“There are only three sports: Bullfighting, Auto Racing, and Mountaineering. All the rest are merely games.” - Ernest Hemingway
Poking a bull with a sharp stick and then taunting it isn’t much fun for the bull, and mountaineering is, well, not very fun to watch on ESPN. So for me, it’s racing. F1, Champ Car (Now IRL), MotoGP and AMA Motorcycle racing. If my Tivo has anything recorded on it, it usually gets purged on Sunday morning. (Note: NASCAR isn’t actually motor racing. It’s advertising for middle-America at 175 MPH. Please don’t confuse NASCAR with actual racing.)
This past Sunday was an extremely important day for auto racing. Danica Patrick, the only female driver in the IRL (Indy Racing League), won her first professional race at the Motegi Oval, in Japan. Not only was this her first win, but it was the first win for ANY female driver in a professional North American Racing series. Kind of big deal, if you ask this racing fan. Others have tried (Lyn St James, Sarah Fischer, Milka Duno) but finally, the fastest person in the world, on this particular Sunday, is a woman.
Unfortunately, her win is not without controversy. Some say it was sheer luck, as her fuel-saving strategy happened to place her in the front of the pack at the checkered flag. Some have even cried conspiracy, hinting at a closed-door money exchange to secure a female driver her first win. (Even though Danica had not won a race in 50 professional starts, her team remains one of the highest sponsored teams in the IRL, and she is consistently voted the most popular driver in the series.) I disagree. Fuel-efficiency and other strategic decisions are just as important as mashing the gas pedal ’round a corner. Racing is about much much more than going faster than the dude next to you. So shut up, naysayers. You just got passed at 200 MPH…..by a girl.
I have tremendous respect for Danica Patrick. (I’ve had my doubts, believe me. I might drop some bombs in the comments, but not here) From the first green flag, she has said, “I am a paid race car driver, and I am paid to win races.” She’s always operated with class, professionalism, and poise. I’m really hoping that this isn’t a flash-in-the-pan win for her, and I’ll be rooting her on throughout the rest of the IRL season. Congrats, Danica. A job well done…
I think Hemingway would be very pleased…
Zack, my BFF is Jennifer Beekhuis, wife of Jon Beekhuis. They live around the corner from us. I’m assuming you know who Jon is…and if so, does this put me up a notch in your book?
This needed to happen, it is time for a “girl” to win a driving sport, it just goes to prove that we are not all bad drivers!!
Go Danica!
June, I remember Jon more as a reporter for Champ Car (my favorite racing series of all time) than as a driver, but I certainly know who he is! That’s a fast neighbor you’ve got there. :)
You’re so right, Julie. Danica’s win, quite literally, needed to happen. with over 50 starts and only 1 win, I think Ms. Patrick was in danger of losing her ride indefinitely. Those kind of numbers would have any other male driver filling out job applications at their local Dairy Queen. But I digress…
Danica’s win is so important for this sport. Champ Car dissolved after it’s final race in Long Beach yesterday, and the two series’ are now unified under the IRL banner. More exposure means more sponsors means more money, and hopefully, means less NASCAR.
By the way, June: Yes, several notches. Let’s hang out and talk about race cars immediately.
Jon just got back from that race in Long Beach…and is mourning the end of the Champ Car series.
Zack, as long as I rank with you, life is worth living.
The demise of Champ Car is going to actually affect my family, believe it or not. My folks business is telecom, specifically structured cabling. My stepdad has been responsible for installing the miles of communications and telemetry cabling for the street courses on the Champ Car schedule - including the Long Beach circuit. Yesterday was kind of an emotional day for him, and his crew. I grew up going to that race every year, and hanging out with drivers, teams, volunteers, etc.
It’s a real shame that the series couldn’t continue. I’m crossing my fingers that the united IRL series impliments the following changes to compete with F1:
1. Include small-displacement forced-induction engines. (hello turbo!)
2. More road courses. Hell, ALL road courses. Ovals are for rednecks.
3. Get rid of traction control, and all the other expensive junk that’s made the series so costly for teams and drivers
Tell Jon that his broadcast voice resonates more of my childhood than anyone else, including my parents. :)
…even though a NASCAR driver burns more calories than a pro boxer or an NBA
gangsterstar.None of it works, without commercialism and marketing. Danica’s car has Motorola, Godaddy, Honda, & XM radio plastered all over it.
I’m happy for her though. It’s just goes to show you that if you can hold your own, drive a car that is exactly the same as everything else out there, and weigh less than all the other drivers, you’ll win.
I’ve used the ol’ caloric burn and body mass/loss argument to counter the opinion that race car drivers aren’t athletes myself, Trevor. Personally, I’d rather suffer through a documentary goat farts than watch Petty’s and Earnhardt’s mash the gas and turn left. NASCAR is popular for one reason: Crashes. I don’t watch racing for crashes. But a lot of people do, apparently. And the days of “Race On Sunday, Sell On Monday” are long gone. A NASCAR-prepped Ford has about as much in common with the current Ford Fusion, as my cat has with a spaceship. (And my cat is aerodynamic as all hell, too.)
Your strategy of hold-your-own-and-weigh-less has some merit. Like I said, any other driver would have been canned by now. But the cameras and the press like Danica. (Hence the Motorola/GoDaddy/Honda sponsors) She would have raced a few more winless seasons, I’m sure.
But like I said, I really hope she can back this up with a few more wins on road courses, etc. It’s high time a female driver takes a championship without any argument…
Personally, I’m also a big WRC fan. Rally racing is probably the most pure form of racing, IMO. You have street legal cars, racing against the clock, and on the widest variety of terrain/track.
NASCAR & WRC, mmmmmmmmmmm, now that’s racing!
WRC rules. I’ve had the pleasure of riding in the navigator seat with Travis Pastrana, while I was shooting a BF Goodrich commercial in Big Bear. Full-throttle drifts through blind corners bordered by immovable trees…..now THAT takes skill. Not to mention, cojones the size of dinner plates.
But you’ll have to enjoy the NASCAR for both of us. I’m sure there’s plenty of Tide, Jack Daniels, and Viagra to go around…
:)
On the whole “drivers aren’t athletes” discussion… we could talk golf, but I think Tiger Woods has pretty much made that argument pointless. But, speaking from getting my butt routinely handed to me by Jon on a mountain bike, that guy is an athlete. He’s 10 years older than me, and could probably ride much much faster than he does when he’s riding with me. And even watching him choose lines on the trail is amazing…
…I have yet to get him on the golf course though… heh heh.
And he’s keen on a particular painting of mine that “looks like speed.”
It’s too bad you don’t enjoy Nascar… While I like F1 and Indycar (they’re coming to Nashville in a few weeks), the follow-the-leader “racing” and low car count make it tough to watch sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still watch. Loved the U.S Grand Prix 2 years ago when 6 cars total ran.
It’s really something to watch 43 700hp cars fly around a bullring at 140. It’s not just mashing the gas and holding on, there’s (like any other form of racing) plenty of finesse and strategy. Talledega is this weekend - there were only 42 lead changes last year… When was the last time that happened in F1?
Not taking anything away from Danica’s accomplishment - good for her. Nobody would be talking about the “validity” of the win if it was Helio Castroneves or Dan Wheldon who won. I was rooting for her at Indy her rookie year and she almost pulled it off. I really hope the new merger of Indy and Champ will help the series, and maybe make enough money to pull some of the open-wheel specialists back to Indy. It’s a difficult transition - only a select few (Tony Stewart and JP Montoya) have been successful in both styles.
I like your suggestions for Indycar too. Except of course getting rid of oval racing. Is running 5000m around a track any less a race than a 5k on the street? There are a ton of oval tracks in this part of the country at least…