LuigiVampa

I heard she can't parallel park.

Veloce Raptor

What a load of ****.

Falcondrivr

Whatever her skills are, she's a pain in the *** in her off the track life. I've spent time with and around several celebrities, much bigger names than her. She conducts herself as if she is the queen of the world. Makes sure that everyone knows she is not to be spoken to directly, etc...
I've always believed that how a person treats those that they don't need to be nice to shows their true nature.
She's rotten.

Veloce Raptor

While I agree she does come off poorly many times in her non-racing life...so what? I am interested in the racing, not the reality show personal dramas.

That's why this is the racing forum, not the American Idol forum.

winders

More sour grapes.....

Scott

Streak

Like her or not, and she is a very divisive figure in the sport, she has made a bit of history and you can't argue with that.

Mahler9th

Well good for her and her team.

I spent about 15-20 minutes one-on-one with her back when she was running Atlantics. She was friendly and candid as she waited for a run session. Not the most outgoing person, but friendly. We talked about Atlantic set up and the track (Laguna) if I recall correctly.

I have not followed her career closely, but I watch racing and she can clearly drive. The only career move that I stumbled across that disappointed me was her FHM photo shoot years ago. For some reason I found it went beyond the boundaries.

In any case, I hope for a good 500. Good racing and no one gets hurt.

67King

What did he say?

mklaskin

What has she done in the last 3 years?

I stand by my comment. She's okay, but has yet to prove herself when driving very good equipment. The new car is a bit of an equalizer for all of the teams, so lets see how the race unfolds. If she manages a win or even a couple more poles this year, I may change my opinion. I'm not subscribing to any NASCAR conspiracy theories (I've grown to appreciate their racing quite a bit actually), I'm just basing this off results.

As for my reference to a story from 2010, Alonso haters have been milking Spygate for almost 6 years...

ltc

I would suggest everyone just wait until the end of the season to judge Ms. Patrick's on track performance.

NASCAR racing at Daytona and Talladega is often stated to be more about car (and drafting help during a race) than driver.

If she is as dominant over the course of the season as she was qualifying for the first race, then the debate will be over.

Veloce Raptor

What has she done? She has done generally better than Mr. Earnhardt's namesake son...who has aguably the BEST of everything and the biggest fan base.

As for Alonso, you're right, some people are. However, IMO, Alonso has comported himself generally much better since joining Ferrari...very professionally...much like danica has since going NASCAR.

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, of course. However, to me, winning pole position of the Daytona 500 is a massive accomplishment for ANYONE, and stands on its own.

mglobe

That's a pretty tall order isn't it? Who has been dominant over the course of the season in NASCAR? Someone sometimes stands out in the points race by a large margin, but his name is Jimmy Johnson. When Stewart won The Chase two years ago, he put on a charge at the end of the season to get it. He didn't exactly dominate the field.

So if Danica doesn't get another pole, and maybe only has a couple of top 10's, she's a hack? If she gets another pole, finishes in the chase, but can't win it, that's not enough?

Just trying to understand what the metric is for deciding that she's a good driver.

Land Jet

Get back to me when she actually wins something. Or better yet when she is crowned series champion. Until then you're just spitting into the wind.

Veloce Raptor

Sort of like Dale Jr?

LOL at you...

GT3DE

You can build a car to be fast by itself or fast in the pack [Daytona & Talladega].
Once race starts, Danica to the rear. lol