Why are there not more females in Motorsports?

The excitement of motorsports for years has drawn in audiences and racers themselves to take part in the different types of motorsports. However, as a racer myself, I found that at the track it is almost impossible to find any other female racers.

Racing appears to be a more male dominant sport, but it should not come down to gender, what it really should come down to is how well you can drive. From amatuer to professional racing, the lack of women in the sport became more common than not. The only female racer most people can think of is Danica Patrick, a NASCAR driver, but what about Moto3’s Maria Herrera? Or Formula 1’s Lella Lombardi?

The last race I took part in at Mid Ohio in June of 2016 in the L0206 Karting class, I was one of three females out of all of the other racing classes, which altogether had about 150 people on the roster. At first, I did not take into consideration that being female would have any significance, but it was not until I interacted with some of the officials and other racers that I realized I could not have been more wrong.

On the grid, the atmosphere was not what I expected it to be. While we lined up for the race, I sat near my kart putting my gloves on when a guy next to me pushed his kart into the grid spot opposite of mine. He then proceeded to say things like, “Listen, you’re gonna get freight trained in this race” and “Do you really think you should be in a men’s class?”

“A men’s class”? Right. So if a girl could not make it in this class, then why was I able to pass you so quickly on the back straight-away?

The way women are approached, at least from my experience, at the race tracks seems as though they are seen as simply not having the same, or better, driving skills than men. The same stereotype of only men can work on cars is the same in racing, that women cannot work on their own racing machines, let alone drive them.

In my opinion, it should be the driving that should do the talking. On the track, we all have helmets on, so who could even tell who’s a female and who’s not? When our helmets are on, gender should not matter, lap times and race positions can speak for themselves.

Not just in racing, but other motorsports like freestyle motocross, there are only a handful of women that take part in shows and competitions. The larger shows like the Red Bull X-Fighters are all male dominant, the only show including a female FMX rider, Jolene Van Vugt, is the Nitro Circus.

Motocross, freestyle motocross, motoGP, karting, f1, Indycar and all other motorsports are all the same in that the amount of female competitors is severely limited. It all comes down to how they are perceived by other competitors, but as I said before, who can even tell who’s female while everyone is wearing a helmet? This is what I believe is causing women to stray from motorsports, but wouldn’t it be nice to prove everyone wrong?

It all narrows down to the old saying that girls can do anything that guys can. If anything, it should be exciting to have more female competitors to add diversity to the sport and not just considered an easy pass on the track. Equality for genders should be the same on and off track.

As racers and motorsport competitors, we’re all the same in that we have a passion for the raw drive, passion and search for adrenaline. We all are chasing the checkered flag and the top position, so what does it matter if you’re male or female?