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Everybody puts his or her driving suit on one leg at a time
and just because you’ve got a well-oiled PR machine
behind you doesn’t mean you’ve achieved something
just because you are a woman or have vast sponsorship money
behind you. The hype has got to be earned; this is the height
of reality TV, women are no longer a novelty act in drag racing
and winning a Super Gas Wally does not translate to Pro recognition.
What every driver needs to succeed in the professional ranks
is a good racecar and driver, period. Simply being a rookie
woman Pro is not newsworthy.
This year I’ve attended so much local drag racing action;
Thursday night Street Legals at Irwindale, Super Eliminator
and PSCA at California Dragway, Winternationals and Super
Chevy at Pomona, NHRA at Vegas, ANRA and jets at LACR and
Goodguys at both Famoso and Sears Point.
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There
is no shock when a woman is a driver or wrenching on a crew.
Yes it is still mostly male-dominated, but if a woman has
the ability and stamina to work as hard or harder than anyone
else… there’s a gig for you. I truly feel that
most women are just not interested in drag racing, maybe that’s
the novelty – how do you get women interested?
I’ve seen the crowd go wild for “Crazy Cathy”
and her wheelstanding Camaro at Irwindale, damn I’ve
seen all 4 wheels off the ground at the same time on that
car. Is it anymore exciting because Cathy is a woman-- nope,
it's because she puts on a show and drives a fast car. If
it were “Crazy Carl” driving he’d probably
get the same attention if he provided the same entertainment.
The point is; most of the barriers to women in motorsports
are going away. Obtaining and maintaining sponsorship is just
as hard for both genders. The playing field has been leveled
for a lot of years. The issues of obtaining sponsorship may
have a positive spin if a woman is “hot” like
Danica, but if the performance is not part of the package
she’ll go the way of five-time Indy 500 competitor Sarah
Fisher.
Fisher is heading down another road to NASCAR thanks to Childress
Racing’s driver development program. In Cup racing Fisher
will truly be a novelty in a very male-dominated, good ‘ol
boy motorsport and she’ll have tough competition from
other accomplished rookies too.
Drag racing just ain’t that way. Women and men both
put on their driving suits one leg at a time and sit in the
staging lanes the same as any other driver. It’s who
gets to the finish line first, but no matter the amount of
wins or hype, drag racing will never get the kind of exposure
in the media as Danica has, no matter how many drag titles
one wins, right Angelle?
Thanks to my mom for teaching me the differences in life
and how to iron my own shirts. 
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