We talked before about basketball, today's subject is racing, specifically the Indianapolis 500.
I couldn't believe it when this Robby Gordon embarrassed himself by crying foul over the fact that Danica Patrick doesn't weigh enough.
Gordon, a former open-wheel driver now in NASCAR, contends that
Patrick is at an advantage over the rest of the competitors because she
only weighs 100 pounds.
"I won't race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away."
The Indy Racing League does not consider the weight of the driver in its race specifications.
(. . . )
"Right off the bat, a guy my size is spotting her 105 pounds," Gordon said. "That's the reason she's so much faster."
(emphasis mine)
Quick, send this woman some pork rinds!!!
So the reason why she's successful is because of her size! While everybody else has to be skilled and hard-working!
Has Mr. Gordon weighed all of the other (male) drivers? Have all the other Indy 500s consistently been won by the driver who weighs the least? Does the NBA need to address the fact that some of their players have the unfair advantage of being taller than others?
By refusing to race against her, Mr. Gordon takes a principled stand against . . . OK, I can't figure out what he's taking a stand against. But at least he'll save himself from the potential humiliation of being bested by a girl.
I would have thought that even if a male competitor was thinking that way he would realize how "politically incorrect" it would sound and how much it would hurt his image if he talked about it in public. This guy has no media savvy.
UPDATE -- As you know, Ms. Patrick did herself proud and came in fourth place. I'm sure Dan Wheldon, Vitor Meira, and Bryan Herta are all glad they weren't intimidated by Ms. Patrick's size and went ahead and participated in the race.
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