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Driving into history?

Mar 18, 2006 Brainwaves

Last night during NASCAR NEXTEL Cup qualifying for the Golden Corral 500, Bill Lester qualified his #23 Dodge in 19th position, becoming the first black driver to qualify for a NEXTEL Cup race in 20 years.

I look forward to a time when this isn’t such a big deal — when Bill and others will make headlines for winning races, and just being there, not for being black.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 18th, 2006 at 6:17 PM and is filed under Brainwaves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
  • Well now I'm kicking it MORE. S/F/O :-D
  • You've been kicking my butt. You and Jeff have been ahead of me since Daytona. It was Jeff you were tied with after Vegas.

    -- Pauley
  • Aaaand I am now officially kicking your butt in our fantasy league, ke ke ke. ^_^
  • They're so poor. And so black.
  • True, but unfortunately (and it is unfortunate -- I like Champ Car, too), Champ Car isn't as high-profile in the United States as NASCAR, and it isn't as in-the-forefront when Average Joe American thinks of auto racing.

    I've read about Catherine Legge, and look forward to hearing about how she does this year. With already having a history of winning in races she's entered, I think she's gonna do reeeeally well. By the same token, I also hope to hear good things from Erin Crocker, who Ray Evernham has running in the Craftsman Truck Series this year, and have read that, after seemingly being quietly abandoned by the IRL, Sarah Fisher may be attempting the 500 again this year.

    -- Pauley
  • Champ Car has Black drivers every now and again and it's not so big a deal. Usually with open-wheel, it's women that are a big deal. We've got one this year who won several races in her prior series (Atlantics), which none of the women coming up through the ranks has done yet. Unlike in the IRL (and presumably NASCAR), there's no big She-Can't-Win-Cos-She's-A-Woman mentality so I think our Catherine Legge will do pretty well this year and hopefully win a race or two. Furthermore, having seen fiasco that was the "Danica 500" last year, I suspect Champ Car will keep Catherine at a much lower profile than that of Danica Patrick.
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