Sarah & Danica: A Contrast in Modesty
Written by Garrett O. Friday, 30 May 2008 00:00
“Sex sells” is nothing new to sports, even to racing. But it had been formerly confined to “grid girls” and various models posted in victory lane after the race. “Grid girls” are primarily a European deal and the most NASCAR ever had in the old days was the ever-present “Miss Winston,” who would show up to victory lane in a driver suit emblazoned with Winston cigarette advertising. Things have changed.
If you were watching this year’s Super Bowl start to finish, you likely saw the ad for a certain domain name registrar featuring race car driver Danica Patrick (Men, don’t look it up). It should certainly be no surprise that sex is being used in advertising. The Danica Patrick variety, however, hits a sore spot for me.
Bottom line, I’m a race fan. I look at anything resembling an oval or a squiggle and immediately start visualizing the best line to drive through it. As I was growing up, I can remember how NASCAR’s advocates would always talk about how it’s a family-friendly sport. Sure, there was tobacco and alcohol advertising everywhere, but you could watch a race and not expect to see a top driver on the front page having been involved in a nightclub shooting the next day. True gentlemen such as Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip were legitimate role models.
Modern-day American open-wheel racing has been struggling to find a solution to regain its audience in the U.S., and the answer wasn’t Sarah Fisher. She had been around the open-wheel world for a while and was quite accomplished in some of the lower series, including three World Karting Association Grand National Championships. She gained big popularity in the Indy Racing League early on, including three Most Popular Driver awards, but ultimately isn’t quite considered a “front runner” having finished 17th in last year’s championship.
Then came along a certain Danica Patrick, and the media ogled at the possibilities. Commentators declared that she was the solution to get open-wheel racing back in American homes. Not only was she a decent driver, but she was “sexy” and was willing to sell it. Patrick has posed scantily-clad in various men’s magazines and advertisements and most recently in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. To Patrick’s credit, she refused an offer to pose in Playboy, though the true motive behind the refusal is unknown.
Unbeknownst to the casual observer, Sarah Fisher has been in a Super Bowl commercial too.It starts off introducing “Sarah Fisher” as an average blonde-haired woman who relies on her Raybestos brakes while driving on average streets and highways on her way to Indianapolis Motor Speedway where she hops into her race car and still relies on her Raybestos brakes. No innuendo whatsoever.
Don’t get me wrong - Danica Patrick hasn’t escaped criticism. She’s received everything ranging from sexist tirades to comparison with Anna Kournikova over supposed lack of racing performance, to inane complaints that her light weight (100 pounds) gives her an unfair advantage over 200-pound men (let’s be clear; there’s nothing wrong with women driving race cars, Danica Patrick is a skilled driver, and the guy who complained about her weight is a whiny little something).
Despite the fact that Patrick probably makes twenty times more than Sarah Fisher, it’s somewhat comforting to know that Fisher is able to succeed in professional racing without selling her body. She deserves our full respect for that.
What we almost never hear, however, is how Patrick is being a bad example to America’s young girls, especially those with athletic aspirations. Moreover, it hurts that drivers can get ahead in racing just by allowing their egos to go out of control, especially in an economic state when sponsorship is hard to come by. Women only have to sell their bodies and they get on camera. Men just have to act like jerks, and they get on camera. The body-selling sets a bad precedent for any new women who want to come into the sport. One wonders whether Sarah Fisher would be able to enter the sport today or ten years from now given her standards.
Seeing how this stuff makes me sick to my stomach, it gives a good impression of what God thinks of our sexual sin. Let there be no doubt - I’m a sexual sinner, and all of my sins did something worse to Jesus than make Him sick. They whipped His back into hamburger meat and crucified Him. Chew on that the next time you feel temptation coming on.
 Larissa Hine | |
| About the author: | |
| Larissa is 23 and lives in Massachusetts. She's currently between college and graduate school which she hopes to start in the Fall of 2008. She grew up a Christian and has gone through periods where she's been less serious or more serious though she's never fallen away completely. She usually has too many hobbies/projects going on. | |
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