Women in Motor Sports

Danica's new team should put her in Victory Lane

Danica Patrick's decision to stay in the IRL instead of jumping to NASCAR is a bit surprising. It's not that she didn't have her heart set on remaining in the IndyCar series -- one look into her eyes and you could tell the Cup's heavy schedule and the inexperience of driving those big stock cars had America's best woman driver just a little skittish about the move.

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Not So Proud Of Some NASCAR Fans

by Kim Roberson

Have you ever listened to someone you thought you knew and wondered what happened to turn them in a completely different direction from the one you thought you knew? Where they utter things from their lips that make you think you might have stepped back about 50 years in time, if not further?

 

That has happened this week, and it alarming that it is happening amongst NASCAR fans.

I have gotten used to some of my friends saying that next year they won't be able to find it in their hearts to support Michael Waltrip or Dale Jarrett or Brian Vickers or anyone else who joins the Toyota teams. They are stopping their use of NAPA and UPS, Burger King and Dominos. I think I have been pretty adult about dealing with their decision to do this, and feel that if they believe their patriotism refuses to allow them this support, that is fine with me.

However, the amazing things I have heard in the past week, thankfully NOT from these same folks, with regards to the potential "invasion" of Juan Pablo Montoya and Danica Patrick into NASCAR has made my blood boil.

Juan Pablo is a very experienced driver. He has years of racing, mostly in open wheel's most elite series of F-1, under his belt. He has been competitive, and has proven his ability to drive at speeds that our stock cars only can aspire to reach thanks to restrictor plates. Sure, he is most experienced on road courses, but he has a desire to drive in ovals. He is leaving behind the very high profile and lucrative life of F-1 to take a stab at NASCAR. He might succeed. He might fail. But he wants to try and I say welcome aboard to him.

I heard a man on the radio this week once I returned home from, of all places, Spain, talking about Juan Pablo's entry into NASCAR. He was old school, and admitted as much. However, he commented he didn't want no funny sounding foreigners that you can't understand driving in his sport. What? When did a man's accent override his ability to drive? I love the man, but have you ever listened to Ward Burton? How about Elliott Sadler? When this was brought up, he said. But those are southern accents, and the south is where the sport began and should have stayed.

WHAT?

There are a lot of people who are not happy with NASCAR's decision to branch out north and west. California, Las Vegas, and Kansas shouldn't be on the list of tracks they go to. Nor should New Hampshire or Chicago. Michigan is OK, because that is where the cars are built…at least they used to be. NASCAR was made in the south, and to these folks, it should have stayed in the south comprised of the moon shiners and rednecks that started the sport, not the pretty boys like Gordon and Johnson, the foreigners like Ron Fellows and, heaven forbid, Montoya. There is also rumor that Patrick Carpentier from the IRL might be interested in giving NASCAR a ride. He's Canadian, just like Ron Fellows. However, he is from Quebec, where the native tongue is French, not English like Ron. Should he be excluded because he is from the French-speaking region of Canada? He commented during an interview at New Hampshire that he has lived in America for 11 years, and both of his children are American by birth. He is even considering getting his US citizenship. However, he still has that French accent. Should he be excluded, even if he becomes a naturalized citizen? Where do you draw the line?

Now, as if that wasn't bad enough, the rumor that Danica might be interested in giving a stock car a try has made it into the rumor mill. Following in the footsteps of Janet Guthrie, she is looking at the possibility of moving from open wheel to stock. This is only a rumor, mind you, but here is some of what I have heard about this:

• Women should be in the kitchen, not on the track.
• There were no women moonshiners, so there shouldn't be any women drivers.
• Women should be barefoot and pregnant, not racing cars.

WHAT?

 

I won't even touch the barefoot and pregnant comments. I had thought that mentality went out of style at least a decade or two, or three, ago.

How do we know there weren't women moonshiners? I would bet you that there were some. They just didn't take their driving and turn it into a sport. They were there to support their husbands, who were also moonshiners, and who did decide to have a go at racing.

When did the old school male race fan grow hairy knuckles and start dragging them on the ground?

So much is said about the way things used to be. I will be the first to admit that we wouldn't be where we are today without where we started. Everything has a beginning. If it flourishes, it grows. Maybe not the way the originators intended, but that is often the price of success. NASCAR is no longer the southern man's sport. It is every man's and woman's sport. You have fans from every walk of life. Every social and financial structure. Fans from foreign lands and plenty from right here at home. To say that the sport shouldn't be open to foreigners would be to have stopped Mario Andretti (born in Italy, raced in NASCAR in the 60's and 70's) and Ron Fellows from hitting the track. It would have stopped Dale Senior and the group that took the first big leap in overseas exposure from going to Japan to race 10 years ago.

I am proud to be a NASCAR fan. However, after this week, I am not so proud of some of my fellow fans.

Welcome to the 21st Century folks. Please pick your hairy knuckles up off the floor and check them at the door. Let whoever wants to race race. I want to see them go fast, turn left, and make the whole adventure exciting. I don't care where they were born, what they look like, or what gender they are. Just give me a good race.