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Ha ha Just having a little fun as I try not to take this whole shooting match too seriously, nothing personal my man.
You have raised a rather unique perspective for judging whether racing is a sport or not. I've heard it argued from other angles but not this one. My honest answer is I don't think that women being involved is any kind of deal maker (or breaker). Women, as do men play soccer. I fail to see a distinction in "soccer by definition being a sport" regardless of the level of talent. I consider gymnastics a sport and have to admit that women excel in disciplines that men here to fore have not. That thought can summon some ugly imagery As for women being able to compete with men in motor racing, I believe they have what it takes biologically. There are several others factors that have kept them out the most prominent being socio-cultural. JMHO bro
I was well on my way to having that imagery pass by completely unnoticed. Thanks for making sure that didn't happen.
You're, of course, correct when you point out that women play soccer/football, basketball, golf, etc., just as men do. But they don't play against men, at least not competitively. When it comes to golf (and to an extent, basketball), men and women don't even play on the same field, as it were.
Mixed-doubles tennis is the only sport I can think of that's in any way mixed-gender. I'd consider that an anomaly, though, and immaterial to the question because, ultimately, each pairing is identical.
It's only in motor racing where men and women can compete against each other without either sex having an inherent physiological advantage/disadvantage. If anything, one could make a case that women have a slight advantage due to generally being smaller/lighter. Otherwise, the skill set is exactly the same.
I don't know. This is the kind of dumb sh**t I think of when I can't sleep.
Although probably a racing discipline that requires the least amount of racing skills across the spectrum,
never the less let us not forget the three NHRA Winston Top Fuel Championships of Shirley Muldowney.
Erica Enders, Mendy Fry, Ashley and Courtney Force are also worth mentioning.
I almost forgot Angelle Sampey who was a real heavy hitter in motorcycle drag racing!
I'd call that motor racing, too, and include it within the scope of my question.
Looking back, I can see that perhaps I didn't phrase my initial thoughts correctly. I know that women have participated in motor sport. (In fact, it was reading about Lella Lombardi that prompted this question.) And some have raced with considerable success. But, of the total number of race drivers throughout history, in any discipline, the total number of men dominates the total number of women so much as to almost make the latter number statistically irrelevant. In that regard, I don't think men and women have yet raced on equal terms.
Make any sense?
Put another way: If you took the #1 ranked female tennis player and put her up against the #1 ranked male, it would be a veritable bloodbath. It was either Venus or Serena Williams who said she'd have a lot of trouble playing any man in the top-50.
Can you even imagine a women's soccer team playing a men's team? Basketball? Hockey? American football? I think the results of such contests could easily be called abuse.
Yet, in motor racing, that's not the case at all. As you've mentioned, the only real barriers to female race drivers have been, in one way or another, social issues.
I had to look up korfball. I'd put it in the same category as tennis. I'd categorize badminton that way, too. The men aren't only playing against women and, likewise, the women aren't only playing against men. The composition of each team is identical.
The very nature of motor sport obviously holds that any mixed-sex competition is also direct competition. Much like horse racing, except that's only a sport for the horses.
I'm hesitant to call bowling a sport. It's definitely a game, but I don't know that anything can be a sport if being intoxicated can be an asset. Of course, Kimi is coming back to F1 next year. . .
Archery is not a sport. I don't even have a joke for that.
(Well, maybe I do. Shooting activities are only considered a sport if the target returns fire. That's why hunting is not a sport unless it's done bare-handed.)
The more I think about it, the more I'm willing to say that motor racing is not a sport. Physical prowess simply doesn't differentiate as it does in sports (see: current NASCAR champion, Tony Stewart).
No, I'm saying that a sport is a competition of physical prowess. Men and women do not compete directly against one another in sports because of the inherent advantage men possess due to natural human physiology. Basketball, football/soccer, American football, Australian rules football, rugby, baseball, cricket, golf, tennis, swimming, running, track & field, table tennis; hell, even curling. Except in instances where an equal number of men and an equal number of women compete on each team, those sports never feature mixed-sex competition because it simply would not be fair.
There's an enormous physical element in driving a race car; that's obvious. In fact, that's one of the many things people cite when they want to reinforce the claim that drivers are athletes. However, there's no reason why a talented woman cannot compete with, and win against, male drivers of comparable talent. (As Mr. Alcatraz has stated, it's happened plenty of times.) So, obviously, the physical aspect of motor racing is not a differentiating factor, else men would have the same nearly unbeatable advantage they possess elsewhere.
If, then, motor racing is not a competition of physical prowess, it's not a sport. It's more like chess, and there's really nothing at all wrong with that.
The physical prowess is in hand-eye co-ordination. It does require a high degree of fitness but that is all about stamina rather than strength.
It is odd that curling isn't mixed. They play on the same length sheet, the same weight stones and the sport is about subtle handling rather than brute strength. I tended to play in mixed groups based on friendship rather than gender, women were often better than men!
I very much think that it's a competition of physical prowess, of the 2 racers who'd have very similar talents, the fitter one would almost always prevail. I think Mr. Schumacher is a good example.
Education is that which allows a nation free, independent, reputable life, and function as a high society; or it condemns it to captivity and poverty.
-Atatürk
Calligraphy requires good hand-eye coordination, too. So do video games. Surgery. Sculpting. Each more the product of that area between the ears than of any other part of the body.
Shrieker wrote:I very much think that it's a competition of physical prowess, of the 2 racers who'd have very similar talents, the fitter one would almost always prevail. I think Mr. Schumacher is a good example.
Fitter is not the same as stronger. F1 fitness would surely focus on stamina rather than strength? In that case, I suspect little difference between men and women.
I think it valid to say women and men could compete equally in F1. The only reason that there are few women is that men tend to like machines more than women. This leads to a male dominance in the sport that has passed a tipping point where it is seen as a male sport with a male culture (eg grid girls & pirelli calendar) that in turn further diminishes female participation.
That thought can summon some ugly imagery 
As for women being able to compete with men in motor racing, I believe they have what it takes biologically. There are several others factors that have kept them out the most prominent being socio-cultural. JMHO bro
