Robby Gordon says Patrick has an unfair advantage (Indy 500)

Sports Illustrated ^ | 5/28/05 | Various

[BurbankKarl]

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- 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."

[BlueMondaySkipper]

Right.

Besides, my observation is that women usually fill out once they have a couple of kids. Better to start with one on the thin side than one who's overly curvy, otherwise you might overshoot the mark and be stuck with some fat cow. [/sexist remarks}

[DakotaRed]

For what it's worth, I'd say this so called weight advantage did not do her much good. Still, she made a very good show and raced hard, despite a couple rookie mistakes. Hey, I've seen male rookies do much worse.

Like it or not, she managed to accomplish what Guthrie, St. James and Fisher before did not, to actually lead the race for a bit. In fact, it appeared to me that for want of a splash of fuel, she stood a very good chance of winning.

As for her looks, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and my wife and I both behold her as quite attractive.

In this type of race, the whining about her weight amounts to nothing more than bitching about a woman breaking into a male dominated sport. To get the chance to win in 500 miles, you need a good car, lots of talent and lots of luck. In all, I say she has all three.

Personally, if she stays with the sport, she may very well be the first woman winner at the Brickyard, and within the next couple years.

In all, a very good race this year.

[longtermmemmory]

why are horse jokeys so small?

I know on motorcycles, less weight equals more horsepower.

If this was not a woman, and the same complaint was being made nobody would have a problem with the issue.

Forget the whining, car racing should not be the same as horse racing jokeys.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

Restrictions. Striving for mediocrity?

Racing should be competition in both engineering and driving. Other than the body size of the cars, everything under the hood should be wide open.

What is next? Have everybody cross the finish line at the same time just to make it fair?


Why don't I see BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Jaguar, Ferrari, etc. on NASCAR tracks? P.C., that's why...

How about a turbine engine at Indianapolis? Mario Andretti thought it was a good idea...

[Malsua]

I didn't pay any attention to any of it. She raced? heh.

Well, good for her.

The weight issue is there and it should be addressed. The have to work with how heavy each machine is...driver should be part of it.

-Mal

[dirtbiker]

Let him lose some weight.

Exactly! Christian da Matta is probably 6 inches taller and 20 pounds heaver than Patrick, Gordon never whinned about him when they raced Champ cars....A. J. Foyt, back in the late 80's weighed over 220, not a peep about weight.

Life ain't fair, Robby. If you can't compete with the big boys on the pavement, go back to playing with your trucks in the dirt.....

[dirtbiker]

I was at that race when Robert Guerrero who set all the records crashed on the pace lap due to "cold tires"....err...driver error.

I remember watching that. Halfway down the back straight, for no reason at all, the car swerves hard to the left and into the wall, and the race hadn't even started!

[dirtbiker]

tony actually use to be fairly thin until he left the irl and went rasslin' toe-to-toe with the boys down south

Grits 'n gravy will do that....

[dirtbiker]

The fact that she is 100 pounds lighter means she has less body mass i.e body strength which is his advantage.

The only place I can see where weight would be a factor is if you raced motocross. 100 pounds would make a BIG difference when the bikes only weigh 200-250 pounds. (Except on a wet, slick track. Weight = traction)

[Fresh Wind]

I wonder how long it's been since anything remotely resembling a "stock" car has run in a NASCAR race?

[reg45]

So! We should do auto racing like boxing?

Class	Max (kg)	Max (lbs)	Example
Lightweight	50	110	Danica
Middleweight	100	220	Robbie Gordon, me, etc.
Heavyweight	150+	330+	Michael Moore, Jerold Nadler, Jabba the Hutt

[Robert A Cook PE]

Hey!

The last time two men raced at Indy, they crashed into each other.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Amount of fuel )in the tank) is limited by the rules. (Fire safety mainly.)

But if the car weight (driver + fuel + car) is less, then the car uses less fuel per mile, so can run longer at the sane speed, or can run slightly faster on the same amount of fuel between pit stops.

Either might be a competitive advantage - if nothing else breaks and the driver is good enough to take advantage of it.

Me?

They start 2-abreast to avoid early crashes in the race.

Should allow the turbo.

Should allow any car design that works: open wheel, closed wheel, 6 wheel, or anything else.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

I would like to see "stock" car racing be just that - - mostly unmodified cars (except for roll cages and removal of non-essential weight) just rolled off the assembly line...

Corvette, Viper, BMW M-5 or Z-3, Mercedes, Porshce, Mitsubishi 3000 GT, Jaguar XJS, Ford GT, Mustang, Firebird, Nissan ZX, Ferrari, Audi, Bentley, Renault, Honda, Acura, Lexus, Cadillac, etc...

Let's see who builds the better cars and find out who the best drivers really are...

You can have a Lamborgini, but if you can't drive, a guy in a Yugo just might beat you!

[DakotaRed]

I would like to see "stock" car racing be just that

I'll second that. Today's "stock cars" are anything but. Still, to include every other manufacturer would just be NASCAR. That's the reason we have all the series in racing. Even in races like Sebring, Le Mans and such, there are several different classes running. I couldn't imagine a Viper running alongside IRL or Formula One.

Back to NASCAR. Although certain "restrictions" were placed for "safety issues," modern engineering and aerodynamics could more than make up safety. To me, roof flaps more than compensate for restrictor plates. If anything, restrictor plates decrease safety by bunching the cars together. If a driver feels it's too unsafe, there are plenty of classes and series to switch to.

I miss the old days when racing took raw guts and talent more than anything

[BurbankKarl]

I notived Robby Gordon was black flagged for driving a leaker in the beginning of the Coke600

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

I miss the old days when racing took raw guts and talent more than anything...

Not just for drivers, but mechanical engineers, pit crews, etc...

Race sponsoring would get more competitive for manufacturers, promoters and other private investors. Advertising, performance products for your domestic car, et al, would generate more dollars, stimulate automotive business and don't forget those ticket sales...

I don't really want to see racing become like professional sports with unions, degenerates and big babies who cannot behave themselves...

[Swanks]

Do over weight jockeys whine their competitors have advantage, because they weigh 130 Lbs?

[RayChuang88]

What I find interesting about all the so-called whining from Robbie Gordon is the fact he's absolutely right.

If any of you have read the April 2005 issue of Motor Trend, they had an article in there about how racers cheat the tech inspectors. One of the most notorious cheats was the fact teams realized NASCAR didn't do weight inspections after the race and Darrell Waltrip's team devised an ingenious scheme where they would build fake radios, water bottles and helmets that would be installed in the car before tech inspection, then substitute the real thing before the race. The result was saving something like 150 pounds of weight off the race car at the beginning of the race, so instead of a NASCAR racer weighing the around 3,700 pounds (the required minimum) the race car's real weight was 3,550 pounds! That type of weight savings even on a heavy NASCAR race car translates into 3-4 miles per hour improvements in speed, not to mention better fuel consumption and lower tire wear! Now you know why NASCAR tech inspectors are very stringent in terms of minimum weight, even requiring cars driven by smaller stature drivers to put on additional dead weight for competitive purposes.

In the case of Danica Patrick, the fact she only weighs just over 100 pounds--compared to the weight of other IRL drivers that weigh maybe 35-60 pounds more--gives her a substantial advantage, especially considering that the minimum weight of an IRL race car is only 1,525 pounds! Saving 35-60 pounds in this case can translate into faster speeds and lower fuel consumption rather easily; I wouldn't be surprised that the IRL may impose a weight equivalent rule to reduce the advantages of very light drivers.

[MikefromOhio]

ohh....I forgot about you...

she held up pretty well, don't you think???