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NASCAR: the first egalitarian pro sport
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Can you pick out the female athlete in this picture?
I was at Billy's Pub a few nights ago, checking out the scene on a Saturday night, and I had a flash of realization: NASCAR is the first EOE sport in America.
Billy's Pub is a NASCAR bar, with plenty of cardboard cutouts depicting everyone's favorite drivers and their cars. I have never been a big NASCAR fan, for various reasons, but after sitting at the bar for a pint or two of Marble Brewery Red Ale, watching the cars go round and round in circles on the TV over the bar, it occurred to me why I ought to like NASCAR.
NASCAR is the only professional sport where women are regularly allowed to compete against men in the "major leagues".
Digest that for a moment.
Not the NFL, not the NBA, not the uber-civilized world of professional tennis... NASCAR.
Danica Patrick has just recently made the move to the NASCAR, after finishing a contract with Formula 1. She's not being given a handicap, or a specially-outfitted car. And she's got a good chance of winning, too.
Okay, okay, we have to say that Michelle Wie has been allowed to play golf against men, although of the 14 times she's played a tourney against men, only 8 were PGA events, and she never made it all the way to the final cut. At least she's tried.
And yes, calling NASCAR a "sport" can make many a sports fan jump up and down in fury. By saying NASCAR is a sport, I know that I open myself up to all kinds of ridicule, and criticism from people who will tell me that I have to consider professional poker if I'm considering professional car-racing.
And finally, I recognize that Danica Patrick is a hot former cheerleader who poses in bikinis and makes the most of her sexy bod, which doesn't necessarily make her a feminist favorite. Although most sports players are championed for their bodies, so I'm not sure this can be called "sexism" in a simple sense, either.
Nevertheless, I think it's important for us ladies to realize that car-racing is the only national sports association that allows women to try out for its ranks without telling them to go play with their girlfriends somewhere less serious where there is substantially less money available for contracts or prizes.
Don't get too excited, though. If you want to be depressed about the state of female athletes, just go type "female athletes" into Google and note that the first four or five sites that pop up are all lists of the hottest, bustiest, or sexiest female sports players, not the most talented or most interesting. Sigh.
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