Milka

[Leighton Irwin]

To be serious for a change, Milka is 7 seconds off the pace and has been all weekend. This could be a serious problem at the Glen, for example through the uphill esses. For those who do not know the track they are fast and there really is no room for cars to go side by side. Since they lead into a long straight it is critical to get through there at top speed.
Hopefully if she is too slow an excuse will be found to pull her off the track.
There are other areas of the track she could create serious and dangerous problems. In many ways the Glen is more dangerous with a high speed differential than the ovals. It is easier on an oval to stay out of the way.

[johntt]

Originally Posted by Leighton Irwin

To be serious for a change, Milka is 7 seconds off the pace and has been all weekend. This could be a serious problem at the Glen, for example through the uphill esses. For those who do not know the track they are fast and there really is no room for cars to go side by side. Since they lead into a long straight it is critical to get through there at top speed.
Hopefully if she is too slow an excuse will be found to pull her off the track.
There are other areas of the track she could create serious and dangerous problems. In many ways the Glen is more dangerous with a high speed differential than the ovals. It is easier on an oval to stay out of the way.

People like Milka and Roth (as a driver) are some of the fillers that populated the IRL before the big names arrived (and continued to make up the second half of the field up until unification).

Hopefully in the next 2/3 years as the series gathers strength it will attract better quality sponsors/drivers/teams and push them out. Dreyer and Reinbold clearly need that Citgo $$$ to survive, which is why I wouln't jump on the idea of kicking Duno out of the series immediately, maybe gover her a warning. Roth needs to be booted upstairs into managing his team and let a younger driver behind the wheel of the car he drives.

[Leighton Irwin]

I didn't mean she should be excluded from the series. Just that if she continues to be that far or further off the pace in this race she should encounter "handling problems or gearbox trouble" as called by Race Control. It has been done before.

[enemy-ace]

Originally Posted by Leighton Irwin

I didn't mean she should be excluded from the series.

I do. It's a dangerous sport that doesn't need the risks compounded.

[Mystery]

Hmmmm....I understand the point but would you have extended that to Sarah Fisher's rather slow performances last year on the road courses. I don't remember threads being devoted to that.

Milka's better than she was on ovals, but was woeful this past weekend.

[mattcat]

She is woeful everywhere. There comes a time when you have to say, "Ok, this isn't working out, maybe I should do something else with my time." Seven seconds a lap off the pace is a rolling chicane.

[mountainstar]

I know of people that have worked with her. Very nice lady but way out of her depth at this level or even indy lights.

[Dutton]

She certainly seems significantly better on the ovals than last season, but still a bit pap. It was entirely predictable that she would suck to the nth-degree at the Glen.

As for the ruling body, well, they shouldn't need to come up with some "excuse" for pulling her off the track. They should use what is an entirely valid reason: the driver is going so slowly that a real and present danger is presented to the other drivers.

There is just no way a driver should be on the track and competing in a field that is so far beyond said driver's capabilities. If a team is unable to function without the dollars that running such a driver brings in (well, more accurately, is incapable of finding it elsewhere), well, I would argue that that team's time has come.

As far as I am concerned, there is simply no justification for a series to allow this kind of situation to exist.

[KSR88]

This is racing..........and at some point something really terrifying will happen to convince her that she will never make it. I am amazed it hasn't happened yet. The last incident at the Glen somewhere else could have been it. Although more and more it seems the inept and wealthy seem to have had partial lobotomies so common sense and fear no longer registers.
We can only hope the terrifying experience doesn't cost someone else.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by Dutton

As for the ruling body, well, they shouldn't need to come up with some "excuse" for pulling her off the track. They should use what is an entirely valid reason: the driver is going so slowly that a real and present danger is presented to the other drivers.

There is just no way a driver should be on the track and competing in a field that is so far beyond said driver's capabilities.

That's exactly what the iRL did at iowa, and I suspect that it will happen again at Nashville this weekend.

Last year, they parked her until she could get more experience under IRL supervision before she would be allowed to return to competition.

[Raven]

It wasn't long ago people were saying that Ed Carpenter and AJ Foyt IV were out of their depth. Now that they've got a decent amount of experience, they're holding their own quite nicely.

To her credit, Milka, too, is beginning to show a better turn of pace. She's still making mistakes, but overall her composure in races seems to have improved a lot as well.

A better car and some experience to draw from can go a long way.

[enemy-ace]

Hopefully nobody will suffer a Bruno Junqueria type injury during her learning process.

[mattcat]

Originally Posted by enemy-ace

Hopefully nobody will suffer a Bruno Junqueria type injury during her learning process.

[Leighton Irwin]

1st practice at Mid Ohio and she is last and 5 seconds off fastest (Kanaan) with Marty 4 seconds off. Everyone else within 2 seconds. This is a beautiful track but very hard to pass on.

[Leighton Irwin]

Now she and Marty are 6 seconds off.

[foreversideways]

The back end of the grid looks poor in comparison to other high profile international series but hopefully as the unified series grows and it's profile rises, there will be no place for these types of drivers. Quite a few of the drivers look average on the ovals but very poor on the road course. As for Milka, the team clearly need the money but she just isn't quick enough. They need to set a pole plus % limit to make the grid.