i dontreally mind the makeup magicians touching her up a little :-)
Posted on 05/28/2005 8:03:38 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Robby Gordon accused Danica Patrick of having an unfair advantage in the Indianapolis 500 and said Saturday he will not compete in the race again unless the field is equalized.
Gordon, a former open-wheel driver now in NASCAR, contends that Patrick is at an advantage over the rest of the competitors because she only weighs 100 pounds. Because all the cars weigh the same, Patrick's is lighter on the race track.
"The lighter the car, the faster it goes," Gordon said. "Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier.
"I won't race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away."
The Indy Racing League does not consider the weight of the driver in its race specifications. The car has to weigh at least 1,525 pounds before the fuel and driver are added, and teams in Indy have estimated that Patrick will gain close to 1 mph in speed because of her small stature.
Although her rivals in Sunday's race have said she doesn't have a huge advantage, pole-sitter Tony Kanaan told reporters he would like the Indy Racing League to look into the issue.
"Right off the bat, a guy my size is spotting her 105 pounds," Gordon said. "That's the reason she's so much faster."
Patrick has been among the quickest drivers since rookie orientation began on the famed 2 1/2-mile oval on May 5. Only a bobble on the first lap of her qualifying effort kept her from winning the pole, and she will take the green flag from fourth on Sunday, the best starting position for a woman at Indy.
Patrick was fastest with a lap of 225.997 mph to lead the one-hour "Carb Day" practice on Friday, the only time the cars got on the track during the week between the end of time trials and the start of the race.
She follows Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, needing only to finish eighth or better to improve on the best previous finish by a female - ninth by Guthrie in 1978.
Patrick, however, is not focused on simply finishing in the top 10 or just staying out of trouble.
"I think I have a great chance of winning this race," the confident Patrick said.
Driving the 650-horsepower IndyCars for the first time this year, Patrick has improved in each of the first four IRL races, culminating in an impressive fourth place last month in Japan.
At Indy, she has been nothing less than a phenomenon.
Patrick would not be the first rookie to win here, although certainly among the least experienced.
Juan Montoya was the defending champion of the rival CART series when he won here in 2000, and Helio Castroneves was a two-year regular in CART and winner of three races before he took the checkered flag as an Indy rookie in 2001.
Still, Castroneves, who also won the next year, said he has no doubt Patrick could win on Sunday, particularly since she is driving a Honda-powered Panoz for the powerful Rahal Letterman Racing team that won here last year with Buddy Rice.
"She is driving for a great team and she has been fast every day since she got here," Castroneves said. "If she can keep her nose clean, she'll be OK. The only thing that might be a problem is you have to have patience and, sometimes, rookies don't have much patience."
Castroneves, starting fifth, and Marlboro Team Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr., a two-time IRL champion and starting in the middle of the first row, also will be among the favorites Sunday as they try to give Roger Penske a record 14th Indy win.
Others to watch include all four members of Andretti Green Racing, including Kanaan, current IRL points leader Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta.
If one of them can manage to get to Victory Lane, it would be a very big day indeed for team co-owner Michael Andretti, who led more laps than any other nonwinner at Indy. His father, Mario, won the race in 1969, then spent 25 frustrating years trying and failing to win it again.
The two had so many things go wrong here that the term "Andretti Luck" became part of the Indy lexicon. "We've done everything in our power to put ourselves in a good position," Michael said. "Of course, this feeling doesn't mean anything. I've been here before in this position. We'll see what fate has in store."
And don't forget perhaps the most heartwarming story of the month: Kenny Brack. The 1999 Indy winner, nearly killed in a devastating crash at Texas Motor Speedway in October 2003, was called upon just last week to replace Rice, injured in a crash here on May 10.
Brack responded by posting the fastest qualifying speed of the month, 227.598 mph. Since it came on the second week of time trials, though, he will start 23rd. Nobody has won from that far back since Johnny Rutherford started 25th in 1974 and charged to the second of his three victories.
Still, Brack is confident he can be competitive in basically the same Honda-powered Panoz in which Rice won last year.
"Maybe I'll be a little rusty in traffic, but it's a long race," said Brack, who hasn't raced an IndyCar since his crash. "I think we'll be just fine after the first pit stop."
The third Rahal Letterman entry, Vitor Meira, making his fourth Indy start - from seventh - could be the dark horse in the race.
"Vitor also has great equipment and he's been flying all month," Kanaan said. "I think maybe he's a little under the radar."
Hornish has been perhaps the IRL's biggest star since winning his first series title in 2001, but he has struggled mightily at Indy. In five starts here, he has yet to finish better than 14th or even complete all 200 laps.
"The big thing is to make it to the end, which I have not done yet," Hornish said. "But we have a great team and two great cars and we've got as good a shot as anybody.
"If I do win here, it would be my 14th (career) win and it would be Roger's 14th at Indy," he added. "I think that would be very nice."
The big question going into Sunday, though, remains: What will Danica do?
Castroneves was asked if it bothers him that most of the questions he and other veterans have fielded this month have been about Patrick.
"It's good for the series, it's good for the sport," he replied. "When I came here they gave me the nickname 'Spider Man.' Maybe they should call her 'Wonder Woman."
Does anybody have the story on how that happened? (the car suspended between the dock and boat)
MM
There are male drivers over 200 pouinds, and some under 150. Funny how we never heard anything about a weight handicap in any type of racing in the last 100 years till a woman might beat male butt in the Indy 500.
The loss of upper body strength that accompanies lower weight more than compensates, especially on high G tracks.
SO9
But she's a woman driver!!!!
The makeup magicians have done wondrous things with her in a lot of the photos, but that's not reality. She doesn't look like that. Take a look at the first photo in the thread, when she has no makeup. Take a look at some of the other photos, when she has only the makeup she likely applied herself like a normal woman. She's an average looking young lady.
MM
i dontreally mind the makeup magicians touching her up a little :-)
That's why Mikey's never without a job, and IMHO when he decides to quit driving and get into the broadcast booth, he'll put his brother to shame.
The days where people used to party all night and then race the next day are romanticized, but they're also gone and never coming back.
The days where people used to party all night and then race the next day are romanticized, but they're also gone and never coming back.
Sorry for the duplication ...
That could be it, alright. She's been running in the top 5 for the first third of the race, and led during the pit stop sequence on lap 56, becoming the first woman to ever lead the race. I'd say she's holding her own out there so far.
(repost)
I read that this morning too and was just composing my WHAT A DORK YOU ARE letter to Robbie Gordon. He has always been one of my favorite drives - having some expertise in road course racing (which is my favorite).
Why doesn't he:
1. Lose weight
2. Complain about the other drivers that don't weigh 200#s and not just "the girl" and/or
3. Shut up, you little dork.
That's my thoughts so far - - - ..
Since it is certainly possible that a 100lb man could be a driver, I'd say this guy is all wet.
You didn't answer the question.
Question: Just imagine for a minute, two cars, identical in horse power and weight, traveling straight ahead for 15 miles. The only difference being one driver weighs 100 pounds less than the other driver. Who would you bet on winning the race? Would you consider this a fair race?
How did it happen?? She`s a woman driver that`s what happened! lol!! Actually I don`t know, but if I were to guess it look like she did one of those "I hit the gas instead of the brake" kind of deal. I see to the right of her, one of the stone barriers is moved, so it seems the car plowed through that and just by sheer luck the car hit the boat and got stuck instead of going right into the water, but that stone on the other hand doesn`t seem to be directly behind the car. What I want to know is how did she get out? She`s holding the keys and the door is open so she must have been driving it.
At first I thought maybe it was left in nuetral and rolled by itself, but a lot of cars won`t go into nuetral unless the key is in the ignition, so she must have been driving it and mistook the gas for the brake. My mother has done that a zillion times, the worst was when she was waiting on line at a drive in teller at a bank and she hit the gas instead of the brake and went right into a telephone pole totaling the car. She was alright because she was wearing her seatbelt and had an airbag, but the whole front end was smashed into oblivion. My father pays something like a zillion dollars a year in insurance she`s had so many accidents. One time she was coming to a stop light too fast and hit the brakes too hard (luckily the brakes this time) and spun sideways and hit three cars at once if you can believe it. Just like bowling, "Striiike" She hit the car in the left hand turning lane, and the two cars in both lanes to the right waiting at the light.
Holy smoke, that`s a great idea. If it`s so hard to strike out midgets then why don`t they use them more?
Do you really think so? I have heard Mikey broadcast a few truck races and I do not feel he is nearly as good as DW.
"...maybe he should take driving lessons from a woman instead of sitting around bitching like one"
Blahahahahaha!
Having two daughters (3 and 5) has changed my opinions about women and sports. I hope she wins. If weight is this big of an issue, maybe the owners should use all women drivers or even migets.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
She the announcer will have to change their shorts if she wins. She has been not less than 90% of the conversation of these gushers. She caused and accident, and they absolutely blew it off. F' her.
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