Behind the Fontana wall before the halfway point.
Behind the Fontana wall before the halfway point.
Witnessed Mario's "Miracle at Indy"...Watched 3 win their 4th Indy 500...Was there for Petty's 200th win...Saw the last Novi qualify
It helped her so much that she was able to outrun the start and parks and cars painted with a coat of primer with pocket change sponsorships.Originally Posted by nascarnation
The Ayn Rand of Indycar
No one had to badge the Offy.
OK Dave, now here is something we can agree on...
Lets be brutally honest here for a second...she has been a complete non-entity this year. It almost looks like to me that now that she has become a Cup star (for 10 races this year) that the Nationwide stuff is beneath her. Besides winning a pole at Daytona (which takes absolutely no driver talent) she has been a midpacker in quals and in the races (although when there are only about 25 legit entries, when you are running 20th that really means you a backmarker). She isn't showing any progress anywhere. Maybe this is the extent of her driving talent and that she has reached her max in a stock car. Pretty sad when kids like Brad Sweet and Cole Whitt are kicking her ass. Not sure either of them shave yet.
Prime Minister of Gackland
Agreed on all counts. To only be able to outrun the few underfunded entries that are one step above the start and parks in her Hendrick prepared car with enough funding to buy half the cars on the Nationwide grid is unacceptable.
Our passports are not required when leaving the Orange Curtain (aka Orange County) but required upon return....You can't use that term unless you live in the 909 area code.All in all, we had a great time @ the race today---Weather-wise, tomorrow is not looking good...
"Noone can define the "IT" factor but, by God, she's got it!" quote by fan @ 2005 Indy 500 ----"You are now our new American hero." ROGER PENSKE @ Daytona 500 2013-----"She's magical!"~~~RICK HENDRICK @ Daytona 500 2013
Completely agree.
But you know what will probably happen in the next few weeks? She'll weasel into a top 10 finish somewhere and we'll get called "haters" and ESPN will go batcrap crazy over it. And Dale Jarrett will again get to talk about how much she is learning and progressing as a driver in our sport.
Today she was running with Taylor Malsem and that Bowles kid (who I hadn't heard of until a few weeks ago) in that underfunded #81 car. On a track that she had been to a few times now (and is considered one of the easiest to get around and dial your car in, non-plate tracks in NASCAR).
This is year 3, isn't it? Where is the progress?
I decided some time ago to avoid the Danica threads as they tend to be emotionally "charged", but I think the whole situation is beginning to run a natural course. A lot of media people and some fans suggested that the hype and adulation would eventually fall off if the performance was lackluster. And to be honest, her performance in races has been lackluster.
On her qualifying run, the tracker showed she had a rocket on the straightaways (especially compared to the cars qualifying around her), but was completely of the gas in the turns for a couple seconds while most of the other drivers lifted very little. In the race, we heard the typical "too loose" from her at a point in the race where most drivers were loosening the cars as the track was getting tighter. The few times the camera found her, her car looked really tight.
But I must say the ESPN coverage is reflecting how she is running. Sure we get the obligatory Danica Patrick story before the start, and the long interview at the end (of her race), and the inevitable check in on how she is doing in the race, but there are significant changes. They didn't go to her in-car cameras much and when they did, it wasn't necessarily a positive picture. One in-car showed her bouncing in the seat and sawing at the wheel when the other in-cars showed the other drivers working hard but much more precise and belted in tighter. At another point, they showed a shot from her roof cam running all alone with only one car (Malsam) even visible in front of her, almost out of sight, Often the "hat" never even scrolled down far enough to find her.
When you have very hard racing at the front like near the end (that was VERY hard racing and really fun to watch), it is difficult to get excited about a driver just circulating mostly by themselves and going laps down in a car that should be nearly as good (or as good) as the front runners. During one restart, she tried to pass a car down low and one of the announcers (Petree I think) started to make a big deal out of it. But she was already a lap down and immediately faded, and that was about the last we heard about Danica.
She also remains almost clueless about the technical side. She seemed almost surprised that losing water pressure could be a bad thing.
Danica will remain a story as a marketing powerhouse and novelty for a while yet, especially with the GoDaddy money behind her. But with another female in the field who is a real racer like Johanna Long, just riding around is eventually not going to reflect well on Danica. The expectations for someone like Johanna on a partial schedule with a low budget team are much lower than a driver with a big budget, a top team, and over 30 races.
Either Danica has to find race speed she hasn't shown yet, or she will become yesterday's story and a caricature of herself. She wore out her welcome in every other type of racing she has run.
At Vegas she worked her way up into the top 10 passing good cars, such as Kahne and Hornish, keeping pace with the leaders and keeping Sadler behind her for 20 or so laps. Stuff she had never done before. So that's a progress. Her last 4 qualifying efforts on 1.5 milers say 15th, 11th, 12th, 12th. She couldn't even dream about these results two years ago. She sucked bad yesterday but to say that she isn't showing any progress anywhere is a tad too much don't you think.
By whom? I've never heard anybody in the business say that Fontana is an easy track to get around, actually it's been quite a few years that all I've heard is drivers talking about the seams and how unpredictable and inconsistent the cars are when running across them, especially this year since they filled the cracks with a sealer that made things worse. Not making excuses here, just disproving what you said.
Yeah, she's been at Fontana three times now, but the last one was 18 months ago with the old car. Different setup, different nuances, so it's not like her past experience there served any purpose this time around. And everybody seem to forget the solid race she was running before Buescher turned her in the wall, and that was just her 8th race and the first time she returned to a track for the second time. She ran an awful lot better that day, being arguably a worse stock car driver than she is now. So does it really make any sense to say that races like yesterday show her maximum potential in stock cars?
You think there are that many? It is sad to see the state Nationwide is in. At any given week now, Rousch will be down to 1 car, JGR only uses the 20 part-time, mid-pack teams like Wallace and MWR are gone (i.e. from when Bayne and R. Truex had to move on), etc., etc., etc. The seats are absolutely empty at all the events (no impact Danica, unless it is the wall). I'd give 13 to 15 on legit entries, or at least somewhat competitive ones. And that includes the 7, only because we're talking about funding and level of equipment.
At Bristol there were empty seats for the Cup race as well, so what? She's not going to change the economy. Nobody said she would exercise some sort of goddess power and magically fill people's pockets and subsequently the stands at the racetrack.
You also conveniently avoid mentioning the ratings for the Nationwide race at Daytona with her on the pole position, 2.9 which is the record for a NNS race on cable, up 38% on 2011 and 4% even on her 2010 debut.
And where does the 13 to 15 legit entries theory come from? You should just check the T&S each race to find out there are 20-22 cars capable of running top 10-15 times. And while RWR is gone and others are 1 car down, we should say that the 12 is full-time, Petty is full-time with the 43, Busch has his own team, so the number of competitive entries (car and/or driver) is pretty much the same.
First of all, my comments were directed at the sad state of the Nationwide series this way. So why do you feel your typical need to come to the defense of poor Danica? The only mention I even made of Danica is because all the talk was she would "save NASCAR" etc. She hasn't. Why do you have to blow everything completely out of proportion? Are you that insecure for your need of Danica love? Calm down.
I didn't "conveniently" forget to mention anything. I haven't looked up the TV ratings. How could I fail to mention something I didn't take the time to look up? The FACT is what I said, seats are empty for Nationwide. California was an absolute ghost town yesterday. It won't be full today either, but that isn't at all a reflection of how sad the situation is in Nationwide.
It doesn't appear to me you have much common sense so I won't attempt to explain you last paragraph. Even using Gack's logic of 25 (which is extremely conservative), That's barely half the field being competitive. Point is, Nationwide series is struggling and it is sad to me considering it's great history.
Moral of the story, it makes me sad to see Nationwide series. Point in you being a racing fan? Apparently only to defend any hint of offense toward a horrible excuse for a "professional" race car driver. You've completely taken my comments out of context for your pathetic agenda.
I didn't take anything out of context. Last time I checked this is a Danica thread, so if you want to dissect the aspects of competition in Nationwide why don't you open another thread. The point is, if you do it right here, in a Danica thread, throwing in the mix a stupid sentence like the one I quoted above, it just means that everything you say, true or not true, revolves around the intent to bash her, and all your logic on the current situation of the Nationwide is for your pathetic agenda. Anything you say here is aimed towards one goal, no matter how much you try to dilute and camouflage it in the middle of your thoughts on the competition or whatever else.
Oh and by the way, you clearly didn't notice that I'm far from being a worshipper. I have no problem saying that she sucked in any given race, and pointing out her weaknesses, instead you have a lot of problems saying anything positive about her, but we already know it. Everybody plays a role, so keep playing yours, without trying to hide it.
Back from the Texas races. Had a great time, as always! Texas hospitality--A+ Everyone had such a good time attending both races. For all the DP fans who watched the race, that was an exciting finish,eh? It was so much fun to be in the stands and watch her go three-wide and haul azz. Our kids were jumping all over the place---(god bless 'em.) Thanks again, Texas--y'all do it up right!
Last edited by #7batmobile; 04-16-2012 at 10:18 PM.
Where's Danica?
While perusing the wires for news on motorsports the past couple of weeks, something became fairly obvious. There were almost no stories on Danica Patrick. Where is she?
Well, the evidential answer is she hasn't gone anywhere - she's right where you may have thought she was and that's racing in NASCAR. But wow! How times have changed.
It wasn't long ago and in fact, just a couple of months previously when story after story were pouring over every detail of how Danica was going to do entering full-time in NASCAR, including how her team essentially bought her way into the Daytona 500 - where she promptly wrecked on the first lap. But still, it was the usual Danica this, Danica that. Danica was everywhere ... Danicamania.
Source
Aloha,,,
Great Pictures,,,
Boy,,, She Sure Looks Like a Race Car Driver,,,
What Am I Missing...
Big,,,
Yes,,, Yes,,, Tony,,,
Your Grandfather was a friend of Roger Penske,,,
Your Grandfather did business with Roger Penske,,, but
Your Grandfather never trusted Roger Penske,,,
". . . getting beat by both girls . . . hahaha"
A picture of her car finishing first
@Solvera: Gotta hand it to you---hit the nail on the head.
Travis PAstana has officially validated the idea of givng women racers attention for being women. The next time I read a comment like "Danica wouldn't get any attention if she were a guy" I am going to say yes and if you think that's a problem then take it up with Travis.
I would like to personally thank the Danica haters. You give her far far more attention than her fans do. I still don't see a whole lot of exaggeration by her fans or the media in terms of her skills or performance. What I do see are haters who cause the very issues they claim to dislike.is there really a story about lack of stories?
I am still going to point out hypocrisy as I see it. If you're going complain her Indycar win doesn't count due to circumstance, then you can't fault her for thesprint cup crashes due to circumstance. If you say her good results don't count due to a weak field, thenyou haveto say the same about every winner each week. If you complain about the attention she brings due to factors outside of nascar, then you should be equally offended at the attention travis got before he ever even strapped in. If you dont think peopke should care about gender, then nobody shoukd be acting offended at the minimal attention for johanna long or jen jo cobb. If you say te crashes she cause were still her fault because she shouldnt have been tere, ten you have say the same for every other driver in every other race. And you really should give her mad props for her indycar record of mostconsecutive races finished.
The david reutimann thing was what really set me off. The guy himself is siting there saying he was trying to help himself and people were so determined to blame danica for something that they said he mustve been lying. Oh teres another example of hypocrisy. If youre offended at the points sharing then you have to be equally offended at the points sharing between every other team every other year too.
Last edited by solvera; 04-30-2012 at 10:48 AM.
Will Power fan club. No wankers allowed!
Forgot to add...since her very first nationwide race people have been saying that lack of experience shouldnt matter, she should just be able to jump into good equipment and win. So by definition you must think the words rookie season are misnomer and nobody should need one. Also in terms of equipment, correct me if im wrong but havent none of her teammates won either? Including kasey kahne driving the same car?before you start saying how much better they are, that is not the point im making. The point im making is that people have said she should be winning from day one and if your argument is to be valid then it needs to apply to everyone else.
Anoter example...did anyone have the slightest problem with young mr blaney calling out the veterans and calling at least one a bad name? The commentators laughed and called him a racer. Danica swears on her own radio and people say she should be fined and she should be ashamed.
If I didn't know him I'd think he drank too much Red Bull.....lol..... He is never at a loss for words.................
SENÓR MODERATOR......
"Better To Be Judged By Twelve Than Carried By Six"
" Only Those Who Will Risk Going Too Far....Can Possibly Find Out How Far One Can Go "...T.S. Elliot....
Good equipment may temporarily improve her hype factor @ Talladega.
Was surprised not to see her on the Cup race roster for the Aarons 499.
On a pure luck basis, she's most likely to finish well in a restrictor race I'd think.
"Turn right to go left" Doc Hudson
Patrick picks Schuberth SF1 for NASCAR season
http://www.powersportsbusiness.com/t...nascar-season/Schuberth has entered a multi-year partnership with Danica Patrick to be her official helmet supplier. Patrick, a NASCAR driver, is wearing the Schuberth SF1, the helmet worn by F1 drivers such as Michael Schumacher, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld and Townsend Bell.
Does Townsend Bell know he's an F1 driver? Has anybody told him?
"Sometimes a majority simply means that all the fools are on the same side." C. McDonald
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