Agreed. Danica is the anti-Milka. She's a racer that they keep trying to turn into a tart. Milka is a tart that they keep trying to turn into a racer.
Milka didn't qualify for Milwaukee - there's only 18 cars running the event. Looks like the females really bombed in qualifying. Sara Fisher was 16th, Patrick was 17th and last place crashed. Penske on pole. Carol
I think her post-race interviews after this year's 500 were about a million times better than her prior ones anywhere else, she obviously is getting some great coaching from somebody.
Dunno's mother is a very pulic Chavista, her family gets the money from Citgo, which means directly from Chavez, she has indirectly proclaimed loyalty to Chavez and his communist regime that has (actually IS at this very moment) killed opposition. That, for all I care, is enough for me to say she should not be in this Country and see what her racing career is doing in her Land fo the People that she and her family so embraces.
Yup, it was Fish. Senna believed Fis was getting a better engine than him most of the time according to some reports, lol
Carol, perhaps it has to do with expectations. Men come in pure anonymity, whereas Milka has had her boosters (like you) blowing her horn for years before she got here. I can't recall you ever blowing your horn for a rookie male driver! I think you even lamented the Red Bull Racing choice of Scott Speed over Milka a few years ago. I had never heard of Milka at the time, since I don't follow endurance racing. Now that I have seen her in action, I think she is not very talented. She has the resources of say, Hamilton in F1. Why is she crashing and staying at the back of the pack? You played a part in setting her up for this criticism, so swallow it and stick with her if you think she is so great. What do you expect, accollades for just being in the race? Jim
Every driver makes a boneheaded move from time to time. Marco is very much a junior driver, but he also was a charger right out of the gate. He nearly won the Indy 500 in his first attempt--as a kid, too, not some 30 year-old F1 crossover--and his drive at Watkins Glen last year was some of the best open wheel driving I saw all year. I was very supportive of Danica when she stepped up to IRL (still am), and I always pulled for Sarah Fisher to do better than her under-funded career has delivered and deserved. I can't help but feel that support for Milka is more about "You go girl!" than some hard knocks driver finally getting society to look past gender and give her a much-deserved chance. I stated it before, and I still feel the same way. I look at Milka Duno and feel that she cheapens the efforts of the women before her. Just like many of the drivers that entered the 500 post-split cheapened the race's heritage and prestige.
Danica didn't do bad yesterday. Started about 17th. As she tried to pass 4th place Franchitti she became the meat on a Weldon Kannan sandwich. Made a heck of a save and overcame a stop to replace a bent suspension arm finishing 7th or 8th. She then confronted Weldon with some strong words and grabbed his arm when he tried to walk away.
Danica is a racer. So is Sarah. Carol, I just can not agree with you about Milka, she is an embarrassment to women in the sport.
Regardless the fact that Milka had team mates to assit, she still has won races in ALMS and Grand Am. Milka still had to run at a competative rate and keep the equipment in one piece. Danica ran ALMS in a Ferrari and could not get the car up to speed. If I had to pick a driver from the three ladies it would be Sarah & Milka. Danica would not even be considered. Sarah needs good equipment. If she had that, she would be a winner. Milka has gone from Panoz, to Ferrari Challenge to ALMS to F3 to Grand Am to IRL all with in about ten years. That is a lot of driving in a short period of time. You may not like her but she is doing what we wish we could and looking good doing it. Just my $.02
Still not buying it... From Robin Miller's commentary at SpeedTV.com: "She's billed as the first woman to win a major sports car race and her credits include victories in Petite LeMans and Grand Am. Those aren't false claims because she was, indeed, on the winning team at Miami, Road Atlanta and Mt. Tremblant. The fine print is that she didn't drive very many laps in any of them. Just like last Saturday's fourth place at Miami-Homestead in Grand Am, she logged 14 laps and teammate Patrick Carpentier did the other 77. Or her second place at this year's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona where Ryan Dalziel, Darren Manning and Carpentier drove 90 percent of the time." Read the whole critique here. http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/36275/
Hi Bruce - hope all is well with you - sorry to miss you in Houston - there will be another place, another time . . . Great post and so very true. You forgot Ms. Patrick's attempt at Daytona in a PT - couldn't figure out how to turn on wipers - amazing what in-car video can show. Only reason that car did what it did was because of Allan - not Ms. Patrick or Mr. Wallace. Hope to see you again. Are you headed to the big race in a couple weeks time? Carol PS - BEST WOMAN RACER going is Liz Halliday!!!
Tru dad! I have seen Milka several times during my time at GrandAm and have watched several races and can honstly say, not impressed. Yes, she does what i rather be doing but to give her credit and even put her in a sentence with Danica is a shame. Danica has proven herself many times over. In Atlantic and in Indy. She is consistently good. She is a true racer that is good.
I will say this one more time, Milka is absolutely incredibly useless. She hardly drove in any of those wins compared to her male teammates. She wrecked at Indy, yet in her first year Danica came in fourth after leading for a few laps, something most males racing in the Indy 500 have not done. Currently with 33 drivers listed for points in the IRL, Danica is tied for 9th with Vito Meira, pretty good company. In fact Danica has done what most males in racing have not, and can not do. So how can anybody even compare Milktoast with Danica Patrick? And no, although beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, Milka is not that attractive.
This thread has been whipped to death. Time to move on to more important things in the motor racing world. Carol
They are all marginal at best. Sarah had her wrecks at Indy and never really got anywhere when she had a decent car, her first Indy she wrecked with Lyn St James ironically enough. Danica hasn't won since karts, She's had a decent record at Indy but nowhere else really. She's had good cars and still can't win or even run consistently. Milka is a marketing ploy with no real talent. They dump her in a car for a few laps, then pull her out and let the other drivers do the heavy lifting. She's considered a winner because she's on a winning team but made no contribution to the victory. The only female driver with any real talent out there now is Katherine Legge. Crappy cars are holding her back. She's the only respectable one out of the bunch with Danica second on the list but just barely. The other two will need a miracle to even run in the top 10 of any series.
Angelle Sampay. 3-time World Champion in Pro Stock Motorcycles. 41 career wins, one more and she is the winningest driver in NHRA pro stock motorcycle history, man or woman. She is by far the most successful female race driver in history. In fact, she is one of the most successful drivers, male or female, in drag racing altogether.
And she's definitely beautiful. I saw her up close in the pits at a drag race in Pomona, CA a few years ago.
Angelle is quite good, i've seen her at Etown one or twice. But i don't think she's anywhere near some of the guys' records in drag racing. John Force, Kenny Bernstein, Don Garlits, Don The Snake, etc all have better career records than she does and in tougher classes.
I do not have a problem with women racing like some others on here. I raced small sedans and sports cars in SCCA for 33 years and was beaten by some of the best and held my own too with the best. I was immensely impressed with Janet Guthrie who beat me at Pocono and Summit Point and watched her intensely when she ran Indy. I remember Chris Economaki falling over himself when interviewing her, she being quite composed after the race. Going from a 4 cylinder Toyota Celica coupe to an Indy car was quite amazing and she did fine. Danica seems to have the talent and smarts to run in IRL, but this Milka girl seems more like a poster Paris Hilton girl than a driver. Sheesh! Ed
I live 15 miles from Englishtown, let me know if you will be there this year. You can buy me a beer Angelle is only 1 win away from being the all-time winningest driver in her class, Pro Stock motorcycles. She may not have 120 wins like John Force but who does? No one else in NHRA has 100 wins either. I think her record speaks for itself. No other female driver in any form of racing has come close to her achievements. She is one of the alltime greats in her sport, regardless of gender. All of thse other female drivers we have been talking about are nowhere near that category.
I was thinking about going this year mainly cause I heart Ashley Force, lol. If i do i'll let you know, i sometimes go on test and tune nights as well, even thought it's been a while. Her record is really good, but other then Antron Brown and Matt Hines, she hasn't had too many good riders in her class to content with either. Shirley Muldowney had a harder time in her day. Now that was a driver, period.
