mglobe

I'm not taking the bait from the haters.

She has worked hard, and carried herself well as she's moved into NASCAR. She's proven that she belongs out there with the big boys, and she is a great ambassador for motorsports.

She earned the P1 starting position, and I'm glad to see it happen.

Vonschmidt

Personally I think she works harder than most, and we all know that as a public image she is helping expand the attention on motorsports. Great ambassador. IMHO

mklaskin

Let's see how she does going into turn 1.

She's talented, okay, but she's never proven herself to worthy of these rides when other waaay more talented guys are out there. She plays the cute n' sexy card when she can, good for her. Let's not forget that she threw her team under the bus pretty quickly at Indy in 2010.

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing...ory?id=5210730



Fans react sourly to Danica comments


Updated: May 23, 2010, 1:48 AM ET
Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick has experienced a new sensation at the Indianapolis 500 -- getting booed.

IndyCar's most popular driver heard fans' displeasure Saturday when her comments blaming a poor qualifying performance on her car's setup were broadcast over the racetrack public address system.

Patrick, by far the leader in merchandise sales and visibility in the series, appeared upset when she talked about the reaction.

Patrick

"I say one confident thing out there, that it's not me, and everybody boos me," she said. "I don't know, maybe they were booing me before, but some of them were probably cheering for me before. I'm not a different driver than I was five years ago."

The fans objected to her comments, but her team didn't.

"You take one on the chin, but maybe you had it coming this time," Tom Anderson, Andretti Autosport's senior vice president for racing operations, said. "All you can do is turn the other cheek and just get back to work."

Patrick averaged 224.217 mph on four laps in her only attempt and ended up qualifying 23rd for the May 30 race. The team didn't plan to send her out for a second run, but nervousness set in as her time began falling down the field. She was in line, waiting for another shot when time ran out.

"I think we underestimated, or I underestimated what it was going to take to make the top 24 there," Anderson said. "Speeds were up a little bit. Not the starting position we wanted, for sure. Sometimes, you just need a day away from the track to analyze it."

Patrick was shaking and holding back tears after the qualifying run. She said adjustments on the car throughout the week were poor.

"The car is just totally skating across the track, and there's no grip," she said. "My mechanics took tons of time to make sure it was fast and slick and no drag. It's there, it's just that the setup's not there. I feel bad for them because it's a good car.

"The GoDaddy car deserves to be higher up than this. It's better than this. It's just not set up right."

Anderson agreed.

"We've been fighting a loose car all week," Anderson said. "We couldn't get the back end stable enough for her. We haven't mechanically balanced the car just right, and it's unnerving her."

It's not just Patrick's car that has struggled in Indianapolis. Her teammates, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan and John Andretti, haven't found their usual speed.

Kanaan crashed during his first qualifying run. The former IndyCar Series champion and Indy pole sitter did a 180-degree spin on the first qualifying lap, then had the car snap back around, slide up the track and hit the wall hard. He did not return to the track for the rest of qualifying.

"It's a bit similar with the other cars on the team, so I don't think she's fighting the situation alone," Anderson said. "I think Danica may be more descriptive in her feeling on the car, but I would say she's exactly correct."

Patrick finished fourth at Indy in 2005 and third last year, but she's struggled this year. She's in 16th in the point standings.

She wasn't even the fastest female qualifier for the 500 -- two rookie women beat her. Ana Beatriz of Brazil will start 21st and Simona de Silvestro of Switzerland will start 22nd.

Patrick challenged her engineers to get it together.

"This is disappointing," she said. "None of us are OK with this. We all are generally saying the same things. I know that whatever it takes, the team will do. We just need to be uniform in what we want."

Anderson still believes Patrick can push her way up through the field on race day.

"She didn't forget how to drive," he said. "I think it's up to us to give her as a good a car under the new regulations as we gave her last year."


Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

Also remember that Katherine Legge won 3 Atlantic events...Danica none.

Veloce Raptor

Wow. May of 2010? That's the best you've got? 3 year old stuff?

LMAO....

As I said...

analogmike

I'm not a Danika hater at all, but I know how Nascar works and they are the worst with giving teams "the call". But it's all good, more people will pay attention to racing. It's not as rigged as pro wrestling and both have a lot of fans.

uscarrera

I hope she does not fall back to much or she will need the Lucky Dog, maybe we can get to watch her on the Gopher Cam, and in the future maybe NASCAR will install the Entertainment Yellow that some have suggested, not WWF, really?
Rich

fstockcarrera

+500 Good for her. I was happy to see it.



Funny how the mentality persists, that the winners are always cheating or have an unfair advantage and the losers just suck. Amazing

GT3 Techno

+1

NASCAR is a BIG show and I even like it ! Funny how local drivers at the Montreal Nationwide race always got the pole... good to sell tickets I guess. After the green flag is given, then its a real race. Lets see how she does in the race.

Darkstar1

Now if the boys can keep themselves from driving her into the wall, maybe she can finish well also.

Veloce Raptor

And that if their favorite is fastest, he/she is a great driver. If their non-favorite is fastest, it's their car.

bauerjab

i am not passing judgment on Patrick one way or the other. Her record speaks for itself. I am wondering if her light weight results in an advantage. A quck Google search states the cars w/o driver must weigh a minimum of 3400 lbs. And if the driver weighs less than 200lbs, there is some formula for adjusting weight. Does anyone know for sure how this works. IIRC, her weight advantage was an issue expressly raised at INDY when she was racing those cars.

Astroman

Dang Mike, I thought you were joking (in your 1st comment).

ProCoach

Sweet!

LUV2SPEED2

look I like Danica but Nascar Is the WWE of auto racing. This was a very easy fix, remember this ai a restrictor plate race, Nascar officals hand the plate to the team and watch them install on engine. Gee do you think she got a plate a little larger ?

NaroEscape

while I can't argue that NASCAR doesn't have a certain amount of 'marketing results', how then do you explain the drought that guys like Jr. go through? Seriously, it's in NASCAR's best interests to have Jr. win a lot...and he doesn't. Odd, no?

Jr. used to be a young punk...he's grown up and everyone applauds him for his 'maturity'. So has Danica...but people keep bringing up her past? I'm not saying she's an angel, but we accept the arrogance and ego's of all the F1 racers right? Hypocritical don't you think??

And my guess is there are VERY few of you on this board that can hold a candle to her driving ability....

Just sayin....