Danica Patrick Becomes 1st Woman to Win Indy Car Race
Don’t drop the trophy lady
Not a huge racing fan but Danica Patrick becoming the first women to win an IndyCar race needs its proper attention. It’s a shame this didn’t happen on American soil but I’m sure that this took place in Japan means nothing to Danica and her camp.
Yeah she cried here ass off, seemed awkward in the moment and if you listened closely you can hear her momma screeching from where you currently sit, but a female winning such a high level race is historic no matter how you call it.
You can see this meant so much to her personally. Give her that.
There is a young girl somewhere in the world who will see Danica’s historic victory and ultimately become better than Danica and so on and so forth. The future is created through the ambitious efforts of pioneers and this moment needs to be celebrated.
This is why TSF snaps when we see the accomplishments of Black athletes diminished because of off the court idiosyncrasies. It’s all about the future and what we can do to propagate an objective discussion on sports and society.
The legend will not become fact at TSF. Everything is not impugnable because there are those who haven’t a natural connection to the accomplishment or event. Get over yourselves and recognize history as it is made.
Congratulations Danica on the biggest moment in your professional career but not too much of this….
Don’t let them trick you out for you’ve fought too hard to get this win. Get that paper, but you can make money by demanding respect…plus my daughter might be watching.
Enjoy the moment but keep pushin’.
Again, congratulations Danica on your first trip to the winner’s circle in your 50th start.
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April 20th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Congrats to Ms. Patrick but can she please stop showing her bony ass in every magazine I pick up? She’s not all that and I get tired of Wilbon on PTI always drooling over her and every halfway decent looking white woman. She’s in danger of going down the same road as Kournikova in that she was more interested in photo shoots than bringing up her game to become an immortal.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
LOL @ Harvey for the shot at Wilbon. I thought I was the only one who saw that. Has he ever given a compliment to the looks of Serena or Venus, or any WNBA players? Not saying that he has to find them attractive but hey…just wondering…
April 20th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Any man who doesn’t find Serena attractive ain’t really gotten down gotten down
April 20th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I’m really glad you gave props to Danica, this was a huge victory-so why bring it down a level and rip on her because she’s hot and uses it once in a while? I dont hear anyone bitching about fine-ass ballers posing topless for mag covers? Let’s bury the double standard already.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Take that shit somewhere else Delinda. You know you are my girl but….
Google Danica Patrick and check all the posing she has going on. I could care less about some cat posing with his shirt off because I honestly don’t pay attention to it. The difference is that their work speaks for itself doesn’t it? Danica was showing her ass all around town before she even won a race. Am I correct?
She should want to be respected first given how hard she has to fight to become the best. In those 50 races she has 29 top ten finishes so the talent is there.
Sorry but I wouldn’t be proud of my daughter doing so much of that shit before she’s professionally proven.
I gave her props and I do not want to diminish her moment but g’damn. Put some $*#&## clothes on and you might win some more.
Like I said, I have a daughter. She’s what I thought about when I saw Danica win and only her.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Dont patronize me by saying ‘google her’…pa-leeze. As far as “showing her ass all around town”…thats so typically male and pathetic and goes to prove that woman are up against a hell of a lot of bigots in order to earn thier place in sports history. She’s damned if she does, damned if she doesnt. And sorry she ‘hasnt won’ until now, but I think her THREE podiums finishes deserve a little respect. In case you need help-that translates into three second/third place finishes. Maybe you oughta google her?
April 20th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
LOL Oh my bad. Like I said, I”m not a huge fan of racing so I’m not hip to the who gets to stand next to the winner stuff.
Any many who has a daughter is not going to be cool with his baby girl showing her ass. It’s as simple as that. That’s her hustle and that’s cool, but at first glance it comes across as something less than respectable merely because she isn’t a regular participant standing on the podium and is one of the most talked about racers. What is that? She can’t have it both ways.
So I’m a bigot because I seek respectability for Danica Patrick? Bullshit.
I don’t want to see her body I want to see her win.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
You just saw her win yet you’re still bitching (and posting) photos of her “half naked”. Why can’t she be respectable AND win? Danica hasnt posed nude, she’s taken some sexy photos-so what!!! Isn’t this a good lesson for your ‘daughters’…that you can flaunt your beauty and win…oh, but wait, no you cant…sorry, wrong blog.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
Damn right because I’m this pop.
Of course it’s a caricature, but you get the picture.
That’s just the way it is. Our life experience shapes our opinion. What’s wrong with not wanting Danica to be disrespected? Seriously? So you’d rather be cool with those who are lusting over Danica simply because she’s a woman instead of what she does on the track?
Really now…you can’t be serious Delinda.
I’m not her enemy.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang! Haha-that was awesome. But for real, Im just asking why cant you lust for and respect a women at the same time?
April 20th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
I’m just one man but I see sports differently than others. It’s not entertainment to me, it’s athletics. Maybe it’s because I have kids raising in the ranks in many sports. Maybe it’s because I’ve coached on different levels. Maybe I identify with the sports themselves not the irrelevant bullshit everyone currently lusts over.
It’s up to my daughter’s mother and I (and our family) to make sure she knows the game so she can distinguish what’s real and what’s not.
I would have to accept it, but again, I wouldn’t be proud of her.
I just want to see her win. That’s it. Nothing else matters. Seriously. There are so many girls out there who are now racing fans just because of this win. What should the message be that they take in?
Sex or triumph?
April 20th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Sex or triumph? She didnt sleep her way to the top Mizzo, she earned it. The message should be, as mentioned earlier, that woman can be sexy and win. You should be more concerned with all those young girls who look up to Paris or Britney Spears than any new race fans Danica may pick up. We can agree to disagree…but her victory shouldnt lead to an open discussion about whether or not she deserves respect. In my eyes, she just proved that she does-especially in light of facing this kind of scrutiny. And thats the lesson I would pass-on.
April 20th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Nah because the journey was inverted. Britney and Paris aren’t relative to this discussion so I won’t comment on them.
We can agree to disagree but sorry I would never be cool with my daughter posing so much. I didn’t say anything about her sleeping her way to the top but in my eyes this isn’t much different.
It causes too much bs.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Isnt much different than sleeping her way to the top? Are you high? I guess your glass in half-empty. The only BS I see it causing has come from-once again-men. The same shit happened when Natalie Gulbis (golfer) marketed herself outside the sport via a calendar. I get what you’re saying-but dont you think these women are empowering themselves? They’re not posing nakked? They’re not doing porn? They are doing the same thing men have been doing since day one. This double standard has got to friggen stop already.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I could care less about dudes doing it. That’s crazy too.
You know damn well I’m optimistic about most things and like a fine lovely just as much as the next cat, but I just have a different view of things.
I guess if you don’t have a daughter you see this much differently–that’s not an indictment on you personally.
How is it empowering again?
April 20th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Sorry, Delinda, but it is not a double standard. Brady Quinn, Wally Szcerbiak, Rick Fox, and other ‘handsome’, ‘hot’ male athletes have been taken to task for getting run off the court for not doing anything on it. Danica Patrick, Kournikova, and Sharapova to a certain extent are being lauded for their supposed sexiness more than what they’ve accomplished in the fields that have given them names while athletes like Lisa Leslie, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Lindsay Davenport and others are damned with faint praise for their accomplishments because they aren’t looked at as being as attractive as their peers. That’s the double standard that Mizzo and I are highlighting.
Props to Danica for her achievment but if she looked like Billie Jean King and took this long to win something significant the media coverage wouldn’t have been like this and we all know it.
Another thing, I bet straight cash, homie that Patrick’s win is one of the first three things talked about on PTI tomorrow.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I guess the empowerment stops when men decide objectification is a valid means to demoralize woman.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
No, the empowerment stops when women actively participate in their own objectification and reduce themselves to only T&A.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:36 pm
It’s like this Delinda and take rape (when women are violated physically just by what they are wearing is what I mean here) out of this because that’s just sick..OK?
If you are in a club and are scantily clad and a dude calls you a whore–even if you aren’t one–should you really be surprised?
If you dress the part that’s how you are gonna be seen and judged. That’s just the way it is.
Like I’ve also said many times here and in the initial post, I congratulate Danica for winning and advancing her sport. Mad props to her.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
“No, the empowerment stops when women actively participate in their own objectification and reduce themselves to only T&A.”
Again- WHY cant woman be sexy and win? Danica didnt reduce herself to T&A- you (general public) did. I understand what you guys are saying, but seems to me that the real issue is that Danica used her sex appeal to promote herself-and once again I would say so what! She wasnt spread eagle in a mag…dear god, they were bathing suit shots…she didnt dress any part of nothing…
April 20th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Just for the sake of the discussion, who gets more respect Mariah Carey or Alicia Keys?
Why do you think that is?
Delinda you and I talk all the time and you know how heated I get when I see a Black athlete exploited and then more heated when people say “What’s the big deal? It’s just a picture.”
IF LeBron knew about the WW1 poster beforehand and Danica doesn’t understand she is being exploited posing all the damn time then they are no different than each other in that regard.
April 20th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Women can be sexy and win…I’ll look at Serena for the model of that idea.
I think the issue with Danica is that when she first broke the onto the major racing scene, she was against doing such things. I remember an interview where she specifically said that she would rather be known as a racer first, before eye-candy. But over time, as she began to “struggle” and not get that first win as fast as everyone expected of her, she started to do the pictures wearing less and less clothes. Check out the time line. At first all her pictures were of her in the full racing suit , near a car or a track. But as time went on, clothes started to be removed, then last year she did the shower scene for the ESPN commercials.
So in my eyes, she kinda renigged (sp) on the whole, respect me as a driver first. Not saying that she doesn’t deserve respect, but it would have been great for her to stick to her guns for the whole time.
I just hope she doesn’t end up like Anna Kornikova, who is known more for her pictures than being a winner and a tough opponent.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:41 am
Its about time Danica won one, I don’t think she will ever win a season, but hey she is doing good right now.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:21 am
Mizzo,
“Just for the sake of the discussion, who gets more respect Mariah Carey or Alicia Keys?”
Now I know you know better….Mariah? A more appropriate comparison for the sake of THIS discussion, would be who gets more respect, Beyonce or Alicia Keys? And I dare anybody to get flip and ask “how do we define respect”.
April 21st, 2008 at 3:47 am
Congrats to Danica she scored one for the LADIES!
April 21st, 2008 at 4:28 am
I happen to agree with the a few things on here. I’m glad she finally won because for a long time there’s been more style than substance to her. Its empowering for women when a woman can compete against men at a high level, but once they’ve let you in their little boys club you have to prove you belong there or it just sets women back a little. She was on the verge of becoming Michelle Wie and that’s not a good look. I’m happy she won because it validates all the exposure she’s gotten. Up until now there was no reason for her to be as highly regarded as she has been.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
[...] Danica Patrick Becomes 1st Woman to Win Indy Car Race [...]
April 21st, 2008 at 9:55 pm
mizzo, thanks for posting this… very important…
Delinda, I do understand — or at least try my best to understand– many of the points you make. The distinction with women athletes efforts to gain recognition is that they almost HAVE to show their body to get attention and recognition. First and foremost, that fact is quite troubling IMHO. So there is a sense of: is Patrick really doing the pictures by some arbitrary personal choice? or is she caving in to the sexist machine? I’m not in her head, so i don’t know. If it is the first one, then that is one thing. If it is the second one, then that is accompanied with disappointment — even if it is quite understandable given what she is up against.
So when i root for Danica to keep her clothes on, I’m rooting for her to PROTEST the current system. Now that is certainly an unfair burden to be put on Danica, but like any social pioneer that unfair burden is part of the equation and you just hope that the person understands the larger scope of their influence. So in Patrick, i would hope that she uses her almost unique position to show an ALTERNATIVE PATH to recognition for woman athletes that does not involve disrobing… so for me it is not about DP personally as much as the bigger picture to advance society.
In either case, we can all agree that the media coverage of women is atrocious — and that pressure should be applied to them to get it right. Here is my two cents on the abomination that is Sports Illustrated’s coverage:
http://www.cosellout.com/?p=257
April 21st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
MODI - You know I’m right, don’t you think its time to admit it? If Danica Patrick wasn’t taking her clothes off, no one would care about her racing, it isn’t like racing is really a sport, but this gives her fame for her sporting achievement. Kudos to the marketplace at work. If Candace Parker would take Danica as an example, just think of where she could be in America, in terms of popularity. I mean everyone likes red bones.
April 21st, 2008 at 10:14 pm
“I mean everyone likes red bones.”
LMAO DMac you are crazy! Where do you get the stuff you come up with?
April 21st, 2008 at 11:15 pm
[...] doing a whole lot more than cheerleading. Patrick became the first woman to win a major race when she took the Japan 300. Lorena Ochoa became the first LPGA Tour player in 45 years to win four tournaments in consecutive [...]
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 am
DingDingDingDingDing…I was halfway right about my PTI prediction because even though Kornheiser and Wilbon mentioned Patrick’s win in the intro it was the fourth thing on their list of topics for the day. Kornheiser did talk about how it was good Patrick had won because she was starting to become known more for her photo spreads instead of her racing results. Of course, Wilbon leapt to her defense by saying she’s never been ‘naked’ in a photo shoot but then it was mentioned, tongue in cheek I hope, that he knew that fact because he had all her spreads in a drawer at his home. ShakesMyHead…come back, Brutha Wilbon, because you trying too damned hard to be liked nowadays.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
[...] Danica Patrick Becomes 1st Woman to Win Indy Car Race [...]