I don't know how good his grandson is, but it's probably more a case of what a stubborn imbecile AJ is. The same qualities that made him such a great driver make him a really terrible owner. AJ doesn't allow "sissy ****" like computers and engineers...you just gotta grab the car by the neck. With a philosophy like that it's not surprise his cars are terrible. Anyway, like Gilles mentioned Danica is the best thing that happened to IRL since forever. All the extra viewers/money/etc she will bring into IRL will create more opportunities for other drivers and owners. I don't care if some egos get hurt. Anyway, wish she was driving in CART because I cannot stand ovals. The Indy 500 is slightly tolerable.
Danica has received the Autoextremist.com vote. Check it out: http://autoextremist.com/page3.shtml#fumes
Interesting thread - When all is said and done, IRL, and especially the 500, is the ultimately meritocracy. The best team on a given day wins. I emphasize 'team'. I believe her team was as important to her performance as any other factor. If the other teams believe that her weight is an advantage, then why have they not sought lightweight drivers, or will they in the future? The rules are consistent. Use them to your advantage. Congratulations, Rahal, on the proper choice of crew and driver and car. Jim S.
I know this is gonna start some trouble but i'll say it anyway. If anyone other than Danica had the same race at Indy they would have gotten accused of blowing it. To make as many mistakes as she did and still finish 4th only leads me to believe that she must have had the fastest car but didn't put it to good use. She did a good job no doubt about that, but frankly she was only able to get back to the front by a huge gamble on Rahal's part, not her driving. As fast as her car was she should have won by a mile. I think not only Dan Wheldon's but Byran Herta's and Vitor Meira's runs were far more impressive than Danica's. She did well, but she's not an Indy winner yet.
No different than MS driving from the back to the front in a race like say Spain 2005. The car has a bit to do with it, but without a good driver a car is only so good. I am sure if I was driving that car I would be sitting dead last. Most of the male drivers in IRL are around 150 lbs and lighter. So the weight isn't that much of an advantage. I strongly believe in giving credit where credit is due.
Fine, all credit to Danica. She made some rookie mistakes, but she's a rookie, what the heck. Of more interest to me is the argument that women have not been able to compete successfully [edit - against men] at the top level of any other major US sport. Does the fact that a woman can perform so well in the IRL mean that racing is less of a sport, or requires less athleticism, than, say, golf?
Some sports would require a segregation of the sexes. Racing is one those sports where you can be male/female/short/tall/etc and still do well as long as you have the right skillset.
This is true on road courses where the driver is the most important thing and you can drive around a bad car, on an oval this is not the case. The set up of the car is the most important thing and if you get that right the driving part of it is actually not that difficult relatively speaking. I gave her credit where it was due but the truth is with another car she would not have done as well. The weight issue should not be downplayed either i'm sure it did have something to do with it. Don't get me wrong i think Danica is a good driver but her run at indy was solid but she really should have won the race with the car she had.
Name 1 race that she has won since she has been out of karts. She is a good driver, not a great driver. I followed her in Atlantics pretty closely. She shows flashes of brilliance, but also makes mistakes. Yes, she finished 4th. She also damn near threw the race away. Was it her "brilliance" that took out 2 other cars when she spun under yellow? If any other rookie had done that everyone would have been calling for his head.
My point exactly. She's good, i give her credit for even making it there but the fact is she hasn't won a damn race yet
People have brain farts... MS had one last year at Monaco. He threw the race away when leading under caution. Yet he is a seasoned F1 driver with multiple world championships under his belt. Does that make me doubt MS' skills? No because I realize we as humans are prone to mistakes. Yes you need clincal perfection in racing, but in oval racing even clinical perfection can get you nowhere. All it would take is a caution to come out when you are in the pits during a green flag. Now luck did play a part at Indy, now if she keeps botching up race weekend after race weekend then yes I might have to question her ability.
Yes I agree, people do have brain farts, but she had more than one. I don't doubt her ability, but i do take exception when people start calling it such a great run when in all fairness it was not. She made many mistakes and was saved by the fact that she had a good car and team. All i'm saying was if any other driver had done this it would have been called a dissapointing run. That's where the difference is.
True, but we also need to keep in mind that she's a rookie, and a true rookie, at that. Not a rookie like Bourdais, or even Graham Hill when he won. So, yeah she made some goofs. What impressed me was the way she talked about them. Also, her mistakes were made in non-racing situations--pit stall, yellow flag--while her racing seemed sharp. That wheel rub with Matsuura wasn't her fault, and she held on brilliantly.
Here is thing, if it was Bourdais, Kanaan or even Dario driving Danica's car they would of won by far. Don't get me wrong Danica is a pretty good driver, but not the same caliber as Bourdais or Kanaan. I would put her in the same class as Jordain Jr. or Bryan Herta. They are good drivers but not exceptional. If you look at Danica's track record, especially in Atlantics, she was nothing special. Her best was second place and that was her second season when the field was mediocore. She had one of the best cars in the series and still could not get the job done. As a female driver she is probably the best, but otherwise just a decent driver. Team Rahal is one of the best teams out there, she should have dominated in Atlantics.
Exactly the point, I think the fact that she is 1. Female 2. Hot, makes her get more credit than what is due. There would be no big deal about her run if she were male, quite the opposite, it would have been critized if that was the case. Indy rookie or not she should have won by a mile. As far as her racing skills being sharp, spinning and taking out two cars on cold tires on a restart is not too sharp in my book.
Your are correct. If she was a male, it would have been no big deal for her to lead the race. Yes, she would have been criticized for the mistakes she made. In addition to my earlier post, you also need to take into considertion that Team Rahal are going support her a little more than Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira. Right now the IRL needs something to boost there viewership and Danica's the answer. Also Bobby Rahal some kind of special relationship with Danica, kind like Mika and Ron Dennis. Rahal has supported her from the very beginning of her career. One of my friends is Tom Milner(Owner/Manager of PTGracing). He tested Danica Patrick and Patrick Long. I do not know if some of you know Patrick Long, but now he drives in the ALMS and Grandam Cup series with the Porsche team. Patrick was one of those amazing talents in karting. Anyways, he tested both of them the same day and Bill Auberlen was there to help them out. At the end of the test, Patrick Long was a full second quicker than Danica and Bill Auberlen was another second quicker than Patrick Long. Patrick at that time just came out of karting and Danica just came back from Europe contesting the Formula Ford Festival where she finished second. Tom expected a little more from her because of her experience.
How important is the weight issue? Don't all of the cars have minimum weights or do the cars all run at different weights based on body weight of the driver? In F1 the cars all have to be under a certain weight with driver included - I would think that it is like this in IRL as well. This would make her only advantage be additional ability to ballast in places that would help her car, rather than having the weight on her body like the other drivers.
I say put her in Mark Martin's Viagra sponsored car. It would be fitting as she has the same effect on men as the sponsor.
It's actually quiet important, i'd say running and average of 50lbs lighter than everone else is a somewhat unfair advantage. In IRL the cars are weighed without the drivers. That rules should be changed.
Having met both Danica and Milka there are obvious compairisons. Milka has the advantage of being able to fall back on her impressive educational credentials and her cute South American looks havent hurt her climb up the ranks of sports car racing. While Danica has been under the wing of Bobby Rahal, Milka was tutored by long time sports car veteran Vic Elford but at the end of the day, its obvious shes not going to go any higher than she is now, two seconds off the pace of her much more experienced team mates in the third rate GrandAM series. Milka is fan and media friendly, always with a smile and a hug at the races. Danica is still young and obviously Rahal has his hands full keeping her calmed down. Her good looks aside, she has a determination that hasnt been seen from a woman driver perhaps ever. While she showed some immaturity at not securing pole at Indy, it was obvious she was fast enough to do it and in that, she should have been happy, not carrying on like a child that lost her toy. Her pit stall was predictable and it would have been interesting to hear her on the radio after that. Her avoidable spin which took out several cars was likewise predictable and she was lucky to emerge from it with little more than a broken wing. These set backs aside, she would have likely won the whole deal with in itself is impressive. I met Danica at media days leading up to the 2003 St. Petersburg Grand Prix where she was hanging around and she is a definate presence. Only wish she could have joined us for dinner but thats another story. The new lady racer in Formula Atlantic (Katherine, sorry name escapes me) has done something Danica was never able to do however, win a race in the series so it looks like we may have more lady drivers on the grid at Indy in the near future. BHW
