In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Feel-Good Post of the Day

Jill

Jim H from Indiana sent this story on to me a few weeks ago, and I’ve been meaning to post it ever since. I think you’ll all enjoy it:

As a veteran of auto racing for 30-plus years and go-kart racing for seven, I’ve seen a lot of change in my time. In auto racing, especially at the grassroots level in my early years (we’re talking the late ’60s, 70’s and even the early ’80s), women weren’t even allowed in the pits at racing events. To even dream of competing in the dozens of classes available…a total fantasy. Women drivers, even in the early ’80s, was just not something that occurred.

Janet Guthrie at Indianapolis changed everything, however. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise! She proved that she could do the job, despite lesser equipment and numerous hurdles to jump.

By the ’90s, women were coming into auto racing as actual competitors. One here, one there. Nothing earth-shattering. But they WERE coming.

My daughter started kart racing in 2000 and went until 2005 when she was injured in a traffic accident (she’s probably retired from racing for good but that’s another story). In 2000, she was one of three women (one adult, two teenagers) competing in our local club. And we heard the catcalls from certain dads (“don’t let that girl beat you,” or “you gonna let a girl outrun you”).

She endured her share of bumps on the track. We knew certain drivers would not drive “nice” when around her. And we heard, on more than one occasion, where a father instructed his son to finish in front of her, “no matter what.” Other drivers were great, however, relishing the opportunity to race her. Racing karts is an equal opportunity skill…weight and age classes ensure you’re racing someone at an equal, competitive level.

Back to this past weekend. I haven’t been to a race since last year (just too many things going on.) We’re talking grass-roots level. Families, low-buck enthusiasts…about as far from the glamour of Indianapolis or Daytona as you’re going to get. They don’t even race for money…it’s all for trophies, fun and experience.

And I must have counted a near-dozen girls of all ages competing. I think the oldest was 15 and the youngest around 6. These girls raced hard, clean and with full expectations of more than holding their own.

I saw parents, some with multiple children competing, backing the daughters equally with their sons. I saw fellow drivers interacting with these girls, on and off the track, in ways I’ve never seen before. These girls were there and it was no longer a novelty.

As a father of a daughter who lived racing since birth, I feel good about the future of racing and the opportunities that will exist in the coming years for other daughters who want to compete.

Check out some of the professional racing organizations, there are women competing on every professional level of the sport (with the exception of NASCAR’s top circuit…sorry to say, redneck habits die hard in stock car racing). And based on my observations at my local level and my following of the sport, the pipeline, while certainly not full, is definitely producing the future Danica Patricks, Sarah Fishers, Erin Crockers, and others that we’ll be rooting on in the future.

12 thoughts on Feel-Good Post of the Day

  2. that did make me feel good Jill!
    I care little, if at all about racing, but I’m so glad that this is a joy-filled option for girls and women for whom it is their passion.

  3. There have been pioneering women at the high levels of many forms of racing. In Indy Car, there was of course Guthrie (who also raced the Daytona 500 and was Rookie of the Year), then Lyn St. James (1992 Indy Rookie of the Year when a slippery track left only ten cars of the 33 car field running at the end; she was a very accomplished road racer from IMSA competition) and Sarah Fisher, and finally Patrick, who everyone agrees could well have won it. In drag racing, both dragsters and pro stock bikes have women legends in their history (Shirley Muldowney and Angelle Sampey, respectively). Michele Mouton very nearly won the World Rally Championship in an Audi Quattro that lacked the reliability to match her skills, and did win the Pikes Peak hill-climb. Mouton will always have a place in my heart because when the governing body decided that the “killer B” Group B rally cars were too fast and powerful, she retired rather than race in toned-down cars.

    However, there is a lot of room for improvement at the top. NASCAR has not had a woman at the top; Formula One has had only five women drive and only one had what anyone would call a career (Lella Lombardi finished as high as Sixth, the other four women had just a handful of races each and never earned a championship point). There are some women coming up in sports car racing; Liz Halliday does well in American Le Mans, and I think Milka Duno may be less out of her depth in sports cars than she is in Indy cars. But the groundswell of women at the lower levels of racing is not yet fairly reflected at the upper levels. There should be women in F1 cars, WRC cars, sports cars at ALMS and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in NASCAR’s top series every year, not just a few times a decade. I hope we’re getting there.

    This year I watched a feminist woman cheer for her Scottish husband’s Indy win. But when My daughter is old enough to watch with me, I want to see a feminist man cheer on his wife’s Indy win.

  5. I recently sat in the pit of a dirt track go-kart race in a competitive circuit in western PA. Go kart racing is sort of the training ground for NASCAR. A few of the races were money races–but most were for standing in the circuit. All the racers happened to be men and boys… but, the sport itself seems suited to either gender. A desire to drive or a desire to work in the pit crew really is all it takes. I think that the hold back, at least in the circuit I observed, was the good ol’ boy mentality of it being for boys. But with whole families working and traveling the circuit throughout the season (some even have sponsors), girls have a lot of access to the sport. Its really just a matter of whether their families give them equal access to the drivers seat. Based on what I saw, I think most people at these races wouldn’t even think twice about girls participating, but there would still be a few hold outs that would have something ignorant to say.

  7. I just had a crazy feel good moment about my fiance last weekend, when he brought home a new pet for our daughter.

    It was a frog. I just loved it. Plus, it is the cutest little tree frog, which was also my nickname for her as a baby.

  8. There are also women competing at the top levels of aircraft racing and aerobatics. Patty Wagstaff’s winning plane from 1991/92 is one display at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in DC.

  9. I have to say in NASCAR’s defence, that they are trying to get women drivers as part of their diversity program, and have had them in the past. Women haven’t been working their way through the pipeline very long, but given a few more years, I think you will see them. If they could get a Danica Patrick level driver, they would get the same kind of revenue increase they got when Montoya came in, and hispanics started paying attention to the sport. It’s good business, so it’s going to happen. It will just take a little time.

    There would be nothing worse than to put a young woman driver who isn’t ready yet behind the wheel of a top level car, and have her fail miserably or worse. But, I bet within five years that there will be at least one woman in NASCAR’s top division. It’s just good business.

  10. Thanks for posting this! As an avid classic car and hot rod fan who has built old cars and worked in male dominated shops (I can’t even tell you how many times men customers have said “Is there a guy I can talk to about this?” even though I ran the shop), I love hearing how much progress is being made in women’s roles in the auto industry (just don’t get me started on the women portrayed in the hot rod series on cable). I’ve actually been researching the subject of women racers for a website I am putting together, though I have mainly been focusing on the hot rod culture.

    Women like Veda Orr have been racing dry lakes since 1937 (she was the first woman to race Southern California Timing Association events, and she clocked 132mph on that run). She was also instrumental in keeping the SCTA going during WWII and later ran a speed shop with her husband. Her car was named one of the top 75 influential cars at this year’s 75th anniversary of the ’32 Ford. C. J. “Pappy” Hart’s wife Peggy drove a ’33 Willys in the 50’s and helped him run Santa Ana dragstrip.

    Send my thanks to Jim H. for helping his daughter be so involved with cars and racing – working on cars with my dad is what got me involved and loving cars. I wish more dads would include daughters on these kinds of projects!!

  11. Hi Jim H! Jim first emailed me a few years ago when I was alone at this site, so proud of his daughter I literally wept. Racing is so huge in Indiana, and was traditionally considered such a macho sport, it’s so cool to hear a story like this.

    One thing about myself that I take quiet pride in is that I’m a good driver, and I don’t mean like never-been-in-an-accident driver, but an aggressive, smart driver, that I’ve always wanted to get on a racetrack and try my hand at racing. In another life I’d have the time, money and experience to let go. I love a nice car, luuuurve a vintage car, and absolutely love to drive.

    Maybe it’s the straight, flat Indiana roads, but nothing soothes me quite like a ride through the country.

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