Danica Patrick

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Danica Patrick

I think NASCAR will race in the rain on a road course. They say that they cant race in the rain because the cars are too heavy and would require super soft tires that wont last 10 laps.<br /><br />Restrictor plates keep the speeds down, which keeps the deaths down. Too many deaths is not good PR and may get the government looking at you. I dont like the plates either, but they are probably necessary.<br /><br />Ken

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Danica Patrick

Originally posted by KaGee:<br />

Originally posted by KenImpZoom:<br /> I was gonna post something like "only a woman would crash under a yellow flag condition, and take out the man behind her" but that wouldnt be too PC. <br />Ken

Ha ha! <br /><br />In reality, watching the replay she was victim of games being played ahead of her. She got checked-up. Rookie error for not being aware of the possibility, mental error also on her team for not coaching her of the trick.<br /><br />

I forgot to add that she took out the man behind her, but managed to continue racing. The woman always causes the wreck, but never is involved. She must have been checking her make up in the mirror.<br /><br />I AM ONLY KIDDING!!!!!<br /><br />I remember about 10 yrs ago the pole sitter (a MAN) wrecked on the warmup laps behind the pace car. Bet he felt stupid.<br /><br />Ken

 

[LubeDude]

Re: Danica Patrick

What ever happened to, If you cause a crash, you go to the end of the pack??? She took out two good drivers when she screwed up.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Danica Patrick

LubeDude, that is the way it is here at the local dirt track.<br /><br />Ken

 

[roscoe]

Re: Danica Patrick

She did go to the back, which happened to be 16th, then moved back to the front.<br /><br />She is the real deal.<br />Her heart has been in open wheel since she started.<br />Rahal has done a great job of training her for the past 5 years and she has been a great student.<br /><br />And she is from Roscoe IL.<br /><br /><br />Nascar/restrictor . They need to take the aero out of the cars. How? Remove the front air dams, require 10" of clearance below the valance, all the way back to the leading edge of the tire. This will keep the aero to a minimum and take away lots of front downforce, and slow down the cars. Make them more like a car they raced in the 80's.<br /><br />I know, someone else said it on tv yesterday, but I've been saying it for 5 years.<br /><br />Also, make the front ende very flimsy, out of 18 gauge supports instead of 1" square tube. If you bash the back of someones car, you will destroy the front of your own car.

 

[JB]

Re: Danica Patrick

This girl can drive a racecar. Only a near empty fuel tank that required her to reduce power to last 'til the checkered flag kept her from winning the race.<br /><br />I can see her in F1, and my bet is that the Red Bull team will be the first to give her a try. They are pretty strong on finding new talent.<br /><br />F1 is several cuts harder than IRL, and she would probably have to spend a few years in smaller formulae to gain experience on road tracks. <br /><br />Just the fact that she weighs only 100lb. and still has the strength and stamina to drive a racecar for 3 hours at a time makes her very attractive.

 

[gaugeguy]

Re: Danica Patrick

Originally posted by JB:<br /> Just the fact that she weighs only 100lb. and still has the strength and stamina to drive a racecar for 3 hours at a time makes her very attractive.

I heard Robbie Gordon complaining that because she only weighs 100 pounds gives her an unfair advantage over the male drivers...he's a whiner.<br /><br />She is going to give the sport a much needed shot in the arm. As far as I was concerned it was the Danica 500, and her strength and stamina aren't the only attractive thing about that little package.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Danica Patrick

Roscoe, she went to the back cause she had to pit. Maybe there is that rule in Indy, but no one ever mentioned it.<br /><br />JB, F1 is a huge leap from Indy. I dont think anyone has moved from Indy to F1 and been succesful, but there is always a first.<br /><br />Ken

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Danica Patrick

Ken, did Mario Andretti go from Indy cars to F1, or was that the other way around?<br />What about Nigell Mansell (spelling?)? <br />I get confused about whether they went to F1 first or after Indy cars.<br />As far as the weight issue, don't the cars have to meet a minimum weight, including the driver?? I don't think it's an issue.<br />When she pulled out & passed Dan Wheldon on that last restart, and held the lead, I was convinced that she deserved to lead the race, and maybe even win it.

 

[kenimpzoom]

Re: Danica Patrick

Dont know about Mario, but Micheal Andretti went from Indy to F1 and failed miserably.<br /><br />Mansell went from F1 to Indy.<br /><br />Ken

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Danica Patrick

I realize it's a different era, but I found this on Mario Andretti:<br /><br /> http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/andretti_mario.html <br /><br />So he was successful in indy cars then won F1, then was successful in indy cars again! (oh and won the Daytona 500 for good measure!)

 

[SoulWinner]

Re: Danica Patrick

I wonder if we are distant relatives???

 

[JB]

Re: Danica Patrick

Several F1 drivers have won Indy. I believe that the last one was Graham Hill. Jim Clark won it and Dan Gurney finished 2nd several times.<br /><br />Mario had the best F1 career of all former Indy drivers, but Juan Pablo Montoya, former Indy star has done very well in F1 driving for BMW and Mercedes. Not winning often is not failure in the Michael Schumacher era.<br /><br />I think the Unser brothers would have been relatively successful in F1. AJ, too. Offroad, sportscars, karts and rallye competition is better prep for F1 than round and oval track racing.

 

[K Hultgre]

Re: Danica Patrick

She could drive my car anytime.<br /><br /> web page

 

[SoulWinner]

Re: Danica Patrick

Kevin, that picture is real shame. Why does she need to do that?

 

[JB]

Re: Danica Patrick

Racecar drivers think they need to do publicity junk to become icons these days, SW.<br /><br />It is a tacky picture, utterly lacking in class, and it will come back to haunt her.<br /><br />Glad it wasn't DW in that pic, though.

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Danica Patrick

She did it as a favor to me....

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Danica Patrick

I was wrong about the weight of the car including the driver. IRL has missed the boat on that one, they don't include fuel or driver in the minimum weight.<br />So Robby Gordon was right, she had an advantage, her car weighed less on the track, by however much less she weighed than the other driver(s).

 

[DJ]

Re: Danica Patrick

Yall must not have been watching the NASCAR race this sunday, there was plenty of non-PC stuff going on.<br /><br />Ken<br />

Oh, I watched it all right. Twenty something caution flags. Those guys throw a caution flag when someones engine hiccups. Thank god they're not racing outboards. Then, you get what seems a thousand NASCAR "officials" walking around the track. Yeh, I know, they're looking for debris.<br /><br />I just think it's too regulated.<br /><br />

So Robby Gordon was right, she had an advantage, her car weighed less on the track, by however much less she weighed than the other driver(s). <br />

I consider that to be "strategy". Have you ever seen a 300 pound jockey?

 

[PW2]

Re: Danica Patrick

All the movement between "Indy Cars" and F1 were when the CART series was still Called "Indy Cars".<br /><br />I was sorry to see the major teams, and Engine manufacturers finally give up and go to IRL.<br /><br />At least IRL finally put in a road course on their schedule this year. The CART series is just a shell of its former self now, but it still is good racing...The IRL has been considered a second class series up to now, save for Indy--It's too bad they could not have come together somehow---<br /><br />And at least Michael and Ferrari is no longer winning all the F1 races!