[LSC9901]

With an attitude such as that one, no woman from your area will ever make it. It would be great if it were all on film so you could go above the race directors head. People like him do not belong in positions of authority. That is yet another detriment to getting women into the upper classes of racing. Letters to the editor don't hurt either.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by SpaceCadet

Ouch. I'm not sure who needs to shut up, but I"ll assume you mean NASCAR. And here's another problem female drivers face - even talented ones, which are out there. At the local track Saturday, the only female driver was running very strongly up front. She was blatently spun out by one of the few thugs on the track that think aggressive is the same as talented. Usually when the tape is reviewed and it is seen that the move to spin was deliberate, the bonehead gets sent to the back. In this case, the young lady was sent to the back of the pack. She was beyond furious. She pulled up in front of the starter's tower and voiced her displeasure. She was told to get in line or take it to the pits. She took off and flew around the track, under caution, pulled in line behind the moron, and rammed him a few times but good. The race director screamed at her to park it for the night, obviously the correct call. The race restarts. The same idiot makes a valient effort to put the class of the field in the wall as he is attempting to pass on the outside. The better driver was able to swerve enough to just lose a spot or two. He rallied back, again passing on the outside, cleanly and clearly having position on the jerk. This pea head moves up the track and just plain puts the other car in the wall. The clean driver, male, was put at the back. Again, no penalty for the other guy, now responsible for two wrecks. The "good" driver comes up from the back, under caution, and rams the POS driver. Sound familiar? He is not benched for the night, it is not even addressed by the race director, as if it didn't happen. And the comments I heard all around me referring to the female driver? "She must have PMS, she must have had a fight with her boyfriend, she must have broken a nail" etc... Comments about the male driver? "You show 'em, dude! Way to go! Don't take any crap!"... You get the drift. Hopefully you see the problem here. Had I been the female driver, the only part of my car remaining visible would have been the number on the back because the rest of the car would have been firmly embedded in the race directors behind. And as for the "she's got PMSer's" in the stands - it illustrates a big problem. The race director inadvertantly favors the male driver. The spectators - please, anyone can see the prejudice there. How does a female driver combat that? How does she change the perception of her in a sport dominated by males who are still upset about women getting to vote? I don't see much of that attitude on this board, so I certainly mean no offense to anyone here. How do we change that perception? How does a female driver compete with that attitude without being told every time she opens her mouth that she's whining or making excuses, a la Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon conflict? A huge double standard exists and it's going to take a very unique woman to be able to change the attitude towards females in racing. The talent is out there, but is the courage to put up with all that comes with being a trail blazer there, also? Maybe not. Holy crap, didn't mean to be on a very big soapbox, I'm not even that much of a women's libber, so I'm hopping down now.

yes you did. but understandable.

for some reason, it seems the most incompetent and unfair people run the races. don't know why that happens, but seldom does a race night end without someone commenting on one or both of those characteristics. maybe it's the low pay, maybe it's 'cause "that's the way I was taught" or maybe it's just plain stupidity (or brilliance - WWF/WWE is raking in the cash over their "stupidity", "incompetence" and "unfairness"....)

I guess a girl has to find a way to take advantage of the unfairness, quit trying to be "one of the guys" and use the gender difference as a club.

[SpaceCadet]

LSC and RD, thanks for your views on this. I'm not always sure if I'm too close to the situation to see it clearly, and I really want to see all sides of not only this issue, but any issue, racing related or not. We all know passion can cloud one's ability to be reasonable at times. I hope I can at least try to remain objective, but I have been accused of being Tony Stewart in drag. I'm glad I'm not the only one who found the situation to be not to my liking. In the race director's defense, I have found him to be fair until that incident. There was a problem with another driver just before all this took place, and I honestly think he was just very flustered. It was a very pressure packed evening in many ways. I hope it was a learning experience for him, though.