24 replies to this topic

[Bench Racer]

Congrataulations Michael, job well done.          

[OrangeCrush86]

When I was going to university I was scraping pennies off the ground to pay for a cup of ramen noodles, not running an entire Majors season of SM.

 

Congrats on the win though.

[Jamz14]

Because it seems that most of you only know Hannah Grisham by her chromosome configuration, I thought Id introduce you to her a bit more objectively.

 

Hannah has been riding motorcycles since she was 3. She began karting at age 6. She has won two national IKF karting championships and now carries an "expert" designation from IKF. She has won the Lake Speed Excellence in Karting award.She has over 800 starts in karting and SM. This year she has been on the SM podium in every race she has finished in socal ( I understand the limitation of this fact, but it does mean she can drive ).

 

It wasn't Mazda that was biased based on her chromosomes. It was people here that only knew that fact, raised it as a POSSIBLE issue, and didn't even bother to look deeper. Hannah has it tougher, not easier than all of you. Not only does she have to beat you on the track, she has to deal with the backwards perceptions male drivers have and fight an industry that thinks that women drivers are somehow inferior to men.

 

The best thing about Hannah though is that she never would write a post like this one. She has been dealing with this since she was 6 and beating boys and their fathers that couldn't accept it, without ever saying a word. Just getting back into the seat and beating them again the following week.

 

In case you are interested, by the end of the day, she was less than second off the pace from Carter and Dirks.

 

As a side note: some seem to have forgotten what they say they know that racing is more than just being fast. Racing is a business. Danny put it best. But it seems that some hear that and then move all the way to the other end of the spectrum and take that as all you need is money and marketability to race. Which is true to a degree....... if all you care about is running at the back. You need both. Why not trust in the people that run this competition that they know this and will select the person they see best to achieve that? I guess you do now that the driver selected is the one you would have selected. Easy to trust after the fact. For the Christians among us, easy to believe in God when you stand before him on judgment day. Have faith in Mazda that they know what they are doing. Not just in this, but in other things like the new dampers. Not saying that the right decisions are always made. I am saying, have faith that these people see and consider variables that we are blind to.

[OrangeCrush86]

I never cared about gender in racing. I had many women rivals way back to go karts. There are some fast drivers that are women at my local regionals.

 

I honestly never understood the bias in motorsport. It's one of the few sports where gender attributes don't have a direct effect.

[Mark]

Congrats to Michael and all the Drivers (yes ... capital D) who made it to the shootout. I was rooting for Hannah as I've had the opportunity to watch her progress over the last few years. It hasn't been easy for her to get to the front as the teen talent out here on the west coast is pretty stout and some teething problems with a new car got in the way at times. This last year it seems things clicked into place for her and James and it really showed in the results. She has a few more swings at the ball and if she and James can keep working together and continue to progress she has a really good shot at this thing in the future.