If you can drive…

I’m not a fan of car racing.  I grew up with plenty of it on the television, though.  My father was a car person…the type who unwinds on the weekend by tinkering with a car for hours.  He used to watch the big races…and it felt like they took forever, eating into prime mindless weekend television in my opinion.

I’ll also confess that I don’t know a lot about Danica Patrick…other than the fact that she drives fast, makes really bad Go Daddy ads, and is one of the few women racing cars for a living.

Anyhoo, you don’t have to be a fan of car racing or Danica Patrick to appreciate the history made over the weekend at Daytona.

Danica Patrick made history by becoming the first woman to win the pole position at Daytona.  She finished 8^th in the race.

Her 2013 Daytona performance illustrates a key progressive point – people deserve the opportunity to demonstrate their ability and go for the big win.

The You Can Play project ice hockey applies this logic to address homophobia in sport - if you can play, you can play. 

I like to expand it and think it fits rather nicely to Ms. Patrick’s historic moment.

Cause…if you can drive, you can drive.

The fight isn’t for a guaranteed win or an unfair advantage.

The fight is for a chance to race for the pole position and then the opportunity to start where you earned the right to start.

If you want to…you should have the opportunity to try.

If you can, you can.

I congratulate Ms. Patrick on a race well driven.

She could.

And she did.