Why are women usually discouraged in auto racing? I mean with the expection of Danika Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno in IRL. Other series such as NASCAR or the Formulas usually discourage women drivers. And when someone gets popular the guys sometimes spin some controversy about the women drivers such as Robbie Gordon's claim that Patrick's body weight gives her an advantage because her male competitors' body weight are heavier.

Patrick IMO was lucky to get noticed. Other female drivers such as the former nascar driver Shawna Robinson (it'll also be interested to note that she had a all female pit crew) usually disappear into obscurity.

There are some people who think girls shouldn't be racers. That's just how some people are. Personally speaking I don't care, but I am yet to see a female racer who has what it takes to be successful on a professional level. Katherin Legge and Danica Patrick are the closest thus far (excluding drag racing and rally racing, both have had successful female drivers ) but neither have done much since hitting the pro ranks. If you can't cut the mustard, you won't last up top, guy or girl.

Quote from lizardfolk :

...as Robbie Gordon's claim that Patrick's body weight gives her an advantage because her male competitors' body weight are heavier.

He's just jealous. That and he's a lard-ass.

Quote :

Other female drivers such as the former nascar driver Shawna Robinson (it'll also be interested to note that she had a all female pit crew) usually disappear into obscurity.

Probably becuase they haven't had the talent to be where they are. Seems to me that most of the female drivers are there because they're female, not because they have the talent. Her 'all female' pitcrew shows that she was trying to make a statement, not that she had the ability to win races.

One problem is strength - Women (anatomically) aren't as strong as men, and with the intensive fitness required for F1 etc a lot of women just aren't strong enough, specially in situations like correcting "snap oversteer" in something with heavy steering.

One of Australia's most successful drag-racers was a lady by the name of Rachelle (wait for it) Splatt. I kid you not. She's retired now I think. As for female racers, I think we have a few dotted here and there in sports cars and formula competitions but I can't think who they are. I'd assume finding women in motorcycle racing would be even harder, too. Harder than finding a Bush kid in the armed forces

I think a lot of women avoid motor racing because it's really just a bunch of dudes having a dick war

Quote from Jakg :

One problem is strength - Women (anatomically) aren't as strong as men, and with the intensive fitness required for F1 etc a lot of women just aren't strong enough, specially in situations like correcting "snap oversteer" in something with heavy steering.

I don't think there's a physical limitation for many people in most racing cars, short of the big single seaters where one's pulling high Gs for a long time, more tiring over time than a muscle man challenge, if you look at most racing drivers they're physically very fit but not stacked.

I certainly don't think they're at all discouraged from getting into the sport, but the simple fact is that a lot more men/boys want to than women/girls so it stands to reason that there aren't as many women in motor-racing.

I reckon the top F1 teams would be fighting tooth and nail to sign a young lady that was genuinely competitive with the men, it would be a big money spinner for them.

If someone is good enough (and you need to already have been given the opportunity to find that out), they'll make it.

Michele Mouton almost won the 1982 World Rally Championship in an Audi Quattro. There was also Helene Delange, who was a French stripper turned Bugatti racer in the 1930s. A couple of fairly physical challenges.

IIRC there was a woman in F1 a fair few years ago. Read it in my big F1 book, cant be arsed finding it.

Theres also a lass in the BTCC, but she's more than a bit slow.

Quote from ajp71 :

I don't think there's a physical limitation for many people in most racing cars, short of the big single seaters where one's pulling high Gs for a long time, more tiring over time than a muscle man challenge, if you look at most racing drivers they're physically very fit but not stacked.

I remember seeing a special on fighter pilots on National Geographic channel.

Turns out short fit women (i.e. Danica) are as good or Better than men at dealing with prolonged high g-forces.

I would imagine pre-concieved social gender roles are the main factor as to why women have not succeeded with any regularity.

Quote from Hankstar :

Harder than finding a Bush kid in the armed forces

I'm going into the armed forces and I'm a Bush kid (okay not the one you was thinking of but still).

Quote from DeKo :

Theres also a lass in the BTCC, but she's more than a bit slow.

And she would have got singed because she is an ovarian sister.

Quote from srdsprinter :

I remember seeing a special on fighter pilots on National Geographic channel.

Turns out short fit women (i.e. Danica) are as good or Better than men at dealing with prolonged high g-forces.

I would imagine pre-concieved social gender roles are the main factor as to why women have not succeeded with any regularity.

Also the guy in charge of training British cops to be high speed pursuit cops said woman are better at the job because to them it is just that, a job, to men it is a competition to see who is best.

Quote from ajp71 :

I don't think there's a physical limitation for many people in most racing cars, short of the big single seaters where one's pulling high Gs for a long time, more tiring over time than a muscle man challenge, if you look at most racing drivers they're physically very fit but not stacked.

I'm just going on what Becky said - when she was karting she had to have an understeery Kart because she didn't have the strength to deal with the oversteer for the endurance race

Quote from Jakg :

I'm just going on what Becky said - when she was karting she had to have an understeery Kart because she didn't have the strength to deal with the oversteer for the endurance race

Karts are far more physically demanding to drive than most racing cars and I'm sure trying to do a long run in one is very tiring, we managed to get a 2 hour stint at our local rental centre once, until they ran out of fuel, nice guy especially seeing as we paid for a 20 minute session

It's all about testosterone.

Quote from DeKo :

IIRC there was a woman in F1 a fair few years ago. Read it in my big F1 book, cant be arsed finding it.

Not in F1 there wasn't. There's never been a female F1 racer. Maybe one who drove an F1 car but never raced in the Formula 1 world championship.

Physical strength has nothing to do with it. I used to race against Suzie Stoddart in karts and in Formula Ford. She was/is well able to catch a slide. She;s racing DTM now

@nikimere - you are very wrong, Giovanna/Giovanni Amati whatever her name was, drove for Brabham. She was aweful. Before that there where others, but you have to go back a while.

Actually, aside from F1 where drivers need exceptionally strong neck muscles, there really isn't a reason why women drivers cannot compete alongside men absolutely equally, that's one of the reasons I love motor sport, in terms of the actual racing provided that there is no reverse parking - women can compete with no physical disadvantage and there is no reason, like in other sports, to have a seperate class for women. Motor racing is a truly equal playing field.

There are not that many women in motor sports because when we do race, we're faced the the position that to get over our novelty value we have to be really good, it's not enough for a female driver to just be amongst the ranks like the men. A woman gets noticed at the race track, and if she's just another competitor, she'll be written off. This makes it very hard to stay in a formula long enough to learn the ropes.

Other than finance motor sport is a truly equal sport for everyone. Whether disabled, female, coloured, or 60 years old you compete on the same grid with the same chance of winning.

@Becky Rose: did she actually ever qualify to race?

lol - probably not.

EDIT: Here's a comprehensive list courtesy of Google,

1958: Maria Teresa De Filippis - 4 GPs
1975-76: Lella Lombardi - 12 GPs
Drivers who failed to qualify: Giovanna Amati , Davina Galica, Desiré Wilson

@ Becky, Why can't women develope the necessary neck muscles for F1? Malarkey I say, IRL pulls longer sustain higher lateral G-forces than F1 ever does, and Danica Patrick does respectibly well on the ovals. Something about female anatomy prevents the occasional 5 G force of breaking? Women can be 8+ G Fighter Pilots, I doubt there is any phyisical limitation of their necks preventing them from F1.

To be honest I think asking a forum where the majority of the posters are male why women don't tend to race might not give the real reason's. To be honest though, apart from sexist racers, I don't think anyone has any objection's to women racing along side men. The main reason though that I would expect for there not to be many women in racing would simply be that women don't want to race. There could be many reasons for not wanting to race though such as not being interested, the sport is male dominated etc.

Quote from Becky Rose :

lol - probably not.

EDIT: Here's a comprehensive list courtesy of Google,

1958: Maria Teresa De Filippis - 4 GPs
1975-76: Lella Lombardi - 12 GPs
Drivers who failed to qualify: Giovanna Amati , Davina Galica, Desiré Wilson

Yes I know who ur talking about. Whew but that was a LONG time ago. LOL She tried to qualify three times and failed three times and was dropped for Damon Hill.

Quote from Greboth :

To be honest I think asking a forum where the majority of the posters are male why women don't tend to race might not give the real reason's. To be honest though, apart from sexist racers, I don't think anyone has any objection's to women racing along side men. The main reason though that I would expect for there not to be many women in racing would simply be that women don't want to race. There could be many reasons for not wanting to race though such as not being interested, the sport is male dominated etc.

Are there any girls here? (besides Becky I know she's a girl)

I've heard that before. Of course for a women to be a racer they had to have a interest in cars.

Sadly it seems to become obvious that there is a slight difference between men and women in motor racing. Take a look at current DTM. There's two of them in there right now (Vanina Ickx - Audi, Susie Stoddart - Mercedes) and they both have done one full season each, going on the second. Susie Stoddart logged a 9:th last year as a best, Vanina Ickx an 11:th place. None of them have scored any points this year either, while 16 of the 20 drivers have at least 1 point. Ok so it could be the cars, and it could be lack of founding, but if they had what it takes, I bet the manufacturers would back them because women in motorsport is and will always be, good marketing.

While I do think that women are at least as good drivers as men, I also think that it comes down to muscles and stamina at the end of a one hour stint. It would be cool to see how the racing would look if the DTM field was run by all women drivers. I bet it would be some awesome racing!

--- Edit ---
This is one more reson why I think virtual racing is so good. In Virtual Racing, those limitations are gone. Here we are talking pure skill and ability to focus

Quote from DeKo :

Theres also a lass in the BTCC, but she's more than a bit slow.

She's not slow, the car isn't slow. The car's a mobile chicane - she's tied on points with her team-mate at Kartworld. Like Jason Hughes, she's on 0

And the Danicia Patrick weight argument is silly. If they had a midget driving (with hand controls), would there be complaints? If her weight advantage REALLY makes much of a difference, just include the weight of the driver in the minimum weight. So any fatties in the series can just take lead out.

Quote from duke_toaster :

She's not slow, the car isn't slow. The car's a mobile chicane - she's tied on points with her team-mate at Kartworld. Like Jason Hughes, she's on 0

And the Danicia Patrick weight argument is silly. If they had a midget driving (with hand controls), would there be complaints? If her weight advantage REALLY makes much of a difference, just include the weight of the driver in the minimum weight. So any fatties in the series can just take lead out.

Ya by Gordon's logic Button would have a disadvantage over Sato because Sato is smaller then Button illepall

Quote from lizardfolk :

Ya by Gordon's logic Button would have a disadvantage over Sato because Sato is smaller then Button illepall

In F1 the weight of the driver is included in the minimum vehicle weight. The only advantage would be that Sato could put more ballast in the floor of the car to lower his car's CoG relative to Button's.

Quote from lizardfolk :

Are there any girls here? (besides Becky I know she's a girl)

In the number of people signed up to this forum there has to be a fair few girls Whether they let it be public knowledge is another thing though. Off hand I can only think of 2 females on this forum.

Everyone who wants to be a racing driver has got to have an interest in car's and from my female friends none of them are interested in car's or racing. So maybe it is as simple as the interest isn't there for females.