Danica stories

[NYGuy4201980]

I was surprised to see that there are no stories centering on that little spitfire Danica Patrick. I am currently writing one, and should have it done in the next few days. I also wanted to see if any other authors who write celebrity stories would be interested in writing one. I can't get enough of this girl.

 

[Guest]

I'm impressed with her achievements but quite honestly I do not follow racing. All that I know I've managed to catch on the news.

I do think it is funny that some of the other racers are complaining about her and the advantage she must have because she weighs less than they do. Didn't this situation ever come up before? Surely there was a man racing in the past who was of slight build and in a similar situation? This complaint is so ridiculously sexist it is amazing.

So - that's why I haven't written any racing stories.

But I am sure there are many who can't wait to read yours.

 

[Edward Teach]

Robby Gordon is not a great driver and his public statement about Danica Patrick’s weight proves that he ain’t no public relations whiz either. But the fact is that he was right. I suspect that he was put up to it by other drivers.

With tens of millions of dollars or more at stake, I also doubt that the reason was purely sexist. She is a good driver and I would bet a pretty penny that NASCAR would love to have her on its circuit.

The best thing that could have happened to the slumping IRL would have been for Patrick to have won and you can bet that the IRL and all the sponsors are aware of it. The TV ratings were up and Patrick is undoubtedly the reason. The fact that the IRL immediately announced that there would be no rule change indicates that they want to do all possible to ensure that Patrick remains competitive.

An Indy car must weigh a minimum of 1525 pounds without the driver or fuel. The average Indy driver weighs approximately 180 lbs., about 80 lbs. more than Patrick giving her car a 5% weight advantage. That reportedly equates to 1 mph extra speed for her car. In a race where hundredths of a mile per hour are meaningful, a mile per hour is a tremendous advantage. It roughly equates to allowing her to race 498 miles for the win while everyone else has to go the full 500 miles.

The Indy cars pull as many as 5 Gs in some turns. 80 lbs extra weight equals 400 lbs. extra centrifugal push on the heavier cars in a 5 G corner, enough to cause the heavier cars to have to take the corners slower.

I would imagine that the weight issue has come up before. Why the IRL hasn’t changed the rule to include the driver’s weight in the car’s minimum weight, I haven’t a clue because it does make a difference.

NASCAR includes the driver’s weight in its minimum weight requirement and the NASCAR machines are about twice as heavy as the Indy cars. Driver weight would be less of a factor in the heavier NASCAR cars.

Personally, I was pulling for Patrick to win and was happy to see her finish well but her car did have an advantage.

Ed

.

 

[Guest]

Robby Gordon is not a great driver and his public statement about Danica Patrick’s weight proves that he ain’t no public relations whiz either. But the fact is that he was right. I suspect that he was put up to it by other drivers.

. . . I would imagine that the weight issue has come up before. Why the IRL hasn’t changed the rule to include the driver’s weight in the car’s minimum weight, I haven’t a clue because it does make a difference.

That is my question actually, Teach. This has to have happened before, and yet we've heard no grumblings? It would be a simple matter to weigh all the drivers beforehand and then add weight to certain vehicles to equalize the field.

But nothing until now? Sounds like sour grapes to me, and a bit of "little girls shouldn't be trying to race with the big boys, it's not fair!!!" pouting.

 

[R. Richard]

They have encountered the weight problem before, in horse racing. Some of you may recall they have an answer for the problem. They use little guys called jockeys.

 

[Guest]

I saw Dranoel's description of her in this thread :

That too.

And not only is she an incredibly beautiful woman with a fairly successful modeling career, she is a very successful racing driver having an overall win to her credit in the Grand Am series as well as several class wins in bot Grand Am and ALMS and a couple minor series championships.

But here's the kicker: She also holds FOUR Masters Degrees in Oganizational Developement, Naval Architecture, Maritime Business and Marine Biology. Three of those she accomplished simultaneously.

An amazing woman from any angle.

Frankly, if I wrote a story with such a young woman as beautiful, talented, accomplished, educated, and driven as Danica, the Public Comments on the story would no doubt lambast me for creating a too idealized woman.

I've never been one to do celebrity stories--but she certainly underscores that creating a strong woman character with multiple amazing attributes in addition to beauty and sexuality is not totally unbelievable.

And to put the topic of this thread before us :

http://www.danicaracing.com/images/photos/danica-sparco.jpg

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Robby Gordon is not a great driver and his public statement about Danica Patrick’s weight proves that he ain’t no public relations whiz either. But the fact is that he was right. I suspect that he was put up to it by other drivers.

With tens of millions of dollars or more at stake, I also doubt that the reason was purely sexist. She is a good driver and I would bet a pretty penny that NASCAR would love to have her on its circuit.

The best thing that could have happened to the slumping IRL would have been for Patrick to have won and you can bet that the IRL and all the sponsors are aware of it. The TV ratings were up and Patrick is undoubtedly the reason. The fact that the IRL immediately announced that there would be no rule change indicates that they want to do all possible to ensure that Patrick remains competitive.

An Indy car must weigh a minimum of 1525 pounds without the driver or fuel. The average Indy driver weighs approximately 180 lbs., about 80 lbs. more than Patrick giving her car a 5% weight advantage. That reportedly equates to 1 mph extra speed for her car. In a race where hundredths of a mile per hour are meaningful, a mile per hour is a tremendous advantage. It roughly equates to allowing her to race 498 miles for the win while everyone else has to go the full 500 miles.

The Indy cars pull as many as 5 Gs in some turns. 80 lbs extra weight equals 400 lbs. extra centrifugal push on the heavier cars in a 5 G corner, enough to cause the heavier cars to have to take the corners slower.

I would imagine that the weight issue has come up before. Why the IRL hasn’t changed the rule to include the driver’s weight in the car’s minimum weight, I haven’t a clue because it does make a difference.

NASCAR includes the driver’s weight in its minimum weight requirement and the NASCAR machines are about twice as heavy as the Indy cars. Driver weight would be less of a factor in the heavier NASCAR cars.

Personally, I was pulling for Patrick to win and was happy to see her finish well but her car did have an advantage.

Ed

.

My real impression is...So?

Shaquelle O'Niel can't hit a free throw. Yet he's supposed to be all that in the NBA. I would say his height and weight give him an advantage.

Would anyone put up with Terrrel Owen's nonsense if he weren't tall and rangey, able to go up and get the ball?

In practically every sport I can think of, people gain or lose advantage when their physical proportions are different from the average.

What really pisses me off, is that if she wins, instead of the mutual mastubatory exclaimations of how good the winner is, these assholes will be complaining about her weight.

If Robby gordon don't like it, I have a sugestion for him. Diet.

 

[impressive]

If Robby gordon don't like it, I have a sugestion for him. Diet.

Yup. I mean, if it's THAT much of an advantage, all the drivers would look like jockeys.

Still, you don't see many tiny female jockeys.

 

[Belegon]

Yup. I mean, if it's THAT much of an advantage, all the drivers would look like jockeys.

Still, you don't see many tiny female jockeys.

Save a horse, ride a cowboy....




damn it, where is that hat? found the boots already...

 

[impressive]

Save a horse, ride a cowboy....




damn it, where is that hat? found the boots already...

I call dibs on bareback!

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

http://www.gorace.com/Danica%20Patrick%20%20Rahal%20Toyota%20Atlantic%20(1)a.jpg​

Actually, Richard's comparison to horse racing was on the mark.

I always thought that race car driving was more a matter of talent, judgement, stamina, and nerve. (The boys like to call it balls.)

Isn't that why there is so much machismo connected to race drivers?

If it now turns out, the critical factor is really only weight, then NASCAR should weigh each car and driver just before the race, and add weights to the race car's frame so they all matched the heaviest car and driver combo, just like they do with thoroughbreds.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

Yup. I mean, if it's THAT much of an advantage, all the drivers would look like jockeys.

Still, you don't see many tiny female jockeys.

http://www.patlangphotos.com/files/ladies/girljox.jpg

There are plenty of Female Jockeys who both race and win. ​

 

[blackhaus7]

Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves are not that much bigger than Danica, so weight there doesn't matter that much. She does have the talent, though, because she spent the last two years competatively in Formula Atlantic that weighs drivers and cars together. Formula One does this as well. The only advantage then is that the weight can be put where the engineer thinks best.

 

[Guest]

There are a few facts I would like to clear up here.

Edward Teach: The Average weight of an inycar driver is FAR below the 180 lbs you stated. In fact the heaviest driver in this years indy field was Sam Hornish jr. at 165 lbs. Oddly, almost as is to illustrate the opposing view to Robby Gordon, Hornish quilified in second place for the race usinge an engine that is known to be slightly less powerfun than the one in Danica's car.

Robby gordon is actually heavy even by NASCAR standards. The average weight is actually closer to 145 lbs in the indycar series. The next lightest driver after Danica is Bruno Junquiera at 135.


Ted-E-Bare: That quote was acyually in reference to Milka Dunno who was also mentioned in that thread. Danica is not a college graduate and in fact has not, to my knowledge, attended any college. Don't get me wrong, when I met Danica, 9 years ago at a go cart race (she was a competitor), she was 14 and obviously VERY smart. A quality I find in most of the better drivers in any series.

 

[Guest]

Ted-E-Bare: That quote was acyually in reference to Milka Dunno who was also mentioned in that thread. Danica is not a college graduate and in fact has not, to my knowledge, attended any college. Don't get me wrong, when I met Danica, 9 years ago at a go cart race (she was a competitor), she was 14 and obviously VERY smart. A quality I find in most of the better drivers in any series.

I mis-read it. Good, I don't feel like such a slacker not having achieved at my age what I was attributing to her at 23.

 

[Edward Teach]

My real impression is...So?

Shaquelle O'Niel can't hit a free throw. Yet he's supposed to be all that in the NBA. I would say his height and weight give him an advantage.

Would anyone put up with Terrrel Owen's nonsense if he weren't tall and rangey, able to go up and get the ball?

In practically every sport I can think of, people gain or lose advantage when their physical proportions are different from the average.

What really pisses me off, is that if she wins, instead of the mutual mastubatory exclaimations of how good the winner is, these assholes will be complaining about her weight.

If Robby gordon don't like it, I have a sugestion for him. Diet.

Obviously, the IRL also believes that driver size is an irrelevant issue or else they would have changed their rules long ago.

What Robby Gordon’s motivation was can only be speculated about.

I suspect that the driver weight rule has been the subject of argument inside the IRL for a long time and that some team owner, knowing that a statement about Patrick would receive lots of press, got Gordon to speak out for political purposes.

Maybe it was sexist inspired, I don’t know but I doubt it.

TV ratings were up and surely the IRL, all its sponsors, team owners and drivers knew that Patrick's presence was putting money in everyone’s pocket. She was a positive for the race and the IRL.

Most of the people at the race appeared to be pulling for Patrick to win. When she led the race, the cameras showed almost the entire crowd standing and cheering. They also appeared to be pulling for her at the end of the race.

Had she won, I’m sure there would have been questions raised by the press about her weight -- that is the nature of the media. But I don't think the IRL or the public would have cared in the least and I believe she would have been praised as the biggest sports hero since Tiger Woods.

Ed

.

 

[Guest]

There are a few facts I would like to clear up here.

Edward Teach: The Average weight of an inycar driver is FAR below the 180 lbs you stated. In fact the heaviest driver in this years indy field was Sam Hornish jr. at 165 lbs. Oddly, almost as is to illustrate the opposing view to Robby Gordon, Hornish quilified in second place for the race usinge an engine that is known to be slightly less powerfun than the one in Danica's car.

Robby gordon is actually heavy even by NASCAR standards. The average weight is actually closer to 145 lbs in the indycar series. The next lightest driver after Danica is Bruno Junquiera at 135. . .

So Dran -

You seem to be more of an expert on racing than many here (well, I could ask my brother-in-law, but he can be a pompous windbag about things - groan) so may I phrase this question to you?

Do you feel this situation is more of a sexist response than a true racing problem? And if she had won, would all of her accomplishments have an *asterisk* by them in the record books (or at least in the minds of the other racers) because of it?

It certainly seems sexist to me. It is almost disquieting to come smack in the face of that, listening to everyone attempt to explain it away over and over again on Headline News. Come on!

 

[Edward Teach]

http://www.gorace.com/Danica%20Patrick%20%20Rahal%20Toyota%20Atlantic%20(1)a.jpg​

Actually, Richard's comparison to horse racing was on the mark.

I always thought that race car driving was more a matter of talent, judgement, stamina, and nerve. (The boys like to call it balls.)

Isn't that why there is so much machismo connected to race drivers?

If it now turns out, the critical factor is really only weight, then NASCAR should weigh each car and driver just before the race, and add weights to the race car's frame so they all matched the heaviest car and driver combo, just like they do with thoroughbreds.

As I stated in my first post, NASCAR does weigh car and driver. They have to meet a weight minimun. The cars have very specific types of weights that have to be added and even have to be painted a certain way.

Ed

.

 

[Edward Teach]

There are a few facts I would like to clear up here.

Edward Teach: The Average weight of an inycar driver is FAR below the 180 lbs you stated. In fact the heaviest driver in this years indy field was Sam Hornish jr. at 165 lbs. Oddly, almost as is to illustrate the opposing view to Robby Gordon, Hornish quilified in second place for the race usinge an engine that is known to be slightly less powerfun than the one in Danica's car.

Robby gordon is actually heavy even by NASCAR standards. The average weight is actually closer to 145 lbs in the indycar series. The next lightest driver after Danica is Bruno Junquiera at 135.

Dran, I got that 180 pound average from a Google search but I don't recall the site. You seem to know your facts so I have no reason to doubt you.

Ed

.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

. . . Robby gordon is actually heavy even by NASCAR standards. .

Perhaps that is the point.

Maybe Gordon is already getting static from his team to take off some weight. If a featherweight woman starts winning races, and screwing up the averages, his team's pressure would only increase to either get him to lose weight, or to pull the porker out of their car.

One of my best friends is always fighting her weight problem, so if this were the case, I ordinarily would be inclined to feel sorry for Gordon.

In this instance, however, it would look good on him.

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

Perhaps that is the point.

Maybe Gordon is already getting static from his team to take off some weight. If a featherweight woman starts winning races, and screwing up the averages, his team's pressure would only increase to either get him to lose weight, or to pull the porker out of their car.

One of my best friends is always fighting her weight problem, so if this were the case, I ordinarily would be inclined to feel sorry for Gordon.

In this instance, however, it would look good on him.

Robbie Gordon is his team. In NASCAR anyway. He owns and races his own car, and there are other racers who weigh as much or more than he does. I'm curious as to why Robbie Gordon even said anything. Does he race in the IRL at all?

 

[Edward Teach]

Perhaps that is the point.

Maybe Gordon is already getting static from his team to take off some weight. If a featherweight woman starts winning races, and screwing up the averages, his team's pressure would only increase to either get him to lose weight, or to pull the porker out of their car.

One of my best friends is always fighting her weight problem, so if this were the case, I ordinarily would be inclined to feel sorry for Gordon.

In this instance, however, it would look good on him.

In NASCAR they have a minimum amount a car and driver has to weigh. They build the cars to less than that minimum weight then add weight to get up to the minimun. Driver weight doesn't matter. All the cars, with drivers, can weigh the same and probably do.

One point I keep trying to make is that the IRL obvioulsy wants Patrick to drive. There has been no sexism, no complaints, no nothing that I know of from anyone in the IRL or the Indy 500.

Robbie Gordon was not even a driver in the race.

Ed

 

[Guest]

Dran, I got that 180 pound average from a Google search but I don't recall the site. You seem to know your facts so I have no reason to doubt you.

Ed

.

Driver stats including weight are available at www.indycar.com.

 

[blackhaus7]

To Sarahh - I really don't think there is sexism. However, there are three premier teams in the IRL - Andretti-Green, Rahal-Letterman and Penske. Patrick is the only driver on these three teams that is a rookie. Usually rookies prove themselves on lesser equipment and move up. Patrick arrived on top. Any talented driver would get the same type of attention. The talk I heard was about her accomplishments as a rookie.

By the way, one of the best Formula Vee drivers in Sports Car Club of America lives in Manhattan, KS (lower your hackles, SSS). Her name is Lisa Noble and she has been driving for 20 years. Her husband is the best engine builder in the class in the country and a national champion. Had a wonderful conversation with her last weekend when she was an instructor at a driver's school.

Finally, I have no idea what's going on with Robby Gordon. Yes, he ran in IRL several years ago before going to NASCAR (like Tony Stewart). Robby should be in the World Rally Championship. It would suit his driving style better since he got his start off-road.

 

[Guest]

To Sarahh - I really don't think there is sexism. However, there are three premier teams in the IRL - Andretti-Green, Rahal-Letterman and Penske. Patrick is the only driver on these three teams that is a rookie. Usually rookies prove themselves on lesser equipment and move up. Patrick arrived on top. Any talented driver would get the same type of attention. The talk I heard was about her accomplishments as a rookie.

By the way, one of the best Formula Vee drivers in Sports Car Club of America lives in Manhattan, KS (lower your hackles, SSS). Her name is Lisa Noble and she has been driving for 20 years. Her husband is the best engine builder in the class in the country and a national champion. Had a wonderful conversation with her last weekend when she was an instructor at a driver's school.

Finally, I have no idea what's going on with Robby Gordon. Yes, he ran in IRL several years ago before going to NASCAR (like Tony Stewart). Robby should be in the World Rally Championship. It would suit his driving style better since he got his start off-road.

Hackles? Moi?


Surely you jest.


http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/armee/00234.gif


(So I guess Gordon is just one blustering loud-mouth tainting the field.)