Dora Bavio in action, in front of a steering wheel. She was the second driver to race in the TC.
– “I am a taxi driver, I drive on the street, how can I not drive here?”
On June 26, 1994, Argentina inaugurated the Women’s cupthe first car competition for women only. The preselection was attended by 200 people, including that jersey and inexperienced girls on top of a racing car and others who had never raced before.
Only three of the participants had the kart base: Roxana Tardito, María de los Ángeles Hanhcik and Marisa Panagópulo, who would be their first champion and then the third and last woman to run in the Turismo Carretera, the most important category in the country.
In the long 85 years since its creation, the TC has only had Delia Borges, Dora Bavio and Panagopulo. They were the only ones who had the capacity and the budget to get into the emblematic car of Argentine motorsport.
In front of them, the women appeared to be a simple decoration located on the driver’s right side, as in 1949, when José Lecont lashed out at his wife. Also at the dawn of the category, Oscar Alfredo Gálvez was accompanied by Elsa Perrone.
But in the 1951 Grand Prix, the one with the highest number of entries in history, a milestone was reached: the presence for the first time of a woman at the wheel. She was Delia Borges in a Chevrolet coupe with the number 204 on either side. The column of “Clarín en la Ruta” by the journalist Diego Lucero showed that there were no differences between her and the others in the competition or away from her, in the stories of the time.
However, no other cases have been presented until two decades have passed and Dora Bavio joined the TC with a Peugeot 404. At the Vuelta de Salto she even obtained the best placement for a woman in the category by finishing eighth. Ford or Chevrolet drivers did not participate in the competition due to a conflict.
In a chronicle dated 21 December 1970, while at the top of the page there was talk of the consecration of Rubén Luis Di Palma in the Formula A Road Touring Grand Prix, Clarione highlighted the abandonment of “Dorita Bavio, the only Argentine presence in this Grand Prix (as a driver, since among the teammates there was also a woman and she was, in fact, the one who sat next to Dora in car no. 19, Susana Renzulli), almost at the gates of Viedma “. However, that text mentioned it “When misfortune rages on the weaker sex, it hurts us all a little more”.
But 25 years later that “weaker sex” took a double page, though with a no less sexist title: “Women with many curves”. There the stories of female pilots were told in the “rise” of female motorsport?for the creation of two exclusive categories: the Ladies Cup since 1994 and the Hyundai Cup since 1995.
Beyond that, there, for example, Claudia Arias (30) said that “without knowing” she ran “three races pregnant with Macario”, her second child. “People have gotten used to seeing us run and there are several women who want to participate,” said model Delfina Frers, who played in competitions as a teenager chasing the green wave of Avenida del Libertador.
Between 50 pilots with which they had the categories, one first for TC 2000 and another for Formula Honda and Super Trucks, most were some pilot’s daughters, sisters, wives or girlfriendslike Alejandra Bessone, wife of Tito, or Andrea Di Palma, daughter of Rubén Luis. “The crazy thing for me is to drive a racing car myself”Andrea, who was born and raised in Arrecifes, the cradle of motorsport and had previously been his father’s partner, was honest.
The last TC pilot, more than 20 years ago
The third driver to debut in the most popular Argentine automotive division was Marisa Panagópulo, after winning the title of champion in the Women’s Cup. He did so in 1996 in a Ford Falcon. In the same year, journalist Miguel Frías interviewed him for Clarín, where he said so “She approached motorsports with her beauty and her desire”.
The first rider of the modern era of Road Tourismstarted in 1971, he arrived at that interview after being locked up by a taxi driver, after the six-time kart champion and the Ladies’ Cup in 1994 attempted to overtake him, in command of his Renault 11.
“Not all men rely on a woman to outdo them. it hurts twice as much. I’m used to; on the slopes some do the same. I understand them: we live in a male chauvinist world. If until one time I was in Egypt and my boyfriend was offered to exchange me for four camels and 200 dollars, “he said later.
Used to a male-dominated environment, Panagópulo, who was also him aviator, paratrooper, diver and swimming teacher, did not want to become an emblem of feminism. According to the journalist, this too “abhors it”.
“I raced against two brothers. The father sent the slower one to lock me up. Fifteen years later I continue to ask them not to hinder me, to consider me a pilot, a word that has no female meaning”, remarked the daughter of a fanatic of the motorsports which, although he prioritized his brother, never stopped him from racing. On the contrary.
When he was nine, his father bought a new rrünimimidget for his brother Juan Carlos, who was also a runner. And he started hitting the walls of New Chicago with the old car. After, Marisa has done ten years of karting.
“Dad,” he later recalled, “told me not to run to start early, to try and start third. It was good advice. Now I feel it is easier for me to overtake cars from behind than to bear the pressure of going forwards. first”. He also recalled an analogy that his brother gave him: “Running is like making love. The beginning is like the previous tension; development is an emotion, full of adrenaline. The lowering of the flag feels like an orgasm “.
“I like men to do everything. Also know how to use needle and thread. When I was in school, I listened to the kids bragging about their courage. And I felt like I was doing more dangerous things. The few who knew what I was doing were attracted to the fact that I was a runner. Until I was 21 when I went into therapy for the first and only time in my life. I was dating a guy who wanted to turn me into a fine, delicate woman, in quotes. Then I realized that everyone should be as he wants, ”she concluded in that interview, 26 years ago, when people started talking about“ stereotypes of beauty ”, in which she did not fit.
An outstanding debt with women: is the female quota a solution?
On 13 February this year, on the occasion of the opening of the Road Tourism Championship, the Rio Negro Government Cup was organized, made up of 18 female participants.
But in the presentation, the marketing appealed to ignorance and talked about it a “historic” race.unaware that in 1994 the Women’s Cup was created, a federal category that had Panagópulo as its first champion.
The initiative had political backing and financial backing from the province of Río Negro, which allowed the rental of a Bora Cup car, which ranged from 300,000 pesos, to not being so expensive, by paying sponsors and advertising money. category for it.
Following the scandal that caused that women’s race – before running in Viedma – journalist Alberto Cantore spoke to María de los Ángeles Hanhcik in La Nación, who asked for a change.
However, he did not mention a tournament made up of women. “Let’s find a way to make the men run as usual, but that there is a quota for the women”, churches. A statement that is rarely talked about in racecourses.
even because international motorsport, instead of including them, also excludes them with categories such as the W Seriesemerged in 2019 and in which women who know they have no chance in Formula 1 are presented.
One thing is enough to understand: in 72 years of history, only five women have managed to start an F1 Grand Prix: the Italians Maria Teresa de Filippis in 1958, Lella Lombardi – the only one to score points, in the 1975 Spanish GP. – and Giovanna Amati in 1992, the British Divina Galica in the 70s and the South African Desiré Wilson in 1980.
sabrina faija
Source: Clarin
