Guys, guys, guys. Way to make women feel welcome in the sport, with all
these lovely recent posts! :)
I find it very amusing that you men are telling us women what we
need/should want/should do in regards to becoming interested in racing.
Listen. You don't know what it feels like to be a woman in racing. You
never will. There's no way. You're a guy, not a gal. So frankly, seeing
you guys tell us gals what is needed to attract more gals is quite
laughable.
You know what brought out the most new women drivers to Seattle last year?
A 'Women Only' practice. That's right, NO MEN DRIVING. We had over 30
women show up. Most of those women had never set foot in a car to do
anything more than go from one place to another. Most weren't fast. But
damn, they had a blast, and a large number of them came back! And you
know what most of them told me? They wouldn't have shown up if there had
been men driving. They wouldn't have shown up if there had been times
announced, or times posted. They wouldn't have shown up if there had been
heated competition at this, their first try at autocross. They liked the
calm, informal, low-key approach to learning about autocross. They liked
the only-ladies format.
So. Until you guys get a sex change operation, I think you'd better listen
to what the *women* think is the best way to attract *women*. :)
And you know what? I don't need Nomex. I've got enough moisturizer, skin
toner, sunblock, and makeup on to keep off any flames. :)
Susan
'96 Miata R
ps - "throw off the crutch"? "had the courage to switch to open"? Lordy!
I drove in Ladies class last year so that I could learn the sport and not
have to deal with macho attitudes while I was tentative and exploring, and
because the Miata I was driving was being triple-driven. This year I have
my own car. This year I'm driving Open - not because I needed a crutch
last year, and not because I DIDN'T HAVE ANY COURAGE. Ptui. I'm driving
Open because the number of competitors in the Ladies Class has fallen and
I want a large number of people to compete against. If there were 10-15
women in BSL, I might consider staying there!
Thanks for insulting all women who run Ladies, fellas. Courage. Tcha, I
say, tcha! (Courage could be, having the courage to run Ladies even
though a lot of guys think it's bad!)
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