View source for Terri O'Connell

{{BLP sources|date=April 2011}}
{{Infobox NASCAR driver
| name           = Terri O'Connell
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| birth_name     = James Terrell Hayes
| birth_date     = {{Birth date and age|1964|7|7}} 
| birth_place    = [[Corinth, Mississippi|Corinth]], [[Mississippi]]
| Best_Cup_Pos   = 101st ([[1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1990]])
| Cup_Wins       = 0
| Cup_Top_Tens   = 0
| Cup_Poles      = 0
| First_Cup_Race = [[1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1990]] [[1990 GM Goodwrench 500|GM Goodwrench 500]] ([[North Carolina Motor Speedway|Rockingham]])
| First_Cup_Win  = 
| Last_Cup_Win   = 
| Last_Cup_Race  = 
| Championships  = 
| Awards         = 
| Years_In_Cup    = 1
| Total_Cup_Races = 1
}}

'''Terri Leigh O'Connell''' (born July 7, 1964) is a former [[motorsports]] racing champion, artist, author, and fashion model.

==Life==

Terri O'Connell was born on July 7, 1964, in Corinth, Mississippi. She is an only child.<ref name="TerriNYT">{{cite news|title=AUTO RACING; Driver With Sex Change Finds Her Career Stalled|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/17/sports/auto-racing-driver-with-sex-change-finds-her-career-stalled.html|website=[[The New York Times]]|date=17 May 1998 |access-date=27 October 2022|last1=El-Bashir |first1=Tarik }}</ref>

O’Connell was named James Terrell Hayes at birth and lived the first thirty years of her life as a man, though she did not identify that way from a young age.<ref name="TerriNYT"/> 
Her father, Jimmy Hayes,<ref name="TerriAdvocate">{{cite web|title=Go, Terri, Go!|url=https://www.advocate.com/politics/commentary/2007/09/11/go-terri-go|website=advocate.com|date=11 September 2007 |publisher=Advocate|access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref> got her into racing at an early age, spending weekends at the Riverside Speedway in West Memphis, Arkansas, and the Devil's Bowl in Dallas, Texas.<ref name="TerriNYT"/>
 
She won national championships in [[Karting|go-kart]], [[Midget car racing|midget car]], and [[Sprint Car Racing|sprint car]] competitions across the country.<ref name="TerriAdvocate"/> She rose to compete in the [[NASCAR]] [[Winston Cup Series]]; driving the No. 91 Crossroads City of Corinth [[Ford Thunderbird]] for [[Donlavey Racing]] in 1990 at [[North Carolina Motor Speedway]], now known as Rockingham Speedway; O'Connell has over 500 career victories.<ref name="TerriKnox">{{cite web|title=Terri O'Connell |url=https://www.knoxvilleraceway.com/Driver/terri-oconnell|website=knoxvilleraceway.com|access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref>

In 1991, O’Connell was in a near-fatal accident while racing in Little Rock, Arkansas.<ref name="TerriNews">{{cite web|title=A NASCAR Racer On Her Sex Change|url=https://www.newsweek.com/nascar-racer-her-sex-change-100855|website=newsweek.com|date=12 May 2007 |publisher=Newsweek|access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref> From her 2007 ''Newsweek'' article, “I was trapped upside down, engine throttle stuck wide open, fuel running all over the racetrack and me. Once all the smoke had cleared and they got me out of the car, I thought, "You know, this could have been it." I've had a ton of accidents, broke half the bones in my body, had wrecks where I should have died. This one, I only busted a rib, but I was trapped like that. I suppose the accident didn't scare me as much as the thought that I hadn't lived my life to {{as written|i|t's [sic]}} full potential.”<ref name="TerriNews"/>

In 1992, O’Connell was living full-time as a woman, moved to California, and was working in a print shop,<ref name="TerriNews"/> but in order to cover living expenses she would dress as a man to race.<ref name="TerriNews"/> O’Connell moved back to her parents’ house in Mississippi and continued racing dressed as a man.<ref name="TerriNews"/>

In March 1994, O’Connell had [[gender reassignment surgery]], and in April moved to Charlotte, North Carolina.<ref name="TerriNews"/> She kept ties with her racing roots but did not race for several years to heal from her surgery.<ref name="TerriNews"/> In 1997, she began searching for sponsors for an Indy Racing League without luck.<ref name="TerriNYT"/> At the time, many denied this was due to her surgery and her being a woman including Junie Donlavey, owner of the team O’Connell had driven for in the Winston Cup race, who said it was due to the length of time she had been away from racing.<ref name="TerriNYT"/> Others like Shand Tillman, a promotor at the Riverside Speedway, said people were scared to associate their brand with her.<ref name="TerriNYT"/> Tillman also said that he did not “agree with what she has done at all”<ref name="TerriNYT"/> in reference to her transition, a reflection of the hyper-conservative landscape of racing.<ref name="TerriAdvocate"/> In 1998, she was slated to drive in the cross-country Cannonball Run for Volkswagen and Candies shoe company.<ref name="TerriNYT"/>

O’Connell has been able to return racing in the last couple decades, racing in 2012 and 2014 at Knoxville Raceway,<ref name="TerriDriver">{{cite web|title=Terri OConnell|url=https://www.driverdb.com/drivers/terri-oconnell/|website=driverrdb.com|publisher=DriverDatabase|access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref> and ran on a weekly basis in the 305 class in Scott Galpin's #71G in 2015.<ref name="TerriKnox"/>

Outside of racing, O'Connell, has worked as a model,<ref name="TerriNYT"/> owned a clothing line,<ref name="TerriAdvocate"/> and wrote a memoir, ''Dangerous Curves'', which was published in 2008.<ref name="DangerRead">{{cite web|title=Dangerous Curves|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6589603-dangerous-curves|website=goodreads.com|publisher=Good Reads|access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref>

In 2007, ''Newsweek'' published an article by O'Connell, which led to interviews with LGBT magazines ''Advocate'' and ''Pride Source''.<ref name="TerriNews"/><ref name="TerriAdvocate"/><ref name="TerriPride">{{cite web|title=Terri O'Connell Races Toward the Checkered Flag|url=https://pridesource.com/article/27373/|website=pridesource.com|date=18 October 2007 |access-date=27 October 2022}}</ref>

==Motorsports career results==

===NASCAR===
([[Template:NASCAR driver results legend|key]]) (<span style="font-size:85%">'''Bold'''&nbsp;– Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics''&nbsp;– Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. *&nbsp;– Most laps led.</span>)

====Winston Cup Series====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:75%"
|-
!colspan=45| [[NASCAR]] [[Winston Cup Series]] results
|-
! Year
! Team
! No.
! Make
! 1
! 2
! 3
! 4
! 5
! 6
! 7
! 8
! 9
! 10
! 11
! 12
! 13
! 14
! 15
! 16
! 17
! 18
! 19
! 20
! 21
! 22
! 23
! 24
! 25
! 26
! 27
! 28
! 29
! {{Tooltip|NWCC|NASCAR Winston Cup classification}}
! Pts
! Ref
|-
! [[1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1990]]
! [[Donlavey Racing]]
! 91
! [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]
| [[1990 Daytona 500|DAY]]
| [[Pontiac Excitement 400|RCH]]
|style="background:#EFCFFF;"| [[GM Goodwrench 500|CAR]]<br>{{small|38}}
| [[Motorcraft Quality Parts 500|ATL]]
| [[TranSouth 500|DAR]]
| [[Valleydale Meats 500|BRI]]
| [[First Union 400|NWS]]
| [[Hanes Activewear 500|MAR]]
| [[Winston 500 (Spring)|TAL]]
| [[Coca-Cola 600|CLT]]
| [[Budweiser 500 (Spring Dover)|DOV]]
| [[Banquet Frozen Foods 300|SON]]
| [[Miller Genuine Draft 500 (1st Pocono)|POC]]
| [[Miller Genuine Draft 400 (Michigan)|MCH]]
| [[Pepsi 400|DAY]]
| [[AC Spark Plug 500|POC]]
| [[DieHard 500 (Fall Talladega)|TAL]]
| [[Budweiser At The Glen|GLN]]
| [[Champion Spark Plug 400|MCH]]
| [[Busch 500|BRI]]
| [[Heinz Southern 500|DAR]]
| [[Miller Genuine Draft 400 (Richmond)|RCH]]
| [[Peak Antifreeze 500|DOV]]
| [[Goody's 500 (Fall Martinsville)|MAR]]
| [[Tyson Holly Farms 400|NWS]]
| [[Mello Yello 500|CLT]]
| [[AC Delco 500|CAR]]
| [[Checker 500|PHO]]
| [[Atlanta Journal 500|ATL]]
! 101st
! 49
! <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.racing-reference.info/drivdet/hayesj.01/1990/W|title=J. T. Hayes – 1990 NASCAR Busch Series Results|work=Racing-Reference|publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC|access-date=April 18, 2023}}</ref>
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnell, Terri}}
[[Category:1964 births]]
[[Category:American female racing drivers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:NASCAR drivers]]
[[Category:People from Corinth, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Racing drivers from Mississippi]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Mississippi]]
[[Category:LGBTQ racing drivers]]
[[Category:American transgender women]]
[[Category:American transgender sportspeople]]
[[Category:Transgender sportswomen]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]