Risk & The Indianapolis 500 | Lisa says | ENTERTAINMENT
Risk & The Indianapolis 500
June/05/08 08:54 PM Filed in: Lisa says
Last Sunday, IndyCar held its most popular annual
US event, the Indianapolis 500. The 92nd running
of the event, actually.
That got me thinking about risk, and wondering whether risk-taking behavior is culturally determined.
After considering it for most of the week, I vote yes. I think an individual’s preference toward risk is highly influenced by both societal norms about gender and cultural views that either celebrate or discourage risk.
Of the 36 drivers who qualified for the
92nd Indy 500, two are women. Two. One is Danica
Patrick, probably the driver best known by
non-Indy car fans, who one columnist recently
described as a “5ft 2in, 100lb bundle of
marketing gold.” What most people know about her
is that she is attractive and has an excellent
public relations firm. The other woman who
qualified is 27-year-old Sarah Fisher. She’s not
nearly as well known or as well marketed as
Danica Patrick, but she is also young and
attractive and has recently received coverage for
those two qualities. Few non-Indy fans know
anything about the records or racing history of
either woman.
Why don’t more women race Indy cars? My theory on that is pretty straightforward. I believe society discourages risk-taking behavior in women. Obviously, Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick are exceptions, but as a whole, we remain steered toward nurturing and care giving, which tends to avoid putting our lives on the line for thrill. Or even trophies.
The other thing that stands out to me about the Indy 500 is the differential between the number of Brazilians who qualify and the number of Japanese who qualify.
Yep, I know it’s a stereotype, but in general, Brazilians have a reputation for adventure. Brazilian cultures celebrate men who are, well, masculine. They are dangerous daredevils with cocky attitudes and ‘lots of testosterone.
Japanese culture, on the other hand, tends to applaud men who follow rules, accept responsibility, and behave appropriately. There are strict codes of behavior that adults rarely breach. Adult men provide for their families and act honorably.
Back to the Indy 500. There were five Brazilian drivers who qualified for the race. There was one Japanese driver. True, Brazil has a larger population than Japan – Brazil has about 188,078,227 people while Japan has a mere 127,493,611 – but that doesn’t seem to explain the discrepancy.
Brazilians somehow seem designed to race really, really fast cars. Helio Castroneves, currently number two in the Indy Car rankings, has been one of People’s Most Beautiful and is frequently on magazine covers. He looks like the poster boy for racing, for drafting cars at 200 miles per hour, and darting into miniscule gaps between cars.
By the way, there were 11 US drivers in the race. Of those 11, two were from Indiana, two were from Ohio, and three were from California. The other US drivers were from Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Pennsylvania (but that’s the Andretti family, probably the most European Pennsylvanian’s I know about), Connecticut, and Colorado.
I realize this is far from a definitive study, based on purely empirical data and a very small sample. But it’s still interesting to think about. Is love of risk encouraged by society, specific to gender and country of origin? Despite the lack of real evidence, I still think it is. It seems to me some cultures encourage thrill-seeking by the male members of the population more than others.
And hey, if nothing else, writing about Indy car drivers lets us say “Helio Castroneves,” which is pretty fun. Looking at him isn’t so bad, either.
That got me thinking about risk, and wondering whether risk-taking behavior is culturally determined.
After considering it for most of the week, I vote yes. I think an individual’s preference toward risk is highly influenced by both societal norms about gender and cultural views that either celebrate or discourage risk.
Why don’t more women race Indy cars? My theory on that is pretty straightforward. I believe society discourages risk-taking behavior in women. Obviously, Sarah Fisher and Danica Patrick are exceptions, but as a whole, we remain steered toward nurturing and care giving, which tends to avoid putting our lives on the line for thrill. Or even trophies.
The other thing that stands out to me about the Indy 500 is the differential between the number of Brazilians who qualify and the number of Japanese who qualify.
Yep, I know it’s a stereotype, but in general, Brazilians have a reputation for adventure. Brazilian cultures celebrate men who are, well, masculine. They are dangerous daredevils with cocky attitudes and ‘lots of testosterone.
Japanese culture, on the other hand, tends to applaud men who follow rules, accept responsibility, and behave appropriately. There are strict codes of behavior that adults rarely breach. Adult men provide for their families and act honorably.
Back to the Indy 500. There were five Brazilian drivers who qualified for the race. There was one Japanese driver. True, Brazil has a larger population than Japan – Brazil has about 188,078,227 people while Japan has a mere 127,493,611 – but that doesn’t seem to explain the discrepancy.
Brazilians somehow seem designed to race really, really fast cars. Helio Castroneves, currently number two in the Indy Car rankings, has been one of People’s Most Beautiful and is frequently on magazine covers. He looks like the poster boy for racing, for drafting cars at 200 miles per hour, and darting into miniscule gaps between cars.
By the way, there were 11 US drivers in the race. Of those 11, two were from Indiana, two were from Ohio, and three were from California. The other US drivers were from Texas, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Pennsylvania (but that’s the Andretti family, probably the most European Pennsylvanian’s I know about), Connecticut, and Colorado.
I realize this is far from a definitive study, based on purely empirical data and a very small sample. But it’s still interesting to think about. Is love of risk encouraged by society, specific to gender and country of origin? Despite the lack of real evidence, I still think it is. It seems to me some cultures encourage thrill-seeking by the male members of the population more than others.
And hey, if nothing else, writing about Indy car drivers lets us say “Helio Castroneves,” which is pretty fun. Looking at him isn’t so bad, either.
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