Drivers Reportedly Protest Danica Patrick Treatment

Fox Sports ^ | 7/26/05

[Dashing Dasher]

Who would wear brown boots with black leather pants!?

Eeeewwww...

[CSM]

I agree. But the frenchies seemed to be searching for reasons to whine......

Thanks for the input.

[gopwinsin04]

She has red boots too.

[Dashing Dasher]

I find these pictures distasteful and ridiculous.

IMHO.

[Steve_Seattle]

"NASCAR promotes an All American image at a time when IRL and CART teams are increasingly coming from Brazil."

One of the purposes of the IRL was to showcase American drivers, but I think the economics of the sport have undermined that. The Brazilian and other foreign drivers often bring big sponsorship money with them, and many American drivers simply can't compete with that. And to make matters worse, the foreign drivers also happen to be pretty good. I think this hasn't happened (yet) in NASCAR because there is relatively little foreign interest in NASCAR; worldwide, people tend to prefer open wheel racing. The ultimate goal of the foreign drivers is F1, and the IRL and CART are seen as possible entryways into F1.

[Dashing Dasher]

Very true.

Look at F1... We've had a Malaysian Driver and now an Indian Driver - probably not the best drivers available - but they came with cold, hard $$$.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I find these pictures distasteful and ridiculous."

I agree that some of Danica's pics go too far, and are more appropriate for a topless dancer than a racing driver. And for that opinion I've been called a prude and a potential Taliban recruit.

[Dashing Dasher]

Well, then color me a prude.

I find it interesting that most of the guys that post those picks complain about them at the same time.

"Look what she did! Bad girl, (drool drool)"

Personally, I would never do that. I prefer to be photographed in my racing gear and try to diminish the "babe" factor. My hair looks great - when I'm not racing - but when racing... it looks like helmet head.

I joke about wearing a dress to after hours events so everyone is reminded that I am actually a girl. But - it's not my main focus. I prefer to be a racer and have people know me as a racer first.

But - again - that's just me. The criticism is enough without drawing attention to the gender issue.

[petpeeve]

I agree...we own a harley drag bike and there are a few women here and they are (for lack of better terminology) just as focussed as the men...they want to race, not compete for who the "better sex" is!

[petpeeve]

Sorry...I am a good driver and my husband, who is a professional driver, tells me so too. (sorry 'bout the wife though.)

[rog4vmi]

In the end, however, the race fans/consumers will dictate a lot of this. If IRL continues to showcase international drivers, the fans will vote with their feet.

[Steve_Seattle]

I don't blame Danica for glamming it up a bit for the cameras, but some of this stuff is kind of silly and embarrassing. Also, she's not bad looking, but is hardly the super-babe that people say she is. (I wouldn't even comment on that, but she's the one who's made an issue of it with all the pics.) I didn't realize that you're also a racer.

[Steve_Seattle]

I watch NASCAR sometimes, but I've always preferred the look and sense of danger of open-wheel racing. I think the IRL has the best open-wheel racing in the world. Despite the glamour, technology, and big money, F1 rarely produces exciting races. In fact, almost never. And, although I'd never underestimate the dangers of a 220 m.p.h. F1 car, the F1 drivers really have it a lot easier than the drivers in NASCAR and the IRL, where they are basically racing wheel-to-wheel in traffic, surrounded by concrete walls, for 2-4 hours.

You're right, though, about the need for American drivers. Since the retirement of the Andrettis and Unsers, the IRL/CART drivers are no-names as far as the general public is concerned. Danica has changed that, but it's just a start.

[Dashing Dasher]

I think she's lovely and should stay within limits that won't embarass her in years to come.

Yes... but a lot different from Danica.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I think she's lovely and should stay within limits that won't embarass her in years to come."

Ah, thinking ahead; a rare trait these days.

[Dashing Dasher]

I always have - that's why there aren't any pictures of me in compromising positions anywhere in the world. Well, since I was 2, anyway.

I used to joke with my less prudish friends that they would never be able to be politicians - but then BJ Clinton ruined that for everyone.

;-)

PS... sent you private message about something else.

[rog4vmi]

After what most of the F1 teams pulled at Indy this summer, I'll never follow F1 again. Period.

I watch IRL and NASCAR weekly. In some cases, I think that IRL has even better wheel-to-wheel racing than NASCAR.

However, I really prefer the style of racing that comes down to the driver -- not technology. Of course, there's no such thing as "stock" in stock car racing.

NASCAR is so successful because fans are able to identify with the drivers as personalities....not the cars that they drive. In this regard, for better or worse, Danica Patrick is a net positive for IRL.

As a NASCAR fan, I'll tell you that you and I aren't far apart in our tastes. So many great drivers went back and forth between open wheel and stock cars. AJ Foyt is but one example.

Tony Stewart another. Again, all Americans.

[Steve_Seattle]

I was an Eddie Cheever fan going back to his F1 days, and since he retired as a driver my interest has dropped off a bit. Many years ago, in the days of Clark and Rindt and Graham Hill, I was an F1 fan, but now all I see in F1 is greed and high tech and commercialism and drivers who never seem to be having much fun and who show very little personality. Among NASCAR drivers, I've always been partial to Mark Martin. Seems like a nice, unpretentious guy.

Up here, hydroplane racing has always been big, but the sport is at a nadir right now; there are only 6-7 boats on the circuit full-time and sponsorship is drying up. They need to go back to auto engines to put some noise back in the sport, reduce costs, and bring in new sponsors.

[Steve_Seattle]

"After what most of the F1 teams pulled at Indy this summer, I'll never follow F1 again. Period."

I was going to comment on this with my last post, but got sidetracked in miscellaneous ramblings. Yes, that was truly bizarre, one of the strangest things I've ever seen in any sport, right up there with the para-glider landing in the boxing ring a few years ago. That showed almost unbelievable mismanagement.

[drjimmy]

It doesn't matter how many people stood in line to get autographs. The point is, there were two seperate lines... Danica and everyone else. The convenience of the Danica fan was deemed more important to the IRL and the track than the convenience of the fans of the rest of the drivers and that is inherently wrong.

You can't have it both ways. If there are 200 people in the line who are there to get Danica's autograph and 50 people standing in the same line to get the autographs of the three other drivers, the fans of the three other drivers are being inconvenienced. If you put Danica in a separate line, the 50 people aren't inconvenienced by the other 200 people. So in the end it just comes down to whining about not being as popular as Danica. Boo hoo!