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Neva “Grandma” Burright, a dynamic figure born in 1883 on a race track, enjoyed an illustrious 57-year career as a harness racing driver. Her legacy encompasses the county fair circuit’s humble beginnings and extends into the burgeoning years of pari-mutuel harness racing post-World War II. During the transformative decades of the 1940s and 1950s, Grandma Burright’s accomplishments in harness racing graced the pages of major newspapers, from Boston to Honolulu.
A pivotal moment came in 1943 when she became the first woman to clinch a Grand Circuit race, outpacing the renowned Sep Palin; a man known as “the aristocrat of drivers,” backed by the wealth of automobile heiress Frances Dodge Johnson. This historic Grand Circuit race in Delaware, Ohio, saw Grandma Burright and her bay gelding, Luckyette, set a groundbreaking record for women drivers over a half-mile track, clocking in at 2:04 ¾.
Grandma Burright’s fame was not confined to race tracks alone. Her inspiring story was splashed across the pages of mainstream magazines, including Coronet, Esquire, Hit!, Life, and Look. She also enjoyed her moment in the spotlight on national television in 1954, befuddling panelists on the show What’s My Line?
In the book Grandma Burright: The Queen of Harness Racing, author Kevin Groenhagen delves into Grandma Burright’s multifaceted life as a wife, mother, grandmother, and above all, a harness racing driver. He meticulously unravels how a diminutive woman of humble beginnings withstood multiple personal tragedies, including the loss of a husband and four descendants within a span of 12 years, to rise to the top of her sport, earning her the title of “The Queen of Harness Racing.”