville, Florida NASCAR drivers American female racing drivers Trans-Am Series drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers 21st-century American women 20th-century American sportswomen