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NEWS > SPORTS > DANICA PATRICK UNSURPRISINGLY CAUSES MASSIVE CRASH IN NASCAR DEBUT
DANICA PATRICK UNSURPRISINGLY CAUSES MASSIVE CRASH IN NASCAR DEBUT
February 15 2010
Daytona Beach, FL – Sport has always been a man’s game. Even from the very earliest days in ancient China and Persia, sport has been dominated, if not been exclusive to, men. While philosophers and sportscasters have often tied the activity to
warfare it’s not exactly clear if those perceived roots are the reason that so few women have participated in sports until the last century. Nonetheless, the dominance of men in sport and the rise of women is undeniable, and inevitably headed towards a collision between the sexes.
There are of course certain sports in which women will likely never compete with men. Physical sports requiring high levels of strength, such as American Football and Boxing, will likely always be divided along gender lines but others naturally allow for integration. One sport that has been making strides in that blurring of the gender lines is auto racing which, though very physically demanding, is not dependent on traditional measures such strength and weight. At the forefront of that revolution is Danica Patrick who has garnered more acclaim and attention than any of her predecessors. While her racing record has been schizophrenic at best, as an ambassador to the sport her record has been meticulous. Now though her ambitions in the most masculine of racing leagues, NASCAR, has fallen into peril after being caught up in a 12-car collision in her debut race.
It was on lap 67 of the NASCAR Nationwide Series race that Patrick became involved in the massive collision that ultimately left her in 35th place. Driving through the smoke of the first few cars, Patrick collided with the wall, ending her debut. Her accident wasn’t the only one of course, in fact 28 of the 43 cars in the field ended up with some level of damage, but all attention was on Patrick who, fairly or not, is being blamed for the incident.
“The disappointing part is that I missed out getting the rest of my laps in - I think I had 50 laps to go - and the car was settling in and I was getting comfortable," said Patrick. "I'm glad I got that second stint in but it's never fun to crash up a perfectly good car when it's not your fault.”
Others though, such as Colin Braun, who clipped Josh Wise’s car to start the bang up, weren’t as easy on Patrick.
“Look, yeah I clipped him but I was distracted, we were all distracted. That’s why so many cars went down. When drivers are spending more time looking out for other cars than they concentrating on their race inevitably mistakes are going to happen,” said Braun. “Look, I’m not blaming her or anything but having a woman on the track makes everyone nervous and that causes us to drive differently. I mean that’s not her fault exactly, but if she wasn’t here it would happen. That’s just the truth.”
Patrick was upbeat after the race but did not speak about future plans.
“It’s always going to be hard for a woman in such a male dominated sport but it’s going to be even more difficult when she also has to go up against the basic nature of women. Females simply drive differently. True, most accidents are by men but that is due largely to aggression, which is rewarded in racing. Accidents by women are a result of passivity which is just as dangerous,” said Scrape TV Sports analyst Mark Marvins. “This has really been the biggest issue with Patrick. She has had far more attention than her racing would garner. That causes a lot of consternation amongst other drivers and now she comes in and causes crashes. She needs to understand that there are men out here trying to make a living. She has a lot of other options and perhaps she should start to explore those.”
Patrick’s husband, physical therapist, Paul Hospenthal, reportedly makes a very good living.
Alexi Orton, Sports Correspondent
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