During this past weekend (march 4-6) was the Las Vegas NASCAR weekend. Mark Martin won the race, but a more significant event took place. Racer Danica Patrick set a NASCAR female mark! She placed fourth which is the best finish for a woman in a national NASCAR race since Sara Christian, who placed fifth at Pittsburgh in the year 1949. An article from FOX Sports wrote, "The race will most likely be remembered for Danica Patrick’s history-making run and not the last-lap dramatics.” Earlier this year she became the first woman to lead a major NASCAR race at the Daytona International Speedway. While all these accomplishments are significant and great, Patrick continues to have to deal with gender-related comments, accomplishments etc. She finds herself continuing to have to deflect gender-related accomplishments. On Saturday March 5th, she was quoted saying, “I don’t think about trying to achieve the highest finishing position for a female…I think about trying to win the race.” This is a perfect example how gender still plays such a big role in sports. Why is it that her gender has to be brought up in the reports? She should be recognized as another racer making historic marks and she should be recognized as an athlete, putting her gender aside. It proves we, as a society, still have ways to go in this area. Luckily, Patrick’s achievements this year already are making comments, such as the one stated above, much more credible!
-Justine Segovia
kin 338I.S5
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