Yeah, that ^^^ too !!! :)
I do not defend Danica Patrick per se, but I stand by my statement that motor racing needs more women [participants], not less.
Danica interviewed on Motorsport.com. Says “I very randomly, at times, talk to my agent”. Translated, she's got a cell phone glued to her ear and she's in constant contact with her agent(s) pressing them and NASCAR (which is likewise eager to keep her in the fold) to hammer out a deal. This article states that there is a chance to get a seat with Richard Childress Racing. Danica staying in NASCAR is really her only option if she wants to stay in racing. Bridges have been burned elsewhere. https://www.motorsport.com/nascar-cup/news/nascar-danica-patrick-nascar-future-956628/ BHW
I am a woman and totally agree with this. There IS a glass ceiling, but it starts in every little girls' own home and with her parents. When I started racing motocross over 20 years ago, there were hardly any women in the sport. Same with karting. I see far more girls in both sports now and I believe karting will eventually lead to qualified women making the grade in professional racing. After all, there are female fighter pilots. I also agree that while Danica is not an outstanding driver, plenty of men of equal or lesser merit have had fairly long careers without much comment. I would like to see more women in professional racing - qualified only - because I think it gets young girls to thinking about what they can and can't do and then more go into motor sports. I want this not because I'm some screaming feminist who thinks women should take over everything but because I love motorsports so much and think other women would too if they were given the exposure and opportunity.
All well and good as long as they stay off the cover of Sports Illustrated unless they're in a racing suit on a podium. Yes I'm one of the men who think that Danica did a disservice to all women by allowing herself to be played as a sex symbol and agree with the earlier statement that by doing so she set women back 20 years. She's not attractive enough to be a sex symbol - in fact she's quite unattractive personality-wise - but she does prove that with enough stylists, proper lighting and an hour in Photoshop anyone can look good.
The problem is no matter what women do, they are judged first on how they look. So you can't blame women for going for the paycheck based on societal expectations. I don't like it at ALL, but I'm not foolish enough to not see the money trail. Sports are not above throwing good looking men out there as marketing fodder either. The difference is when a man is secure and mouthy, he's assertive. When a woman does essentially the same thing, she's aggressive or bitchy. We can't win and I've seen that over and over and over again in corporate America. I think most all athletes need to talk less and work more, but then, I don't like drama which is why I've never been much of a fan of Nascar or wrestling.
Well, perhaps Danica should have taken your words closer to heart. What is your assessment of Danica's Sports Illustrated bikini shoot? What are your thoughts on her Go Daddy commercials? Who, exactly, is pushing the stereotypes? She played every angle to garner attention and money. I think your analogy might have some merit regarding high school football, but does not apply to Danica in any way at all. Look, she was a marginal race car driver that had some looks and was a perfect fit for Indy Car & Nascar to try and bridge a gender gap they felt existed. That effort is no longer needed and she is done. Remember this guy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Wheldon
That's a played out stereotype. And kind of a cop out. There's lots of confident, likeable women and lots of arrogant, hated men in sport. Danica's problem was just a racings version of Anna Kournikova. Attractive and marketable, but mediocre...talked the talk but doesn't walk the walk. There's lots of male athletes like that, they just eventually go away. I just can't think of many male athletes that for example, perform like Tim Tebow, but act like Randy Moss. They usually figure it out. Maybe Sean Avery of the NHL.
It's not even a cop out. I was a CFO. Until you've been called a ***** by most every man working under you, you have zero idea how sexist things are. The reality is, women can rarely succeed at high levels without their womanhood being called into account. She's ugly, she needs to loose weight, she seems like a *****. When it's a man, people tend to stick to simply "what a ****."
Janet Guthrie was a real hottie!!! 'Same with Sarah fisher. They did it, and deservedly so. Not, they won diddly, but at the same time, I didn't hear all this "glass ceiling" crap from them They just got it done. I don't give a sheet if women, gays, black, interplanetary, or whatever makes it. As long as they earn their way there, excellent. I don't care for Danica, obviously. But she got there and as much as I don't think, as a driver, she deserved to be there, she made it. Fine. Congrats and goodbye to her. I still don't think racing "needs" anything other than the best displaying their wares (drivers, engineers, crews, etc.). It's sport, that simple. 'Shouldn't be a "political correctness" playground. Some of us have grown past that.
she's currently running 22nd of 35 cars still in the race. her lone teammate still in the race (Clint Bowyer) is 9th.
18th. Teammate Bowyer finished 7th. I stand by my statement, given the equipment she's had her entire NASCAR career she's underperformed. male or female, marketable or not, results matter in sports and she just hasn't gotten them.
btw, it was 18th. more important, she's a WHOPPING 28th in the season standings. But worry not about the bashing. Hopefully she'll be gone soon. (edit - GI - AND her Indycar stint....)
If Danica had the face of a pig the press would never have cared about her. Then again, neither would have her big sponsor, Go Daddy.
I can not believe how you people write about my future ex wife! Must I listen to such disregard for her driving skills. She does have other attributes. When I find them on the honeymoon I will let you all k ow about them!
LOL! Better watch out Turbo, have you seen the guns on her lately? Okay, so I've actually got a Danica story. Photographing some pre-season Champ Car stuff with LAT at St. Petersburg, must have been 2003. The new organizers redesigned the track to include the Albert Whitted Airfield straight along with the rest of the street course, it was to be the first Champ Car race of the season and they were creating a big buzz about it. I was drafted in as I lived in Tampa at the time and could easily go over to St. Pete to shoot any press conferences and document the new track build up. At the pre-event "Spring Training" session, we convened early one morning to shoot with various drivers on location. It was still dark when I arrived at the Vinoy hotel where I parked and began unloading my gear. Along came a nice looking young woman jogging along the waterfront. We exchanged hellos, I went back to unloading my car and she jogged up to the end of the block and stopped to bow to the rising sun. I thought she was cute, perhaps one of the team owner's daughters or something, in the early morning dawn, I didn't recognize her. She came back and asked what I was doing. I told her that we were going to be photographing drivers all day and covering the various media events. She seemed interested and what we were doing and was quite nice. I told her that some of us would be meeting for dinner at the end of the day out at the beach and perhaps she'd like to come along. She said, "Sure, that sounds like fun" and since we'd both be around the whole day, I told her to keep an eye out for us. So, later in the morning, I was working alongside Steve Tee photographing my old friends Patrick Carpentier and Paul Tracy who were team mates for the Player's Forsythe team. We're walking along looking for a suitable spot to shoot when Tracy says "Oh, hey, there's Danica I want to go talk with her". Sure enough, there she was, still in her jogging outfit and running around the grounds of the Vinoy Hotel and it dawned on me that I had been chatting up Danica Patrick and actually asked her to dinner. Tracy goes over to speak with her. They're both looking at me and pointing. Pat says, "Hey, they're talking about you man!". I was losing my shot at a date with Danica with each passing second thanks to Tracy. So, they both come over to where we're setting up and Danica apologized that she couldn't join us for dinner. What a pity. To this day, I won't forgive Tracy, whatever he said to her, for ruining my ill conceived but well meaning plans for the evening. BHW
