Many of you have heard of or read the short story titled Harrison Bergeron. For those of you who have not, a primer:
THE YEAR WAS 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren
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It was the year 2005,
It was the year 2005, and all race drivers were finally equal
Stormy70
I hope she beats the hell out of him, give him a real reason to whine. Call whine-11, stat!
slickdpdx
I think someone is afraid of losing to a girl!
KevinA
Robby can’t except the fact that he’s just not very good anymore. As for Danica, I’m astounded at the hype..
Yes Robby, that’s why you suck: Weight. Now, I get it.
Kimmitt
Compared to the massive advantage conferred by the increased upper body strength . . . insane.
halffasthero
He only managed to make her more popular. The term “drive like a woman/girl” might actually become a compliment!
Ellen1910
Danica Patrick’s star power’s the best thing to happen to the IRL, ever; and Tony George isn’t about to let it go anytime soon (I suspect Tony Kanane’s already been told to button his lip).
But I’m sure all the drivers are wondering how much Danica’s physique helps or hinders the car/driver synergy (Robbie Gordon probably wouldn’t put it that way).
The results of all of this month’s racing at the Motor Speedway are pretty much irrelevant. That track is so oddly configured — a 2 and 1/2 mile rectangle rather than an oval or a road course — and the race is so long that it can’t be used as a lab.
Danica is giving up upper body strength but getting a weight advantage. It will take several years of racing on all types of tracks to provide the data on which to make a judgment of whether there’s anything unfair about her weight advantage.
Justin Faulkner
These guys are just terrified at the thought of women having any kind of influence or significance…the wisdom goes that they should be in the home cooking and making babies.
Darrell
Justin, why can’t Gordon simply be a ridiculous whiner, without you making the giant leap to claim Nascar drivers (and fans?) are all “terrified at the the thought of women having any kind of influence..”
Jeff
Um, he’s speaking strictly of weight distribution rules. It’s simple physics, the lighter the driver in IRL, the more advantage they have…think of the drivers in the same way as horse jockeys.
Alex
Well, in Formula One they weigh the car and driver together to ensure that the combined weight isn’t under the minimum. But in motorcycle racing, where pilot weight makes even more difference, it’s just the bike weight that counts, and smaller riders do have a slight advantage.
Don’t know what the comparable rules are in IRL or NASCAR. Don’t much care, for that matter. When road courses become the norm rather than a novelty in those series, maybe I’ll start paying attention, but there are few things more boring than watching cars go round in an oval.
John Cole
but there are few things more boring than watching cars go round in an oval.
Watching the America’s Cup on television is more boring.
Gary Farber
Two small points: a) it seems rather churlish to never mention or credit the author; would you appreciate that wre you he? b) there’s no copyright notice at that URL, and the story is certainly not public domain; I strongly suspect, therefore, that the poster has not obtained permission and is violating Kurt Vonnegut’s copyright, which is completely shitty thing to do. Honoring it with a link seems… well, would you give such an endorsement to any other ongoing crime? (Posting an entire short story is not, by any definition, “fair use.”)