Tasman Motorsports
Which employer did Diane Holl work for from 1995 to 1999?
Diane Holl Diane Holl ( born 6 May 1964 ) is a British engineer who has worked in Formula One , Championship Auto Racing Teams ( CART ) , and NASCAR . She is employed at the Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR team as director of vehicle engineering . The only woman to graduate from a class of 65 in mechanical engineering at the University of South West in Plymouth , Holl interned at Reynard Motorsport and March Engineering before moving to the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team to work as a chassis design engineer under the supervision of John Barnard . In 1996 , she became the first woman race engineer to win a CART motor race and engineered Tony Kanaan to the 1998 Rookie of the Year . Holl was employed by McLaren from 2001 and later Michael Waltrip Racing from 2008 to 2015 . Early life and education . Holl was born on 6 May 1964 . Her father and brother worked as aeroplane engineers , and her mother was a nurse . Holl was raised in Guildford in the English county of Surrey . At the age of nine , Holls father took the family to watch Formula One racing for the first time . Holl , however , found motor racing to be boring , and thought of a career in ballet . She excelled in science at school . When Holl was 16 , she changed her view on motorsport and told her parents she wanted to pursue a career as a race engineer . She was told by her secondary school teachers a course in engineering was impractical because of her gender . Nevertheless , Holl enrolled at the University of South West in Plymouth in 1983 . Out of a class of 65 students studying mechanical engineering , Holl was the only woman . In 1987 , she graduated with honours as the top student of her class and earned the Institution of Mechanical Engineers prize . Early career . While an undergraduate , she accepted an internship with the Reynard Motorsport vehicle manufacturer that produced chassis for motor racing cars . During her first internship with Reynard , Holl worked on the companys first carbon fiber reinforced polymer Formula Three chassis . She felt confident afterwards and went to March Engineering for a second internship . Race engineer Adrian Newey asked Holl to work as a wind tunnel designer on its IndyCar aerodynamic design programme . Six months later , Newey gave her £2,500 to design and construct a wind tunnel model , which was run at the University of Southampton by March Engineering . Reynard Motorsport owner Adrian Reynard was highly impressed by Holls abilities and gave her a recommendation . It led to her gaining employment as a chassis design engineer with the Scuderia Ferrari Formula One team in 1987 . She worked on its British-based design team and was supervised by John Barnard . After five months . Holl decided to resign from Ferrari due to its demands for better engineering though Barnard persuaded her to stay and he let her work autonomously for four months . She moved to the Benetton Formula constructor and later to Barnards design consultant company . Holl was part of a team that designed a carbon fibre gearbox , which was used by Ferrari . She however wanted to be more involved with on-track engineering instead of working in a design office , and sought to move away from Formula Ones increasingly serious and politically-based reputation . CART , Formula One and NASCAR . In 1994 , Holl moved to the United States to become Reynard Motorsports lead research-and-development ( R&D ) engineer for its Championship Auto Racing Teams ( CART ) programme . She then liaised with the Walker Racing CART team and went to race meetings . In August 1995 , Tasman Motorsports owner Steve Horne moved to a two-car operation , and Holl was employed as a race engineer for driver Adrián Fernández , after Horne reviewed the qualifications of ten potential candidates . During the 1996 season , she became the first female race engineer to win a CART race when Fernández finished first at the Molson Indy Toronto . She was later assigned to work with Tony Kanaan , a driver whom she had been acquainted with in Indy Lights . Under Holl , Kanaan won the Rookie of the Year accolade in 1998 , and said she helped in the development of his driving ability . After Tasman Motorsports was sold in 1998 , she was promoted to the role of chief engineer in 1999 and oversaw nine employees in its development , testing and race programmes . That same year , she had her second victory as a race engineer when Kanaan finished first in the 1999 U.S . 500 Presented by Toyota . Holl was briefly the chief engineer for Richie Hearn at the Della Penna Motorsports team during the 2000 season , before moving to Chip Ganassi Racings R&D division , where she conducted wind tunnel testing and was Nicolas Minassians race engineer at the 2001 Indianapolis 500 . Holl returned to the United Kingdom for personal reasons soon after and contacted John Barnard to enquire about a job . He asked her to telephone Adrian Newey and the McLaren Formula One team employed her as assistant engineer . She led a team of designers on its front suspension system and occasionally worked with its race and test drivers in the companys simulator . Late in 2007 , racing driver Michael Waltrip talked to Holl about whether she was interested in returning to the United States as an employee of his NASCAR team Michael Waltrip Racing ( MWR ) in its transition to a modern operation with a better focus on engineering . She agreed and returned to the country to raise her child and took the job of MWRs director of vehicle design . During her time at MWR , she collaborated with its competition , testing and simulation departments . Holl left MWR in November 2015 and joined Hendrick Motorsports as manager of aerodynamics that month . In August 2017 , Hendrick Motorsports promoted Holl to the role of director of vehicle engineering , reporting directly to Brian Whitesell , the teams vice president of operations . She led Hendrick Motorsports vehicle engineering group to integrate the design-and-build processes put into the development and production of its racing cars .