Sexism in Auto Racing -- Enough is Enough

Women in Racing – It is 2013, Guys... Enough with the Sexism 



“She is a marketing machine. … She is not a race car driver.”

Recently on the Speed Channel program Race Hub, NASCAR analyst and former driver Kyle Petty made the above statement regarding current Sprint Cup driver and rookie Danica Patrick. Those criticisms are nothing new. Since entering the NASCAR world, Patrick has heard those comments from fans, fellow competitors, and members of the media. Even I said something similar upon Patrick’s entry full-time into NASCAR as Patrick’s first comments upon the announcement to switch from open-wheel racing to stock car racing centered more on promoting her “brand” than being successful on the track. Where I find issue with Kyle Petty’s statement is that Danica Patrick has actually proven all of the naysayers – myself included – wrong in the sense that she has stayed even in the face of adversity. Danica has improved her performances on the track. In fact, Danica Patrick has shown she is indeed a race car driver.

This latest gender-based controversy in auto racing comes off the heels of controversial statements made by Formula One legend Sir Stirling Moss in April. In an interview with the BBC, Moss said, “I think they have the strength but I don’t know if they’ve got the mental aptitude to race hard, wheel-to-wheel.” He added, “The mental stress I think would be pretty difficult for a lady to deal with in a practical fashion. I just don’t think they have aptitude to win a Formula One race.”

The statements from Petty and Moss echo comments from many males in the world of auto racing. While many males involved in the sport are evolved enough to have lost that Cro-Magnon caveman mindset, it seems that not enough have lost it because this is a topic that comes up too often and is a criticism tossed around too much. Apparently, women cannot drive. 

I will agree with the notion that we have yet to see a truly successful female driver in motorsports reach a championship level. However, I do not believe for a second that the reason for this is that women are inferior to their male counterparts. Instead, I believe the reason for this lack of success stems from a lack of opportunities. 

Danica Patrick in Victory Lane after winning the pole for the 2013 Daytona 500.

The most popular female driver in the world today is Danica Patrick. In her first full season at the Sprint Cup level, Patrick has won the pole for and scored a Top 10 finish at the Daytona 500, drove from 42nd and a lap down after an early spin to a 12th place at the demanding Martinsville Speedway, and has shown improvement on her starting position in 13 of 17 career starts. While people may expect more from Patrick, the truth is Patrick is still a rookie. Danica Patrick is a rookie driver competing under a tremendous amount of pressure – pressure she did not ask for and would not receive as a male. In addition, Patrick is driving in third-tier equipment for a second-tier Chevrolet team. Look no farther than the struggles of both Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman in 2013 to realize that expansion has only weakened Stewart-Haas Racing. Chauvinistic fans and men in the sport criticize Patrick for not setting the world on fire when the truth is that another driver – a male driver – would not have done any better than Patrick has with the opportunity she has received.

Auto racing is one of the few sports where men and women can compete on an even playing field. Let me repeat that for the slow children: Men and women CAN COMPETE ON AN EVEN PLAYING FIELD. With the advent of power steering in cars and requirements making it so that crews add weights to cars to allot for driver sizes, the physical differences are nonexistent in 2013. In addition, there is no specific function of a car performed by a penis. Therefore, women can drive them.

The reality is that this issue is not about women being unable to drive. The issue is that men in these levels of auto racing, particularly NASCAR and Formula One, are scared to allow women into their club. Women can serve champagne in Victory Lane or present the trophies to the winner while in a skin-tight outfit. However, these men do not want women competing for those trophies. It is a damn shame. Thankfully, it is also a narrow-minded viewpoint slowly disappearing, as seen in other forms of auto racing.

Simona de Silvestro is one of the bright young stars in the IndyCar Series. 

In the IndyCar Series, where Patrick rose to fame and won a race in 2008 for Andretti Autosport, this chauvinistic attitude seems to be non-existent. Simona de Silvestro, one of the most popular drivers on the circuit, recently finished 6th in the season opener at St. Petersburg and collected another Top 10 at Long Beach. Fans and competitors both celebrate her accomplishments. IndyCar Series analysts speak about de Silvestro, not as a female driver, as one of the sport’s bright stars alongside male counterparts Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal, Simon Pagenaud, and Takuma Sato. Simona de Silvestro is not the only female driver to currently compete in the IndyCar Series either as she is joined often by journeywomen drivers Ana Beatriz, Pippa Mann, and Milka Duno. Former driver Sarah Fisher is currently one of the more popular and well-respected owners in the garage as well. The gender debate – and discriminatory viewpoint – just does not exist as much in the IndyCar Series as in NASCAR or Formula One.

The NHRA is another form of auto racing where gender bias seems to be nonexistent. In 1977, Shirley Muldowney became the first woman to win a championship of any kind when she won the first of her three Top Fuel championships. Over the years, many women have competed with various levels of success. Ashley, Brittney, and Courtney Force – daughters of 15-time Funny Car Champion John Force – have all achieved levels of success on the quarter-mile in Funny Cars and Top Fuel Dragsters while Erica Enders is a successful Pro Stock driver. Fans and analysts view all of the female drivers in the NHRA as equal competitors to their male counterparts without any of the discriminatory comments or chauvinistic viewpoints attached to them.

Courtney Force celebrates after a victory in Seattle.

Without a constant voice of chauvinistic masculine bravado constantly saying “women can’t drive” in the NHRA, many females have achieved great success. In addition, drivers in that series have received the one thing women in NASCAR, Formula One, and even the more progressive IndyCar Series have not – opportunities to drive winning equipment. 

As I alluded to earlier with Danica Patrick, women drivers have never gotten the chance to drive in the same championship-caliber equipment as their male counterparts. Danica Patrick is currently in the third-string equipment for a second-tier team. Simona de Silvestro drives the second-string equipment for one of the less-powerful teams in the IndyCar Series; the same said for Beatriz when she drives at all. Meanwhile, Mann and Duno drive for even lesser teams in IndyCar Series action while Jennifer Jo Cobb, Johanna Long, and the Cope Twins – Amber and Angela do the same in various divisions of NASCAR. Analysts cite inferior equipment as the reason for driver failings for male drivers all the time. So, why do analysts like Kyle Petty never acknowledge this when addressing the struggles of female drivers? Could Sir Stirling Moss be correct in accessing women are mentally inferior to their male counterparts? On the other hand, it could be these men are part of a group of sexist, chauvinistic jerks envious of any females able to succeed in the same field as themselves. Yeah, that sounds more likely.

“I don’t really care. There’s going to be people who believe in you and people who don’t. Plenty of people say bad things about me. I see it on Twitter. Some people want me to die. But at the end of the day, you get over that stuff and trust you’re doing a good job for the people who believe in you.”

Danica Patrick said that in the aftermath of Kyle Petty’s comments. It was a classy response from a woman who could have cited that Kyle Petty – an eight-time winner at the Cup level in 829 career starts over 30 years – only received competitive rides because of his last name in an era when being the son of Richard Petty meant something. It sounds like something Kyle would have said. Patrick did not say that though because it would have gotten her nowhere. Many female open-wheel drivers could have spoken up after Moss’ idiotic statements about females in Formula One but did not because it would have did nothing but provide more spotlight to a Neanderthal and his archaic viewpoint.

I do not think we will see a female driver break the proverbial glass ceiling in NASCAR or Formula One within our lifetimes. It is not, I repeat NOT, because women are mentally sub-par to their male counterparts or cannot drive a race car. It is because of the same reasons we will not see an African-American, Hispanic, or Asian driver succeed in NASCAR in our lifetimes either – women will never receive the opportunity to drive anything more than scrub equipment while their competitors drive championship-caliber equipment. Put Danica Patrick in Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch’s car and she will run up front. Hell, even Kyle Petty could run up front.