Danica Patrick Wins Her first ever race at Motegi!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Motominded
  • 43 comments
  • 2,531 views
I was looking up a few websites about what Jensen Button said about Danica Patrick. One such post on a blog appalled me. Allow me to quote the first two comments from a blog I've read:



(inital post in this blog: http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2008/04/danica_patrick )

"Err.. Danica Patrick.. A great racing driver, but, I don't like that she's another successful woman who's thought it was necessary to pose in her knickers/bikini to get noticed." -Tom

...and then, there's this:

"I share your reservations, Tom, and I guess the best we can hope for is that now she's won her first race she won't have to do that any more." -Carrie



So I get the impression that Danica is more of a sex object to some people rather than a very popular racer that just won her first race last weekend. These dopes (with comments later rectified) think that Danica's been noticed from Sports Illustrated. Well... (buzzer) you're wrong! She REALLY got noticed when she had that hellacious performance at the Indianapolis 500 in 2005. Yes, she's an absolutely beautiful lady (that's why I have a Danica Patrick calendar). But some people still think she's a pretty face that can't win races. The honor of pretty face that can't win races is (and I love her, but...) Milka Duno. And who's to say she may not do a few more photoshoots (which is highly likely considering her popularity)? What if Danica wins this year's Indy 500? Is she still going to be that pretty face that can't win, or a highly competitive and capable racer? Hell... I can still remember my heart beating fast when Danica was leading. She probably would have won that race had it not been for some fuel pressure issues (or so I heard). I guess for all she does in racing, there are still those that are going to doubt her every step of the way. I'm probably sure she doesn't mind this because she is, after all, an athlete. And athletes are going to be under the microscope from critics and classless fans. Her statement said it best- "I can't please everyone."

Danica is my favorite driver for a reason. I think she's pretty consistent and pretty capable even on her worst days or nights. She'll have some bad races, but there's one underrated stat about Danica- she finishes races. She's had some DNF's before, but still manages to finish as best as she can. She's not snake-bitten and can't win anything. Maybe the fact that Danica won a race on a NASCAR [Sprint Cup] off-week has given her such popularity. She won however it was possible. Not like she cheated to win or roughed up somebody to win. All the criticism against Danica... I think she is continually focused and doesn't let people who threw trash on the track whenever Jeff Gordon won at Talladega get in Danica's way. Even if she doesn't win at Kansas, she's still gearing up to keep her good momentum going. I'd still be happy for Danica even if she places 5th or better at Kansas. The absolute best case for Danica would be that she wins Kansas AND the Indy 500. That would mean three consecutive races won as she'd be on a serious roll. After all, she is part of Andretti-Green. She's had promise with Rahal-Letterman, but I think she's really discovered herself now with AGR.

The question for Danica is... how far can she go from here? Will Danica be favored to win more at races? Will she be better able to make a push to win every race that she can win? Will she go from dark horse to contender? No matter what happens, I'll have my eyes on that black and blue #7 Motorola car.
 
The thing about drivers like Patrick, Duno, Sarah Fischer and Katherine Legge (and to a lesser extent Vanina Ickx and Susie Stoddart; but only lesser because DTM isn't as widely-known as Indycar) is that women in motorsport is a bit of a rarity, kind of like a guy who enjoys the film The Notebook not simply to try and pick up. I know it sounds sexist, but they're women in what has predominatly been a man's world. Sure, we've had the likes of Lella Lombardi in the past, but they haven't made an impact the way Danica Patrick has.

I'll admit that at first I was sceptical of having people like Patrick behind the wheel, not because I doubted their intentions, but because I doubted the motivations of whoever gave her the drive in the first place. When Danica Patrick was first announced as a racing driver - and even beforehand, when there was little more than speculation that she would sig a contract - it was obvious she was going to face intense media coverage. And it would be the kind of hyper-ositive coverage Lewis Hamilton gets; journalists would naturally be questioning her ability and whether it was all just a publicity stunt (ironically, Hamilton is the first F1 driver of a non-Caucasian or Asian descent, so his boat isn't all that different to Patrick's). Privately, I agreed with the latter: on a certain level, a part of me believed that this was like a company hiring a woman purely to meet their EEO quota for the year. The pressure was there; not because Patrick was driving for a top-flight team, but because she was born XX instead of XY. It wasn't a case of "OK kid, you're in the best team ... the pressure's on because if you come last, we're going to look really stupid", but of "OK kid, the pressure's on because you've got ovaries instead of testicles and if you screw up, it's your fault".

I never really paid that much attention to it; while I appreciate the tactical playing field of an oval raceway, I always felt the American open-wheel championships were far too dependent on them. And because racing to me involves turning right just as often as you turn left, it all passed under the radar, and ironically enough, it was Duno and Legge who drew my attention the most. Katherine Legge seemed to have a fairly mediocre season for the most part, and there were those comments about Duno driving ten miles an hour slower than everyone else (truth be told, I didn't actually know Duno was a woman until yesteday; I always mis-read her name as Mika Duno and thought she was a he of mixed Venezuelan and Finnish descent ...).

I even see this perceived inability or inferior driving skills in BATracer; I play the DNF World Championships, and there's always someone named Milka Duno (I may be guilty of racing under a woman's name, but I was Heidi Nickfeld, a play on Nick Heidfeld, so it's alright). Admittedly, I don't think drivers like Duno should be there, but only because she's a hazard.

Anyway, I'm glad that Danica Patrick has proven the nay-sayers wrong. As much as I love JB, his comments were way out of line; a woman winning in an international motrosports event can only be a good thing. Yes, I've jumped on the Danica Patrick bandwagon. And yes, I did it because she won at Motegi. But I also did it because I like people who buck the trend or are unconventional. I woudn't like my friends half as much as I do if I thought they were reasonable people.

But for her sake, I hope she can repeat her vitory (or at least get some podiums). If not tomorrow, then soon, because I'm afraid a female driver with a lone win to her name is going to ge a tougher time than a female driver with none.
 
Now if only I could find a decent 1280 x 800 photo of her car for my laptop background (I'm getting a bit sick of a white Honda against a white backdrop). The only pictures I can find are for standard monitors and usually feature her ... me, I'm just after her car. Asshe pointed out, the car doesn't know or care that she's female.
 
A shame, then, that she would face criticisms afterwards such as controversy over the lack of yellow flags (Ryan Briscoe touched the wall, if I can recall), Helio Castroneves' response to not contesting Danica after she took the lead (he was quoted as saying that he thought she was lapped), Graham Rahal's critical comments on her victory, and the critics also saying that because she won on strategy, her win was, 'tainted'. (Toronto Star)

At least she took it all in stride, as any classy race driver would. A historical moment like this being defaced by such details would have driven most anybody else to madness.
 
I imagine there's ging to be a bit of that since Patrick has scored one for the ladies. We live in a society that, rathe than congrtulating people when they achieve something, tries to downplay their efforts so as to make everyone else look and feel better.
Blake
Actually I imagine the torsional rigidity increases with her in the car.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but her car doesn't know that.
 
superberkut
he was quoted as saying that he thought she was lapped
Click to expand...
I found that most odd.

The teams have telemetry and can see where every other car is on the track and in terms of laps down etc, so surely Penske would've told Helio that Danica was not a lap down and was in fact fighting for position?

IMO, Helio moved over just so Danica could win... which brings me to another question: why?
 
Sharky.
I found that most odd.

The teams have telemetry and can see where every other car is on the track and in terms of laps down etc, so surely Penske would've told Helio that Danica was not a lap down and was in fact fighting for position?

IMO, Helio moved over just so Danica could win... which brings me to another question: why?
Click to expand...

Exactly, why would Helio intentionally allow Danica to win. He's in a points chase, and sacrificing a win sure as hell isn't going to help him maintain his point lead, especially with the Ganassi cars not far behind him on the road. Why would Helio slow down so much as to make it obvious? If he was simply "letting her win", he could have let her by on the last lap, but he slowed down well before she was even on his gearbox. Helio gains nothing out of sacrificing the win, the IRL maybe, but Helio's not going to make a decision like that in the middle of a race.

In other words, Helio didn't let her win. Helio and Danica had pitted on the same lap, but Helio had been pushing harder and hence had less fuel. Danica had been conserving and was able to go full throttle in the closing laps.
 
When asked what he thought about Danica Patrick's success in motorsport, Bernie Ecclestone had this to say:

Bernie
...women should be dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances
Click to expand...

When asked about women in F1, he said this beauty:

Bernie
she would have to be a woman who was blowing away the boys. ... What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish
Click to expand...

link
 
In other words, you'd have to go to the ends of the earth to find her, and that's before you knew whether she had even the faintest interest in acing.
 

Latest Posts

Back