|
 |
|
 |
| Features |
| EKN Interview Series: Juliana Chiovitti |
| Article by: - by Jeffrey Franz |
 | | Juliana Chiovitti |
With the increasing frequency of women's participation in professional sports, it rather goes unnoticed that there seems to be just one form of competition in which women do battle with men on a head-to-head basis.
Whereas in tennis, golf, track and field, soccer, basketball, cycling, and virtually every popular sport, men and women are separated by gender. There is women's tennis, and men's tennis. Men's golf, women's golf. The WBA, and the NBA. And so on.
There is one athletic arena that comes to mind where the exact same yardstick is applied to both sexes.
That arena, of course, is motorsport.
There will be those that argue, with some merit, that Juliana Chiovitti deserves no more media attention than any male driver with a similar resume. One must wonder if those same folks would admit that, like any female athlete, Chiovitti's road to success will be undeniably that much harder, as there are skeptics aplenty who feel that a woman can’t make the grade in what has long been considered a man’s sport. For the very few doors that are opened for Juliana specifically because of her gender, onlookers would do well to remember the vast multitude of doors that will be closed.
Shrewd observers might offer that if journalists, even karting journalists, would stop harping on Juliana's status as a young woman, then maybe there wouldn't be a gender issue at all. A fair point, perhaps. Ultimately, it will be the reader who shall decide if Juliana Chiovitti, the Racer, has earned this focus.
Like most aspiring racers, Chiovitti grew up in a household where racing was a way of life. Born in Canada, a young Juliana and her family moved to Italy, yet the Chiovittis soon returned to Ontario while she was still quite young. After settling in Sutton, Juliana followed the time-honored tradition of doing everything her older brothers did. Once, when her siblings Luke and Enzo chose to shave their heads, she promptly went out and followed suit.
The tendency to trace her brothers' footsteps permeated most aspects of her life, and it was inevitable that a five year old Juliana took an interest in racing. Ironically but not altogether surprisingly, it was her father, Enzo, who was the first man that needed to be persuaded that it was acceptable for her to race. Lynda, the matriarch of the family, wisely chose to intervene at that point.
"I was about five when I started racing," Chiovitti reminisces. "My dad had raced, and he had passed it along to my brothers. When I wanted to do it, he resisted the idea because I was a girl, so it was my mom who really pushed for it. She maintained that since my brothers were racing, then why not me? As far as I was concerned, I simply wanted to be into racing because that's what my brothers were doing."
To be certain, the nineteen year old Juliana is most definitely into racing. Her record in Canadian karting is impressive, as her achievements include seven Grand National titles from the Ontario Kart Racing Association, three World Karting Association Grand National crowns, one WKA National championship, and was last year's SKUSA Atlantic Zone ProMoto Tour Formula S2 champion. She also finished second in the S2 race at the Palace Station SuperNationals.
With that list of achievements, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that Chiovitti only has about fifteen shifter kart races to her credit, yet her strong presence on last year's PMT served notice that she was fully capable of racing against the nation's top gear changers.
Her biggest opportunity to prove her worth at the highest level came at last November's CART "Stars of Tomorrow" event in Las Vegas. Nearly sixty karts showed up to qualify for the 125cc Gearbox headliner, and Chiovitti qualified a superb fifth. Yet her hopes of making a similar impact in the race were ruined by a chain that snapped as she dropped the clutch for the green flag.
Still, Juliana had embraced the opportunity to compete against the top shifter pilots.
"I always knew I could race against those guys, but I suspect I was in S2 last year because that was my first season in shifters," explains Chiovitti. "But the reason I really want to do some SuperPro events is because there were certain drivers who, when we were looking at the 'Stars' qualifying times, couldn't believe I had qualified ahead of them. 'I can't believe a girl qualified ahead of me' was what one guy said. I could tell he was mad even though he was trying to make a joke out of it. So I want to race SuperPro, I want to race against those guys."
Therein lies the problem with trying to ignore the gender issue, when Chiovitti herself admits that it sometimes serves as a motivation to succeed. Perhaps that lends credence to the notion that, broadly and generally speaking, neither women or men are completely prepared to look at a grid of karts through gender-blind glasses.
Yet it is extremely important to note that such matters are not the primary factor that pushes Juliana to excel. She has been in racing long enough, and achieved enough success, that humbling other karters (most of them male) has become status quo. She measures herself not against male drivers per se, but against the best drivers, period.
With that in mind, one would suspect that Chiovitti has tired of being asked what it's like to be a woman in a male-dominated sport. Such suspicions are correct.
"Yes, that one is getting kind of old. The only thing that I really don't appreciate is when people ask me 'why should we sponsor you, you're a girl, you're just going to go out, fall in love, get married and get pregnant, and that will be the end of your racing career.' I am sick of that."
"The way I look at it, I am nineteen years old, maybe back in the old days I would have been married by now, but I don't even have a boyfriend. If I did, I still don't believe in having him be at the race track. I never have. You already have enough pressure from your teammates, from yourself, and from the people who've helped you get there. Especially at a place like Barrie, where so many people who hadn't seen me race before, finally had a chance to come out and watch."
The reference to last year's race at Barrie, Ontario, was arguably Chiovitti's finest hour. In front of a home crowd, she drove her TM-powered Birel to the fastest lap of the race en route to her second consecutive ProMoto victory, making a pass for the lead just laps from the checkered. That win secured the Atlantic Zone Formula S2 championship, a considerable achievement for a PMT rookie.
It is a testament to her sheer will and sizeable talent that pushes her to that level of success, along with a support network that includes close friends, loyal sponsors, and exceptionally close ties to her family. That devotion is a vitally important aspect of Juliana's life, as might be expected from a clan with deep Italian heritage.
"I look up to my parents, and I wouldn't do anything to disrespect them," Juliana passionately states. "That may not be how most people my age feel, but I'm just not into that sort of behavior, especially when your family has done so much to get you where you are. I represent the family whenever I leave the house, and that loyalty is important to me."
Chiovitti's plans for 2001 remain a bit uncertain at this time. While she clearly relishes the chance to drive in SKUSA's SuperPro division, her recent trip to Florida to compete in the Skip Barber-CART Karting Scholarship runoffs left her hungry to race formula cars.
"I really need more seat time," Chiovitti readily admits. "I haven't been doing enough driving in that type of car. But it's something that I will get more of, since that is the type of racing that I eventually want to do."
Talk of the future, and her eventual place in the world of motorsports, brings up that ugly question of whether she has contemplated a career outside of the cockpit. The response comes immediately, with complete honesty and candor.
"I don't want to think about that, because I don't want to give up my dream. It scares me to think I may not get there. My only fear in life is failure, and not trying hard enough for my goals."
Yet as quickly as that moment of admission arrives, it departs and is replaced by a tone of voice resplendent in its hard-edged, gritty determination.
"Anytime someone tries to hold me back, I'm going to be pushing that much harder. I am not going to give up, I am going to succeed, and I am convinced that if I work my butt off, then I will get there."
Such are the words, and attitudes, of the Racer. |
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
