Here were Richard Petty’s thoughts when Janet Guthrie attempted to qualify for a NASCAR race in 1976. It’s a quote from Janet Guthrie’s book, actually:
“When I shook hands with Richard Petty I thought I’d get frostbite,” Guthrie wrote. “Later, he would be quoted as saying of me: ‘She’s no lady. If she was she’d be at home. There’s a lot of differences in being a lady and being a woman.’”
Well, yeah. A lady makes eggs and french toast, cleans the house, and blows her husband while he watches NASCAR. A woman gets in a race car, and thus, grows chest hair, develops a lumpy ass, and slowly becomes infertile. Anyway, here’s Richard with his more enlightened view on things, 30 years later:
“I just don’t think it’s a sport for women,” Petty said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And so far, it’s proved out. It’s really not. It’s good for them to come in. It gives us a lot of publicity, it gives them publicity. “But as far as being a real true racer, making a living out of it, it’s kind of tough.”
Well, hey. You know, if he’d have stopped that first sentence after the 7th word, I’d consider agreeing with him. But he didn’t. And I guess some people just aren’t going to change or evolve. That’s alright. I’m not going to spend a lot of time hammering him for it… there’s no need. He is what he is, and I’m sure he’s not the only one. In fact, I could picture Richard Petty and Vijay Singh hanging out… actually, wait. No, I can’t picture that.
Dywayne
I love your site but I must disagree. Why do you have to be like every other PC lemming out there and say a man is unevolved if he has an opinion that NASCAR is not a sport for women? Why don’t we all say we are the same like we are all the same color, we all act the same and we are of the same sex and get done with it. Because that is where we are headed. You are entitled to your opinion as well but your wrong. We are different and there are some things for men and women and frankly, there’s nothing wrong with that.
May 26, 2006 at 9:28 am
the mighty mjd
Dywayne – Okay… but tell me why women aren’t capable of making left turns for four hours.
May 26, 2006 at 10:18 am
HuangKong
“you’re entitled to your own opinion, but you’re wrong” ??
Er…. right. Way to take your own advice, Dywayne.
On a different note, mjd, you HAVE to comment on Frank Robinson CRYING because he had to remove Matt LeCroy mid-inning – apparently he felt embarrased FOR LeCroy. I don’t even have a joke here. But I’d love to see what YOU think about it.
May 26, 2006 at 10:20 am
chris
Wow, NASCAR is pretty much THE competition where sex means nothing at all. You don’t have to be a man to freaking drive a car
May 26, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Bish
What does Petty say to the 20 odd drivers who finished behind Danica Patrick at the last Indy 500? That they were trying to check out her ass?
May 26, 2006 at 2:18 pm
Rob
Until a woman completes a full NASCAR season while finishing ahead of Jimmy Spencer in the points race, Petty has a point. ESPN can scream Danica like Kirk in Kahn, but she’s still more novelty than winner. (To prove this point, check out her official webiste. Note that the Victory Lane section is still under construction.)
I personally think it’s not a lack of talent in the gender but a lack of desire. To paraphrase mjd, why would a woman want to make left turns for four hours?
PS – heads up on your new secuirty code thingy mjd. When I type a comment and submit but forget the code, when I backtrack my comment is gone. Your previous code system always retain the comment.
May 26, 2006 at 2:32 pm
Spaceno93
Why is Nascar considered a sport? I drive in traffic and make alot of left turns.
Seriously, Nascar would be one of the few sports where men and woman are on equal footing. Well actually if you hear the whiners last year – woman have an advantage because they weigh less.
Dywayne – this is sitting in a car and driving. Your saying a woman can’t do that? Yes there are diffence between a man and woman (Look at dunks in the WNBA) but driving isn’t one of them. I agree with MJD, it’s more desire and aggression is missing.
May 26, 2006 at 3:40 pm
Mastershake
Spaceno93 – you’ve contradicted yourself and missed the point. Personally, I think that NASCAR is about the most boring shit out there and not a sport (seriously, I rather watch the same American Chopper episode 4 times in row). But, you say that a woman should be able to perform the physical tasks involved with driving as well as a man, and that what is missing is the aggression. And you are right, and that is why a woman won’t win the cell phone/ciggarette cup. Competitive driving is all about aggression and (this is the main reason), lack of hesitation. I know that many woman have more brains than many men (and the IQ bell-curve will support me). However, a man is morely likely to make a decision instinctively, without hesistation. This decision may be wrong or stupid but it could be right or lucky as well, and it will take place almost instantly. Most women are more subconsciously concerned about avoiding mistakes and other’s overall opinion of their character.(you don’t hear very often about women accidentally shooting themselves or others). In NASCAR, you have 40+ guys making split-second instinctive decisions, causing crashes and problems, and one lucky bastard, for reasons he can’t explain even to himself, makes all the right moves and wins. Champions, and this is probably true in any sport, have a rare combination or talent and intuition to make the right decision without using their forebrain, but instead using the limbic system (the part we sahre with crocodiles). I just don’t see women capabale of conditioning themselves to the point where they can become functionally less intelligent for the sake of their reaction time. Call me a chauvinst, (I am for equal treatment of all people by the government), but there are physiological differences between men and women that are far more pronouced than the differences between men of any culture/race.
May 26, 2006 at 4:19 pm
Doger
Well, I autocross with the SCCA and the national, open class champion in my car class is a woman. And she’s local to my region, so I’ve watched her kick my ass a few time.
The issue isn’t bizarro arguments to aggression, aggression doesn’t win races, it’s opportunities, practice and instinct. Racing is expensive, crazy expensive. A tiny minority ever do it at any competative level, and women just don’t get steered towards it.
There have been several excellent woman drag racers over the years too.
May 26, 2006 at 5:47 pm
harry poovey
Danica has a nice ass. She should drive the indy race in a thong.
Harry Gant Rules.
May 26, 2006 at 11:00 pm
thedon3wv
I dont have a problem with women driving in a Nascar race as long as she does’nt try to put makeup on in turn four in the final lap.
May 27, 2006 at 1:42 pm