Posted 6/22/2005 05:38:00 PM by Douglas

I don't want to give the impression that this is turning into a Formula 1 blog, but after the events at Indy this weekend, it's looking more and more like I'm never going to see any F1 in America. At the risk of sounding like rugby-playing feminist, the F1 CEO put his foot so far up his mouth, he could open a shoe store in his ass:

It seemed the Formula One president and CEO had seen the error of his words about women racing with men when he called Danica Patrick over the weekend, presumably to apologize.

Asked about Patrick's success, Ecclestone acknowledged her strong finish, but then made an assessment about women racing with men that caused a stir, saying, "You know I've got one of those wonderful ideas ... women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances."

He's already messed up on rule numero uno when it comes to discriminating slurs: Make 'em funny. If you can at least get the person you're making fun of to chuckle a bit because of your searing wit, you don't come across as a total tool. But if that fails (and it generally does), you can always pull out all the stops and turn your mildly misogynistic comment into something that will not only offend people of the opposite sex, but different religions and races as well:

The 74-year-old told Autosport racing magazine in Feb. 2000 that women would never excel in Forumla One. He added that if a woman did make it, "she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. ... What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish."

Score one for Bernie. Making fun of women, Jews, Blacks, Muslims and Hispanics in one sentence is no easy task. Here's something to shoot for, dude: Handicapped midgets.