Bruce Martin is an idiot...

[timbuktu]

Danica earns her place among historic female sports figures

Ugghhh... I tried finding an email/comment page for this editorial, but came up short, so I thought I'd vent a little.

"She is now a person of sociological significance. She represents the same hope to female race drivers that Jackie Robinson represented to African-Americans when he broke the color-barrier in Major League Baseball."

I'm sorry, but Michele Mouton came 30 years earlier and she won on a much bigger stage, the WRC. Four years after Janet Guthrie raced (just raced) at the Indy 500, Michele won her first stage in in San Remo and came in second overall in 1982 to Walter Rohrl.

I want to know how this guy gets to write for SI about racing? Who makes that decision? ARGHHH!!

Sorry...rant off.

[phuckingduck]

I'd be surprised if many American sports writers were too familiar with international racing history. Hell, it took most of them 2 weeks to pick up the Max Mosley story. Danica certainly achieved something, but nothing of the same scale as Jackie Robinson. Sorry, not even close.

Now, I'm a fan of Danica's. So I hope this is the same thing as Kimi's first win. Her just getting over that final hump, and now it all just clicks for her.

[Karoug]

Originally Posted by phuckingduck

just getting over that final hump, and now it all just clicks for her.

Danica Patrick + hump *overload*

[avanti]

What Danica has done is certainly impressive, but as mentioned, there have been others that have done much more impressive things before her. Michelle Mouton is for me the no 1 female in motorsport, then there is Jutta Kleinschmidt that won the Paris-Dakar rally in 2001.

Edit:
I must say I laughed a bit when I saw this picture...

[Adunaphel]

Am I the only one who thinks stuff like this is extremely sexist?

"Yay, there is a woman that can drive, now let's all point out how special that is, because we all know that they cannot drive because they're genetically impaired."

Why is it impossible for the media to just congratulate her on her first win by saying that it's great to see Danica after a few promising finishes last year finally win a race and keep gender out of the equation?

[Cobol74]

Another great lady driver:

From Wiki

Pat Moss, also known as Pat Moss-Carlsson, (b. 27 December 1934) is an English former rally driver, and the younger sister of Stirling Moss. She married fellow rally driver Erik Carlsson on March 3, 1963 in London. She is the author of The Story so Far (1967, William Kimber and Co - ISBN 0-7183-0440-3) and co-author (with her husband) of The Art and Technique of Driving (1965, Heinemann publishers).
Pat Moss started her sporting life on horseback, as a member of the UK team. In 1953 she started rally driving in a Morris Minor, after being the navigator for Ken Gregory, her brother's manager. In 1960 she was 1st in the Liège-Rome-Liège rally, with Ann Wisdom.
In late 1969, Moss and Carlsson had a daughter, Suzy Carlsson, who was later to become a successful showjumper.
By the age of 34 she had won:

• European Ladies Rally Championship 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964 and 1965
• 1962 Dutch Tulip Rally (outright) and
• 1962 Deutschland Rally (outright), in a B.M.C Cooper

After her marriage she joined Lancia and ran in several more rallies, also in SAAB cars:

• 2nd in the Sanremo rally ('flower rally')
• 2nd in the 1962 East African Safari Rally, in a Saab 96
• 7th in the Corsica rally
• 3rd overall in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally
• 7x 1st in the Coupe des Dames of the MC rally

/Edit Oh I forgot - Congratulation to Danica.

[pfrocker]

Congratulation to Danica, that is all.