May 1, 2008
Murph's Turf: Patrick's victory offers inspirational moment
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Chauvinists, cynics and other assorted naysayers can use the following to make their case: Only 18 cars started the race. Many of the top drivers were not there. The race hinged on fuel mileage more so than driver competence. There was no wheel-to-wheel duel on the final lap.
If that’s how they want to see it, fine. For a field easily measured by quantifiable data (wins, records, championships, etc.), sports retain a highly subjective side, allowing followers to theorize (or, in many cases, whine) about why the outcome could have been different. The ref blew a call, the star player had the flu, the other team spied on practices, the pre-game meal contained too much starch.
Excuses will always serve as a convenient option for those not fond of certain outcomes, and that is why anyone who wishes to downgrade Danica Patrick’s historic victory at the Indy Japan 300 can find the material to do so.
Let them blather away, all the while understanding from where their need springs. For anyone clinging to sports as a last bastion of gender superiority, these are trying times.
A woman has just beaten the men at a man’s game.
Patrick’s first-place finish April 20 made her the first woman to win an IndyCar race. It came in her 50th try. Prior to the groundbreaking win, Patrick was known as a competitive racer and better known for her off-track pursuits, which included a spread in this year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. A pretty face but not exactly a lead foot.
That all changed in Japan. Not only did Patrick break through, she also registered what has to be considered the most significant win by a woman competing against men.
The previous benchmark came way back in 1973, when Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in a much-hyped tennis match at the Houston Astrodome that drew 30,472 spectators and an estimated television audience of 50 million more. But that so-called Battle of the Sexes had an aura of gimmickry — Riggs entered in a carriage pulled by women and King on a red velvet litter carried by toga-wearing University of Houston football players. King was 29 and at the peak of her powers, while Riggs was 55 and long since retired from competitive play. The age disparity was better suited for an I Married Your Father reality show than a legitimate tennis match.
But there was nothing exhibitionist about Patrick’s win in Japan, where she had an average speed of 164-plus miles per hour and beat some of the sport’s top drivers, including two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
Perhaps someday another woman will come along and top Patrick’s accomplishment. Maybe Michelle Wie or another female golfer will win an event on the men’s tour, or the top women’s tennis player in the world will beat the men’s number one in a more legitimate sequel to the King-Riggs contest.
Until then, though, Patrick’s victory has to serve as inspiration to female athletes past and present, young and old, pre-Title IX and post-Title IX. Ten-year-old girls in Ridgefield and elsewhere may still want to kick a soccer ball like Kristine Lilly when they grow up, but now they will also want to one day drive like Danica Patrick.
Even if that means never getting the keys to the family car.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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