Sabine Schmitz, legendary racing driver, succumbs to cancer at age 51

I heard the news about her passing this morning and it hit me hard. I've attempted to write a long post here about Sabine multiple times today and failed to do so each time, so this NYT obituary will have to suffice. Apologies in advance if what follows is disjointed.

As stated in the article Sabine had been fighting an "extremely persistent cancer" since 2017. warning: facebook link

Sabine was the Queen of the Nürburgring Nordschleife (known as "The Ring") for multiple reasons; there's the job driving people in the Ring Taxi, the tens of thousands of laps around the track, the "borrowing" of her mother's car for her first lap ever while still underage, the dozens upon dozens of race wins, and the 24 Hours Nürburgring back to back endurance race championships. The Nürburgring was truly her domain. The easiest way to illustrate this is an onboard video of her in a 2014 endurance race. In this video she goes from starting at the back of the grid in her class to very nearly the front, in the rain, in a single lap, passing (by my count) 38 other professional drivers in the process. For a little comparison, Sabine made more passes in that one lap than all the drivers in F1 combined average in an entire race.

She is a hero, an inspiration, and a legend for an entire generation of enthusiasts.