Can You Tell the Difference?

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone can't. While discussing Danica Patrick (below) with reporters before the U.S. Grand Prix, the 74-year-old Englishman said, "Women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances." The next day, he called Patrick, ostensibly to congratulate her on her finish in the Indy 500, and wound up repeating the remark. "I can't believe he would say that to me," Patrick said. Based on his track record, it's believable. Last year he told a female writer that not only were women like appliances, but also "they shouldn't be allowed out. You don't take the washing machine out of the house, do you?" And in 2000 he told Autosport magazine that for a woman to compete in F/1, "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."

COLOR PHOTO

COLOR PHOTO

SIMON BRUTY (PATRICK)