ColorChange

I claim no expertise in race craft but boy did Danica blow it in my eyes. Her 4th place finish was pure luck due to highly beneficial yellows. Stalling the car was bad enough, but the spin under caution I can't understand. There may have been a little jockeying going on, but nothing big and certainly nothing to cause her to spin and ruin the races of about 3 or 4 other cars.

I though her job was brutal. The press was singing her praises for a great drive .... Hah!

kary993

As they said at the beginning race, the final ingredient for success there is luck. Stalling in the pit happens as was mentioned. Hitting cars during a yellow also happens when folks are trying to get a jump for the green. Was it a rookie mistake, maybe, but when she was hit by another she handled it quite well and recovered as she did when she hit someone under the yellow was a great piece of drvining. I thought she had a great drive....we will see more of her for sure!

John H

If there should be criticizm of anyone, let's talk about the Foyts. Would either be there without their name? Worst part of the race was when they showed the guy they said was Danika's fiance.

MarkPcar

I thought she did pretty well, she admitted her rookie mistakes and made no excuses. Anyone who can drive a sustained 220+ is damn good in my book!

Geo

I thought she did an awesome job. The stall was blunder, but even the best of them stall on pit exit occassionally. It almost ruined her day, but it didn't. Ineterestingly enough, it usually wouldn't have made that much of a difference, but the race was unusually competitive and she didn't get back up front quickly like I thought she would.

My first thought about the caution lap spin was that she was warming her tires and it got away from her, just as the analysts said. However, the last time I saw the in-car replay it appeared very much to me that the queue checked up and she had to nail the brakes while somewhat sideways to the track. If you see the replay again, see if you don't agree. Still something of a rookie mistake as she should have left herself more room while warming the tires.

Overall I think she showed maturity way beyond her years and she did an excellent job. Hell, to have suffered those two mistakes and still be in it at the end was for me proof of outstanding ability. Good work by her crew too, although I thought they blew it by not bringing her in to top off at the end of the yellow for her spin. That would have given her more options for her next refueling and may have made the difference at the end when she was having to run lean. It wouldn't have may much difference in her track position to have topped off then.

I agree about the Foyts. Total hack job.

Skip Wolfe

I agree she was brake checked. Rookie mistake, but heck even F1 drivers get caught by that one every now and again. I was impressed that she got control after hitting and spinning just in time to duck in the pits. If she would have struggled just a bit longer she would have missed pit in. Overall I think she did a nice job, and Rahal/Letterman is definitely a first class org.

trumperZ06

Driving over 220 mph. on an OVAL,

takes a lot of TALENT, too !

CC.... luv your "comments"... as usual !!!

DrJupeman

I was rooting for her. I think it is great for the sport. First woman to ever lead a lap at Indy (more than one with the latest lead being only 10 laps from the end)! She made some mistakes but should only get better. She's only 23!



Let's get her driving in a Porsche at Le Mans!

earlyapex

She really impressed me. She was under the media microscope for weeks before the event and still maintained her composure. She will be someone that should excel.

ltc

I was karting with my son, so I ended up recording the F1 and 500 races.
For a rookie, it was a performance that probably exceeded the realistic expectations.
The only issue I had was the emphasis made over the fact that Danica is a female driver. Of course, emphasis is normally followed by commercial exploitation leading up to the race (see attached pic).

Coochas

I too think she did a great job and am glad to see others (mainly) in agreement.
She is 22 and this was her fifth Indy car race - so, placing fourth is pretty darn good! Did she benefit from cautions,...well, yuh,...but that's racing.
My take on it was that she looked like she had fuel starvation on one of the final laps when she suddenly slowed...again, part of racing.
I hope we'll be seeing more of Danica and other women in the racing community.

Mark in Baltimore

It's always easy to be critical of the pros, Indy, no less, when we're putting in perfect laps in our little driver's eds...

38D

I'm guessing you often like to try to find Tiger's swing flaws. Seriously, she's 23, absurdly hot, and just had about the best run ever for a woman in a big time race. She can Lexol my stick any day.

Chaos

AJ Foyt IV needs to retire before he permanently retires someone !

Lothar

You got the first part right.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Many a veteran has stalled in the pit or gotten on the throttle a little too hard on cold tires and made the same mistakes. There is probably not one successful race driver who has not done the same thing and probably well after their rookie appearance.

If you got in that car you probably wouldn't be able to get the thing in gear without stalling it ten times. She drove the car in excess of 229 mph. (average lap speed) in practice, was fastest on carburetion day and didn't splatter the car all over a wall. That earns my respect. The fact that she made it to the finish at all is remarkable for anyone in a 500 mile IRL race.

I have no idea how hard it is to accomplish the things that she has. However, I know they are well beyond my limited skills, and I am equally sure they are well beyond yours as well.

That said, if Danica is just a lucky hack, that makes most of us on this forum mere low born gutter scum. Give credit where credit is due.