Drivers and Danica, Start Your Engines! The Case of Danica Patrick in NASCAR A dissertation submitted to the College of Communication and Information of Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Norma Jones May, 2016 i Dissertation written by Norma Jones B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995 M.S., University of North Texas, 2011 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2016 Approved by Theresa Walton-Fisette, Ph.D., Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee, Outside Discipline Federico Subervi, Ph.D., Chair Doctoral Dissertation Committee Suzy D’Enbeau, Ph.D., Doctoral Dissertation Committee Marianne Martens, Ph.D., Doctoral Dissertation Committee William Kist, Ph.D., Doctoral Dissertation Committee, Graduate Faculty Representative Accepted by Paul Haridakis, Ph.D., Coordinator of Doctoral Education Amy Reynolds, Ph.D., Dean, College of Communication and Information ii Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................... vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 Background, Justifications, and Contributions ....................................................... 1 Sport and Gender ........................................................................................ 2 Female Athletes ........................................................................................... 5 Sporting Heroines ....................................................................................... 7 Preview of Chapters ................................................................................................ 8 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................. 10 Sport and Gender .................................................................................................. 12 Hegemonic Masculinity ............................................................................ 14 Force and Control ......................................................................... 19 Women and Aggression............................................................................. 21 Patriarchy (with Occupational Achievement) ............................... 23 Occupational Achievement ....................................................................... 25 Female Athletes .................................................................................................... 28 Body .......................................................................................................... 29 Representations ............................................................................. 33 Extreme Underrepresentation ................................................................... 34 Overt Sexualization ................................................................................... 37 Athleticism and Femininity ........................................................... 40 Heroines of Sport .................................................................................................. 49 Role Models .............................................................................................. 53 Transformational ........................................................................... 57 Appropriated and Commodified ................................................... 60 III METHODS ................................................................................................................. 67 Case Studies .......................................................................................................... 67 Theoretical Underpinnings and Perspectives ........................................................ 69 Data Collection ..................................................................................................... 73 Timing ....................................................................................................... 74 Participant Observation at NASCAR Races ............................................. 75 Attending Three NASCAR Races ................................................ 75 About the Races and Tracks ......................................................... 76 Similarities and differences ........................................................... 78 Permission and Entry .................................................................... 79 iii Selection of media sources ........................................................................ 84 Collection of secondary data ......................................................... 85 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 86 Researcher Statement ............................................................................................ 92 IV. ABOUT THE CASE................................................................................................... 97 Background ........................................................................................................... 98 NASCAR Norms ...................................................................................... 102 Female Drivers in NASCAR .............................................................................. 104 Danica Patrick ........................................................................................ 106 2010 and 2011: Split IndyCar and NASCAR Racing Seasons ... 107 2012 to present: Full-time NASCAR racer ................................. 109 Patrick’s Records in NASCAR ................................................... 114 V. FINDINGS, INTERPRETATIONS, AND DISCUSSION ........................................ 117 Sport and Gender ................................................................................................ 117 Hegemonic Masculinity .......................................................................... 118 Force and Control ....................................................................... 119 Patriarchy (with Occupational Achievement) ............................. 127 Female Athletes .................................................................................................. 142 Body ........................................................................................................ 145 Extreme Underrepresentation ..................................................... 146 Overt Sexualization ..................................................................... 148 Athleticism and Femininity ......................................................... 150 Heroines of Sport ................................................................................................ 162 Role Models ............................................................................................ 164 Transformational ......................................................................... 166 Appropriated and Commodified ................................................. 169 VI. CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 177 Summary of Chapters ......................................................................................... 177 Implications......................................................................................................... 179 Hegemonic Masculinity .......................................................................... 179 Body ........................................................................................................ 180 Role Models ............................................................................................ 182 Limitations .......................................................................................................... 183 Institutional Review Board ..................................................................... 184 Data Collection and Analysis ................................................................. 185 Considerations for Future Research .................................................................... 186 Media Sources ......................................................................................... 186 Longer term investigation of Patrick in NASCAR .................................. 187 Women and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity Program ......................... 188 Final Closing Thoughts .......................................................................... 188 iv APPENDICES A: Three Tracks .............................................................................................................. 190 B: Information Sheet ....................................................................................................... 191 C: Hours in the Field ....................................................................................................... 192 D: Interviewees ............................................................................................................... 193 E: Secondary Data Summary .......................................................................................... 195 F: Coding Sample ..........................................................................................................