An interesting, somewhat in-depth opinion on Elena Myers from an Ohio motor sports journalist.
Rob McCurdy: We’ll wait and see with latest prodigy
This piece conflicts me. At first read, I’m excited to hear fun tidbits about everyone’s favorite girl racer like her response to how she enjoys the media attention, “‘What girl doesn’t?’ she joked.” And I find myself agreeing with Mr. McCurdy’s suggestion to “wait and see” as to her greatness as a rider and her place in motorcycle racing relative to Danica’s brightly flaming star in the car racing world.
“But…but. She’s a girl,” is my final response to Rob. “You don’t understand!”
Understand what? That motorcycle racing is hard. And aggressive. And physical. Three things that nature didn’t particularly intend for our childbearing hips, hips that many of us would rather have square to the corner as we go in deep on the brakes. And for a girl to rise to the level of skill she’s attained thus far in her young life is nothing short of amazing.
Amazing, also, is a set of parents who encourage, tempered with what seems like a healthy dose of common sense, their daughter to believe in a dream that will very likely cause great physical injury to her at one or more points in her life. In an era where helicopter parents do double time protecting their children from every potential threat in the universe, Mr. & Mrs. Myers cheer on the sidelines as their daughter races a motorcycle. The number of parents who would tolerate this for a child of any gender is small, and it’s my personal opinion that it is still deeply ingrained in nearly every human to protect females from harm and reward males for accomplishing dangerous and physical feats.
Part of me commends Mr. McCurdy for ignoring gender and evaluating her entirely on her riding potential, comparing her possibilities to greats like Ben and Nicky. Kind of like when my motorcycle stud of a fiance takes me up the steepest trails my first time dirt biking, thinking that I can just “figure it out” because I’m obviously a bad ass for road racing (that little adventure ended in tears).
There is still, however, a part of me that shrieks with childlike glee when I see a “girl on a motorcycle! Girl on a motorcycle!” It’s just so uncommon. Unexpected. And when women do the uncommon and unexpected, I feel they are absolutely due a little extra credit.
Road racing, in particular contrast to car racing, is highly physical. I’m not saying cars are not, but to me it feels like the difference between football and ping pong. Both require skill, finesse and precision, but…they’re just not the same. And if I’m wrong, fine, but somebody better help me change my bike set-up because it is work to run that CBR600RR around Thunderhill in under two minutes. And when you attempt a bold move on a bike, one that could end in a crash, the likelihood of grave injury is high; not nearly as much with cars. Just getting over that potential for danger requires a different type of brain chemistry.
I will “wait and see,” as Rob suggests, but but I’m waiting to see if it really is a level playing field for men and women. My belief at this moment is that it is not, but I’d be absolutely thrilled if Miss Myers could prove me wrong.
