The Danica 500
Sadly, we can look all too rarely to our professional athletes for great social comment and criticism. Every social advance in sports by a Tiger Woods or Annika Sorenstam has been met with a baffoonish comment by a Fuzzy Zoeller or a Vijah Sing. Add NASCAR driver Robby Gordon to the ranks of the ridiculous.Gordon said Saturday that he would not return to the Indy 500 and open-wheel competition until the IRL does something about the weight issue of drivers that he believes gives female driver Danica Patrick an unfair advantage.
"The lighter the car, the faster it goes," Gordon said, "Do the math. Put her in a car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier."
Now let me say before we go any further that I follow auto racing about as closely as I follow daytime television. (I found out today there's a courtroom show called "Texas Justice." Silly.) When engaged in a conversation about the sport, I always steal my brother's line-- I like the driver with the southern accent. And yet, I watch a lot of all-purpose sports programming, and I must tell you this is the first time I've ever heard this weight discussion within the realm of auto racing. Are these guys jockeys now?
Indy cars must weigh a minimum of 1,525 pounds according to on-line reports, and race officials estimate that Patrick's weight advantage may be responsible for as much as a one mile-per-hour advantage. But what about a driver like me? On an open-track like the McVicar Freeway in Des Moines, I can get the Grand Prix up to about 85 (and she carrys 150,000 miles.) After a strenuous morning "sweatin' to the oldies," I weigh a little more than 150 pounds. This can't be a hell of a lot more weight than a short, small-framed NASCAR driver like Jeff Gordon (or as it turns out, Sunday's pole winner Tony Kanaan,) and if 100 pounds can make a discernible difference in a 500 mile race, than surely 50 pounds can shift the balance of power as well.
You don't hear quarterbacks complaining about the weight advantages of defensive lineman. You don't hear point guards suggesting that Shaquille O'Neal play on his knees. You don't hear John Daly complain that he's hindered by swinging a golf club past a pair of giant man-boobs, and frankly, you don't hear the majority of other drivers complaining about Patrick's perceived "advantage," which is remarkable considering the machismo inherent in the sport of auto racing.
It's sexism by Robbie Gordon. Pure and simple.
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While Gordon's in the process of growing up, he should stop calling himself "Robbie."
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I've never seen this film, but I found this review to be as enlightening about the time and the place as it could possibly be about the picture. Happy Memorial Day. And Peace on Earth.
posted by CM @ 12:57 PM
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