To the Editor:
My name is Audrey Comparetta. I am 12 years old and I race slingshots. A slingshot is a type of racecar. 

I have been racing for about four years regionally. I have won championships. Early in my racing career, there was only one other female in the league at the time. Sadly, she decided to quit racing. She quit because she was tired of the sexism.

I am currently one of the only two females in the league.  

It has not been easy to be a girl in a sport dominated by males.

Female drivers experience massive amounts of sexism at every level of racing. Those experiences are largely what keeps them from participating in the sport. This is wrong and needs to change!

Many people, including parents and league officials, think females shouldn’t be on the race track. I know this because of the way I have been treated.

I have heard parents of other racers say to officials, “Get that girl off the track!”

They think females should not be racing against males. Females have the same amount of skill a male has.

I have won races! Gender does not matter. When I hear comments like that it hurts, but it also drives me to prove them wrong.

It feels like the boys team up on me. They are always singling me out, trying to get me to spin off the track or push me to the back.

They specifically target me because I’m a girl. I feel that I have a target put on me. It is an extra obstacle that other male drivers do not have to overcome.

The gender that you are shouldn’t stop what sport you do. It shouldn’t matter.

For example, nothing stops Hallie Deegan racing, and winning, against men. She is the youngest  NASCAR driver at 22 years of age and has won three races and 23 top-10 events.

Nothing stops her from racing. She is an inspiration to me! To fight! To keep competing in a male-dominated sport.   

Nothing is going to stop me. I just wish I didn’t have to face so much sexism.

I am writing this letter to ask everyone who is involved in motor sports, at every level, to be more accepting, and welcoming, to females participating. It is hard enough to be a minority in a male-dominated sport. I should not have to face more obstacles because of my gender.

I just want to be treated equally.

Audrey Comperetta

Guilderland

Editor’s note: Audrey Comperetta is a sixth-grader at Farnsworth Middle School, and a student of Robert Flynn whose class is writing opinion pieces.