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Robbie Gordon of NASCAR Will Not Drive IRL Races Against Danica Patrick, Citing Weight Advantage
National Review Magazine: The Corner ^ | 6/1/05 | KJ Lopez

Posted on 06/01/2005 8:14:34 AM PDT by gopwinsin04

Robbie Gordon of NASCAR started the discussion, saying that he wouldn't drive in the Indy Car Racing League series until they do something about Danica Patrick's weight 'advantage.'

'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 cars are at least 100 pounds heavier.'

'I wont race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away.'

I glanced at the weight of the weight of the drivers in the Indy Car Series. They are pretty much smallish guys --between 140 and 155 lbs.

He seems to be willing to race against guys who are about 60 pounds less and had no problem with it before.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Indiana
KEYWORDS: danica; waaaaambulance
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To: Kokojmudd
"F1 hasn't been any fun since the loss of Senna IMO."

Hard to believe it's been more than 10 years. I remember I was working that day and my son called me, and I thought maybe he was confused because Ratzenberger had been killed the day before. But he said, no, it was Senna.
381 posted on 06/01/2005 4:02:00 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Light Speed
Big oops....Kaikkonen drives Mercede's not BMW.
382 posted on 06/01/2005 4:02:24 PM PDT by Light Speed
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To: Kokojmudd
"F1 hasn't been any fun since the loss of Senna IMO."

That's how I felt after Clark and Rindt were killed many years ago.
383 posted on 06/01/2005 4:04:37 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Steve_Seattle

I can see 80 pounds making a difference, you're starting to get into the serious fractions of a hundred then, but 50 or less, doubt it. And even at 80 pounds the difference is going to be slight enough to be easily overshadowed by driver skill.


384 posted on 06/01/2005 4:08:35 PM PDT by discostu (quis custodiet ipsos custodes)
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To: Steve_Seattle
I am not sure it is as simple as that. For one thing no one-(But Penske) is allowed to tamper with the Chassis.

So.. it is opening a can of worms by having people making changes there- and it could be dangerous. Even if they don't have a 50 lb block strapped to the top of the car (LOL is right) making weight changes on those Indy cars is horribly expensive and dangerous.

They are not designed to hold extra weights. It is like the grain of sand fable. You know the old "if you change a pebble of sand on one end of the world... blah blah the other end changes".

How many different bodies, with different weights, will they have to have just for the 500 and the various drivers?

I am not sure how Tony George would sell this new rule and not look like a sexist. SO I don't think it will happen.

385 posted on 06/01/2005 4:08:49 PM PDT by Diva Betsy Ross (Code pink stinks!)
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To: Steve_Seattle
"Hard to believe it's been more than 10 years. I remember I was working that day and my son called me, and I thought maybe he was confused because Ratzenberger had been killed the day before. But he said, no, it was Senna."

It was a very bad weekend at Imola. If I am not mistaken there was another bad crash during practice involving Barichello. Afterward, in the interest of safety, F1 radically altered the layouts of the circuits turning them into big go-cart tracks. I have yet to watch the Indy F1 race but will have to give it a try this year.
386 posted on 06/01/2005 4:10:32 PM PDT by Kokojmudd (Today's Liberal is Tomorrow's Prospective Flying Saucer Abductee)
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To: Diva Betsy Ross

I don't think this [adjusting for weight] is something they could do in the middle of the season; it would have to be designed into the cars from the get-go. But you're probably right that it would add a slight element of instability to the cars because the weight would be an "add on" not completely integrated for aerodynamic or road-handling purposes. But I don't think it would have to be calibrated to exactly equalize weights, just keep them within a range of - say - 40 to 50 pounds.


387 posted on 06/01/2005 4:16:03 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: discostu

I'm not a physicist or car designer (obviously), but I wonder if the driver's weight is a minimal factor because the cars have so much horsepower. Once the car is at speed, the driver's weight becomes part of the total forward mass, and might be negligible on an oval track where the speed doesn't vary much. But on a road circuit, if there are corners where you slow way down, the driver's weight might be more of a factor because it acts as a drag every time you accelerate. But to tell the truth, I don't know what I'm talking about. lol


388 posted on 06/01/2005 4:21:57 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Steve_Seattle
Nobody in F1 seems to be having much fun anymore.

Ya.....they are wrecking like Nascar.....who are wrecking like the Arca [Crash and Burn gang] : )

My F1 team is struggling.....I know I am : )
Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber driving the vaunted Willams/BMW ...maybe team owners have chided them to not be as risk taking as former driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
either way....they both seem capable drivers...but too laid back.

Williams/BMW car seems too rigid in its suspension.
over engineered.....not supple enough for the going over curb driving of F1.
seems F1 is all in the qualifying....and that damned first corner : )

Speaking of church.....it was a spiritual moment seeing BMW beat the Black/Satan looking Mercedes on Germany's famed course.
Kaikkonen....er...Raikkonen the head case will probably be getting his butt dressed by German leather boots after the past race.
Raikonnen meets Darth Vader.....black table with lots of money on it,
heavy breathing : )

LOL....Frances vote to not join Euro constitution.
Could that have anything to do with recent Renault wins ? : )

shift:

I should make an effort to join the nascar FR threads....
My comp is in the other room.....don't want to miss Darrel Waltrip coments.
especially the quiet after Dale JR's last support manuever to Michael.
Michael has looked rather **edgy on speed week programs this year : )

389 posted on 06/01/2005 4:32:35 PM PDT by Light Speed
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To: yellowdoghunter
I will leave you to defend your position to God when the time arrives.

You ARE insinuating that God will have an issue with what I am saying and what Danica is doing. Who made you the expert?
390 posted on 06/01/2005 4:42:19 PM PDT by MikefromOhio ( 1,000,000 Iraqi Dinar = 708.617 US Dollar - Get yours today)
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To: gopwinsin04

The Village People have added "The NASCAR Driver" to the group?


391 posted on 06/01/2005 4:45:19 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (What ever crushes individuality is despotism, no matter what name it is called. - J S Mill)
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To: Steve_Seattle

LOL! It wounds like you know what you are talking about! :] I bet that you could prove it one way or the other- but the real logic would tell us that if all else is equal and if weight were such an advantage, then in each race the winner should weigh less than the rest of the field in any given race. That should be easy enough to tabulate for the person who wants to take the time to do it.


392 posted on 06/01/2005 5:18:21 PM PDT by Diva Betsy Ross (Code pink stinks!)
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To: Steve_Seattle

That's really what it comes down to, when you're facing the wind resistance you face at 200 miles an hour a couple pounds here or there isn't going t omake much difference. When you abuse the laws of physics that badly what's a few less pounds of abuse.


393 posted on 06/01/2005 5:20:11 PM PDT by discostu (quis custodiet ipsos custodes)
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To: Diva Betsy Ross

that should be "sounds" like you know what you are talking about...


394 posted on 06/01/2005 5:20:58 PM PDT by Diva Betsy Ross (Code pink stinks!)
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To: yellowdoghunter; Nascar Dad
God would not approve of those photos

would so too!

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.
Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

395 posted on 06/01/2005 5:21:36 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (What ever crushes individuality is despotism, no matter what name it is called. - J S Mill)
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To: yellowdoghunter
I just try to always ask myself if God would approve of that attire. I think He would not

Beg to differ...remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden?! They were butt naked and God did not have a problem looking at them like that.

As a matter of fact God got mad, when, Adam and Eve after eating the apple, saw their nakedness and tried to cover it up, much to God's displeasure.

396 posted on 06/01/2005 5:21:39 PM PDT by danmar ("No person is so grand or wise or perfect as to be the master of another person." Karl Hess)
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To: discostu
NASCAR vehicles are aerodynamically designed to have more down force that a fully laiden 747 sitting on the tarmac

I've got to call you on that one, buddy. Try 2 1/5 tons of downforce. Last I checked a fully laden 747 weighed a few grams more than that. Now if you're talking about how much aerodynamic downforce a 747 has parked, it is close to zero unless the wind is blowing and the flaps are in negative position! But that's not what you were talking about.

Also, your analysis is flawed in another respect. Aero downforce doesn't create mass or inertia. It reduces top speed, but not acceleration.

Ryan Newman Credit: Autostock

"The car creating 5,000 pounds of downforce racing side-by-side is going to have more effect with one car next to the other.

397 posted on 06/01/2005 5:36:41 PM PDT by steve86
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To: BearWash

Fine whatever. It's still a butt load more than the car weighs and 50 pounds one way or the other isn't going to make even the slightest bit of difference, and freaking forget a few grams, NASCAR cars gain or lose a few grams swapping paint down the back stretch.

Actually aero downforce doesn't reduce top speed at least not much, it keeps the car on the ground increasing safe top speed. But more importantly for this discussion it shows just how much force a race car is under and why Gordon is full of crap when he says a female driver has an unfair advantage due to lower weight.


398 posted on 06/01/2005 5:54:25 PM PDT by discostu (quis custodiet ipsos custodes)
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To: Howlin; yellowdoghunter

Why are you so obsessed that you have to stalk yellowdoghunter? It's a creepy thing to do.


399 posted on 06/01/2005 7:09:40 PM PDT by BykrBayb (Impeach Judge Greer - In memory of Terri Schindler <strike>Schiavo</strike> - www.terrisfight.org)
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To: yellowdoghunter

No, and they never will get it. They claim that tearing down our military piece by piece is their patriotic duty.


400 posted on 06/01/2005 7:12:19 PM PDT by BykrBayb (Impeach Judge Greer - In memory of Terri Schindler <strike>Schiavo</strike> - www.terrisfight.org)
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