Danika Patrick WINS!!!!!!!!!

Winning a single race is only impressive when you consider a host of variables. Winning a single race in a Ferrari F1 car this season would be a reason for firing. So is it impressive for Danica? I don't watch IRL, so I can't say.

 

Okay let's get down to it. Prior to this win the only race she had ever won was in Go-Carts throughout her entire short and inexperienced career. She won a race with 18 starting cars with both past Champions absent. Additionally there were other quality drivers who were running Long Beach instead. The fact is, If she had been you or I, we would have never gotten the shot she got. A lot of guys bash Massa here, but Massa could drive circles around this propped up imposter of a race car driver. She has consistently finished behind her team mate in good quality equipment and her best championship finish has been seventh. This in first rate equipment. She receives more endorsements than most of the other IRL drivers who have won numerous races and championships. Why? Because she has half way decent looks and shes a woman. Ever watched her car in traffic? Extrememly nervous even to the occasional novice race fan. Yes even the greats have won races by fuel mileage and a win is a win. But before someone tells me to eat crow, I want to see her win a race because she was the fastest driver/car that day. Most good race car drivers have done that. Hell, even I have done that and I couldn't drive cattle to water on some days.

 

I was going to reprint all the posts on this board from old NASCAR threads on how winning on an oval doesn't take much skill...

Congrats on finally winning a race after nearly 10 years of trying. She is still behind in me in career wins...



Putting Patrick’s victory in perspective

By Bob Margolis, Yahoo! Sports 4 hours, 9 minutes ago
Yahoo! Sports

Danica Patrick’s first IndyCar win in the Japan 300 was more a triumph in public relations than auto racing.

It didn’t happen as the result of a final lap, wheel-to-wheel battle, one that many close observers of the sport feel she will never win.

It instead was more a battle between the race engineer’s computers on the Andretti Green team and that of her rival Helio Castroneves’ Penske Racing team. It was a matter of who would get the best fuel mileage in the final handful of laps of the 200-lap race.

Both drivers had made their final pit stop on Lap 148, and when race leader Scott Dixon was forced onto pit road for a final splash of fuel, it became an opportunity for both Patrick and Castroneves to win – in a fuel mileage battle.
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Castroneves is the IRL points leader and was racing with that in mind. Instead of gambling on running out of fuel or making a pit stop which would have had him finishing farther back in the field and scoring fewer points, Castroneves instead lifted his foot off of his gas pedal just enough to save fuel and reward Patrick with the victory.

The win was the result of a well-calculated move – pure and simple.

However, to her and her team’s credit, a win is a win no matter how you get it. And Patrick did execute the team’s strategy perfectly.

In a moment of postrace enthusiasm, team owner Michael Andretti, himself a winner in several fuel mileage battles over his illustrious career, referred to Patrick’s win as being the first of many.

Perhaps. Or maybe it will prove to be nothing more than an anomaly.

Patrick’s win came against a shrunken field of competitors, one which was devoid of the last two series champions (who both left the open wheel series to race in NASCAR), not to mention lacking any of the Champ Car drivers, who were in Long Beach, Calif., competing in Sunday’s finale for that series before the two – IRL and Champ Car – unite for good.

Only 18 cars took the green flag in Japan – six to eight fewer than will be competing when the two series are reunited at Kansas Speedway next weekend – and just seven were running on the lead lap at the checkered flag.

Despite her having only won in go-karts and not while driving in a professional auto race, Patrick has been able to command a legion of fans, perhaps for no reason other than she is a woman participating in what most regard as a man’s sport.

And after tiring of fending off questions about when she would win, she distracted her detractors by posing in swimsuits and making suggestive ads for her sponsors.

Patrick’s victory may temporarily quiet her critics, and likely will help draw much-needed attention to a sport that at one time in its history was more popular than NASCAR and didn’t have to rely on a pretty face to garner headlines or cash in on the notoriety of a driver who is known more for winning a dancing contest on television than his two Indy 500 wins (see Helio Castroneves).

To her credit, Patrick remains a model for young women everywhere. It may be a model of how persistence, a pretty face and the willingness to take the heat can pay off in the end.

Her skills and courage behind the wheel of an Indy car is not in question. It takes considerable amounts of both to enter Turn 1 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with your foot to the floor.

And cast no doubts about it. Her victory is the first ever by a woman in Indy cars.

For now, Patrick’s lone victory is more a marketing executive’s dream. She can now be identified in her product endorsements as IndyCar “race winner” Danica Patrick instead of just Indy car driver.

In some ways, the pressure is off. Now Patrick can focus on scoring a more “traditional” victory and establishing herself as one of the series’ top drivers.

And if Andretti is correct, and this is her first of many victories, then her impact on the sport could be historic – especially if she can duplicate it in the Indy 500, when actual open eyes will be watching, not just the bloodshot ones that witnessed her graveyard hour win in Japan.

Until then, this win leaves itself subject to scrutiny.

 

If you can't even put this in context for yourself, why bother commenting?

 

Do tell.

 

Tell what? When I couldn't drive cattle to water?

 

If you have been following IRL at all the past few seasons you would know that being fast has not been Danica's problem. She is quite fast, the fact that her crew had the brains to top off her tank does not take anything away from this win. If this were Kanaan, Dixon, or one of the other males on the track everyone would be praising their ability to conserve fuel. She drove intelligently and won accordingly.

She is fast, she won fairly, so comments that try to downplay her achievement are just basically silly.

 

It was very easy. Emerson Fittipaldi and Danica Patrick. I just did it again, hardly took any time at all.

Both made history.

Get over yourself.

 

Either that or winning with the fastest car on any given day--and how that compares or contrasts to Schumacher's seven World Championships.

 

YES, I've seen her drive. Not enough credit to that one.

 

You're missing the point. Kanaan and Dixon have both won races because they were the fastest driver/car that day besides winning fuel mileage races. She is a good quick qualifier and has moments of running fast race laps. But she has made numerous brain fart mistakes that would have had you and I fired by the team principle. And when she is being pressured, she is completely worthless when it requires fighting for a race win on the track. When she wins a race because she and her car were the best on the track that day, then I will go to the next race she is at near my home and wear a big sign that says. "I ate crow at ferrarichat.com and Danica is the best". But until then, I am not impressed.

 

Like I said two weeks ago, she is a better driver than most any man around AND she is hotter than
most of the women you guys crawl in bed with ...

Enjoy your crow gentlemen.......

 

The last year that I raced professionally was 1987 and I retired after that season. Although I did some testing for Toyota in 1988. I ran an IMSA 3 hour Firehawk endurance race at Riverside in our 300ZX Turbo that year. In those days the Firehawk fields were about 95 cars deep. My co-driver for that day was non other than Parnelli Jones. That is how I met the man and Nissan paid us for him to take the seat from my regular co-driver. I qualified the car 2nd on the front row of a 98 car field. Riverside was my home track, so I knew it well. I took the lead into the first corner against Joe Varde's Camaro and never gave it up for the first hour in a half. I turned the car over to Parnelli and he ran down the leader and drove away from the field. We beat the entire field by almost 20 seconds that day and lapped 3/4 of the field.

My other analogy to "Can't drive cattle to water" was the following race at Road Atlanta. That day, my co driver was Max Jones. The same Max Jones who was Roush's General Manager of Race Operations for 20 years who just went to Robert Yates Racing. We weren't that good that day and finished 3rd overall in a 91 car field. We were beat by Joe Varde's Camaro and his other team car. We ended up with the win because both of Varde's cars were disqualified for using illegal fuel. We weren't the best that day, but a win is a win...lol. Now I'm old at 55 and sadly Danica could drive circles around me. Oh well, at least I know it.

 

Great story and I think most racers have had the same experience. I'd relish the opportunity to buy you a beer or three, but what I don't understand is the Danica hate.

 

Speak for yourself, my wfe is much, much better looking than Danica.

Just because you sleep with skanks, don't assume the rest of us do.

 

It's not a hate. Maybe jealousy? There are lot of guys who have shown more promise that didn't get the break that Danica got. She has not proven her salt with me from my observations. I already cataloged her short comings, so I won't repeat them. Before women, the rest of us use to criticize missing out on getting a break by saying we weren't the lucky sperm. We didn't have the last name of Andretti, Unser, Foyt, etc. A lot of these untalented types made it as well based on their last names. We were all hard core racers who financed our own efforts who were fast and fearless. We were also broke because we lived race to race. In the end we couldn't buy a break. But...so it goes... You come to the realization at some point that you're not going to make it and that you are too old now. I guess us types kind of developed a bad attitude when we see someone out there with less talent that made it for other reasons.

 

Why even respond to my post?

 

The situation you describe is the story of my life. I was not born to the lucky sperm and have lost rides because of it. Even so I realized early in life that like it or not these are the rules of the game and in life. Look around and it happens all the time. The bosses son leapfrogs everyone to the V.P. position, and a girl in a sport fueled by promotional dollars gets the good ride. In my case at least I have not let myself develop a bad attitude. I have chosen to participate in a sport where I do not come from the kind of money it takes to move forward fast and I have bankrupted myself more times than I care to remember. What I have done is made it much farther than all the other people who have thought it too hard and too impossible. There is no changing the world on this one so I am happy to fight the good fight even if the cards are stacked against me. As for Danica, she may not be a top top driver (yet at least) but she is doing the business and not languishing at the back of the grid like some other lucky sperm recipiants.

 

Frankly, I don't care if she wins one race or not. I just don't want so see people elevating this win and comparing her to those who are far more successful. So she made history? Good for her, although she damn well should be winning races with that AGR car. Kanaan and Franchitti proven that they're superior in terms of skill last season. Before you eager defenders try and pull the sexist card, I don't think much of little Andretti either, but he did win a race in his rookie year, didn't he?

 

It takes immense skill, nerves and reflexes even to get one of those vehicles around a track. I suggest watching the Top Gear where one of the hosts tries to get an F1 car around the track. I wouldn't do it for all the tea in China (but I'm old and have a family, and the tea in China is probably filled with toxic waste anyway)...

Of course DP got her ride because she's a lot cuter than most of the guys on the track... There's nothing new in that! Check out the top horse jumpers. A lot of them are the daughters of billionaires. No, it's not because there's something in the big money gene that makes a great rider, it's because they have the most expensive and best ride. All the girls have to be is competent riders.

Personally, I think she's an average-looking chick and I wish she'd keep her clothes on -- all of them. If she wins races, more power to her. What would be really ironic would be if some no-account Senator from Illinois showed up in the last lap when she was leading by 20 seconds and blew by her at the line, despite no experience, knowledge or substance. Now THAT's a case of unfair reverse discrimination!

 

Real class act. You must be proud.

 

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I was responding to this insulting comment:

Yes, I am proud of my wife and I don't like people insulting her.

You, on the other hand, have added nothing to this discussion.

 

LOL! I'll +1 that one.

 

I have two words for you: Felipe Massa

There are plenty of threads criticizing Ralf too.

But I'm not. I had to rely on talent to rise in my profession instead.