F1’s first black driver Lewis Hamilton is on fire baby! He just picked up his second straight win holding off all challengers to win the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway! I don’t really follow Formula One racing at all, but if this guy keeps it up, I may just have to make some room in my schedule for it. Hamilton is already being referred to as the Tiger Woods of Racing, which I guess is okay. But I just wonder if he would have gotten the chance to race at such a high level if he’d been born black in the US rather than the UK. No matter, I’ll be keeping an eye on him!
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4 replies on “Lewis Hamilton Is On Fire!”
This remark made me curious:
“I just wonder if he would have gotten the chance to race at such a high level if he’d been born black in the US rather than the UK.”
Do you think there are greater barriers to black people competing in motor sport in America? I’m British so I don’t know at all, but I’ve seen lots of black Americans competing in other American sports.
I was thinking of American motor sports in particular, primarily NASCAR, the most popular motor sport in the US. NASCAR has its roots in the deep South which has a long history of racial discrimination against African Americans. NASCAR is working to make the sport more attractive to women and minorities, for which I salute them. But it will take some time for the culture surrounding the sport to catch up. So yes, right now I think there are greater barriers to blacks entering American motor sports relative to other American sports.
There was a piece on Speed’s site about this very topic the other day – criticising CART (as it was) for not getting behind Willy T. Ribbs. Of course, he had an F1 test back in the eighties, but it came to naught.
[…] Lewis Hamilton is on fire! – Would Lewis Hamilton have got the same breaks in motor racing had he been an American? This writer isn’t sure. […]