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."
Personally I think Robby is a whiner, but he has a valid point. Danica Patrick has a distinct advantage with her smaller wieght. As has been shown, this gives her an extra MPH.
To put this into terms everyone can understand. She qualified at 127.004 for 4th place. At 126.004 she would be starting 12. IOW her wieght advantage was worth 8 places on the starting grid. Over the course of 500 miles she will finish almost 1 1/2 laps ahead of where she would be if she wieghed 200 lbs. In Indy racing this is would be a difference of 10-20 positions on the race track.
I hate restrictor plate racing. It's going to get some drivers killed soon.
That could be, as I've yet to find a definitive Nascar rule on the issue. That said, its my understanding that the car must weigh 3,400lbs without the driver.
2. Check his abysmal record this year in NASCAR ... could this be frustration talking from someone who, throughout his entire driving career, has never IMHO lived up to his potential in any series, and sees himself falling further down the ladder?
3. I don't think Ms. Patrick will win tomorrow because while she's proved she can go fast ... and from watching her, she's TONS better than Sarah Fisher, the most recent "great female hope" in racing ... winning a 500-mile race, especially the Indy 500, requires more than simply going fast, you've got to use your head, you've got to stay out of trouble, you've got to save your car and you've got to get a whole bunch of good luck. If she does win, more power to her.
4. Regarding weight in NASCAR, if you'll check the details, an awful lot of the guys who are making noise right now are small in stature. Not Mark Martin small, but way smaller than the 6-0, 190-pounders you used to have in the good ole days. From the recent photos of Robby, he looks like he ought to push away from the buffet line a little more often. Could there be some frustration talking there as well?
In F1 the minimum weight for car and driver is 600kg. It's in the rule book.
It's crazy. Making cars bunch on a track.
It already has, NASCAR's greatest driver - Dale Earnhardt.
Ms. Diminutive is not going to win despite her significant weight advantage.
I don't see what Gordon is complaining about. It's not like they're racing real cars anyway. This plastic model car racing is the most boring thing I have ever watched. Wonder what Gordon will complain about if Patrick ever moves to the real circuit of NASCAR
have you ever heard Jimmy Spencer complain that Mark Martin has a 80lb weight advantage over him?
if you'll check the details, an awful lot of the guys who are making noise right now are small in stature.
Ryan Newman looks like a pretty heavyset guy and he wins way more than his share of poles so I don't think weight has much to do with NASCAR racing.
I really don't have a dog in that fight...but the guy's a wimp.
:)
;>)
I don't think Dale's death was a direct result of restrictor plate racing even though it occurred in a restrictor plate race.
I was thinking about how all the cars are jammed together because there's no speed advantage necessary for passing, especially on restarts.
PS: Richard Petty is NASCAR's greatest driver. ;^)
Unless every driver weights the same he has no point.
I don't think the weight is that big a deal, just pointing out that there seems to be a trend toward smaller drivers in NASCAR.
FYI, Robby is listed as 5-10, 180 officially, but as I said recent photos I've seen of him kind of make me think he's a wee bit stockier now.
It's certainly an interesting point, but are all male drivers the same weight? Has this even been considered when it was just guys? What's the "fair" difference for everyone? Why didn't the drivers discuss this before the season began? It seems to me that the guys had best look to their dietary habits if they want to compete with an equally skilled and strong female driver.
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