Danica has lost the plot!

[Rick Mears fan]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Briscoe1

this john bloke has a huge chip on his shoulder. haha he is off his head. If we dare attack Danica's driving ability or post race actions then we are automatically sexist. Maybe this guy is just after a root?

Indeed we are all sexist according to 'John'.

I have heard it all now.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

The wider angle shot about 1:20 in reinforces my belief that Dan just held his line and Danica was overly ambotious going into the turn.

That's exactly what I just said. It's just a racing incident, everyone's agreeing.

[Bluewolf]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

At least one of you was highly critical of one AJ Foyt for losing his temper, but it is of course A-OK for Dan to lose his

Huh?? John -- This part of your post is innacurate. It wasn't Dan who lost his temper here, it was Danica who lost it and went after Wheldon -- I was critical of AJ for losing it and Danica for losing it - so you see, I have no double standard.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by indycool

Well, look at the drivers with similar records that those who find fault with Patrick DON'T pick on.

Meira has seven second-place finishes and hasn't won but has led races and is constantly toward the front. Fisher ran up front when she was younger, got a pole. Scheckter hasn't won in awhile, used to crash a lot and doesn't any more, but can't be ignored. Briscoe is lightning fast but crashes a lot.

As for words, Tracy has had 'em for people. So has Foyt. So has Stewart. So has Bourdais. So has Cheever. And that's before you get to the NASCAR list.

IMO, this was no different than any other fuss between race drivers. But it's sure getting a lot of attention for Texas Saturday night.

I seem to recall those incidents of physical attacks garnered the same attention.

[deejay]

Well, moving away from the wider geo-political discussions, let's go back to the actual incident.

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

New video footage here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB5dLpunf8M

The wider angle shot about 1:20 in reinforces my belief that Dan just held his line and Danica was overly ambotious going into the turn. The audio from Danica to Kim Green (I think?) is also pretty telling.

There's a car ahead of the melee (green and white car) that takes a higher line than Wheldon through that corner (without even a car beneath them). Watch the race, there were plenty of cars taking a higher line through that corner when they had cars underneath them. Wheldon could have held a higher line. Wheldon takes a wide entry into the corner and cuts down towards the bottom... changing his line. Would have been alright if he didn't have a car inside him... He knew she was there as well because she was right alongside him, with track position, just before corner entry. He seemed to expect her to have suddenly disappeared - or that he could enter the corner quick enough on the high line to clear her. He made a mistake.

I think the only reason the hit came so far to the back of Wheldon's car is that Danica looks to slow suddenly taking evasive action when she see him coming down on her... if she hadn't done that they'd have both ended in the wall.


Hey, a 4 page thread on the IRL board. Fantastic!

[deejay]

Also. ZOMG, Wheldon's won a race or two, he can do no wrong ever again!

(tell that to the Schumacher detractors)

[deejay]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

New video footage here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB5dLpunf8M

Look how shifty Dan is in the interview. Hesitant. Can't even make eye-contact. Not like him at ALL. He knew he was in the wrong.

[djb]

good comments John, a racer is a racer and she reacted like hundreds before her...no different, no big deal.

[Hepatic]

yeah, but it's happening too often with Danica, just as it does with Tracy. Quote from Danica on the IRL website:

"I said, 'I was clearly inside of you,' because I heard him saying in an interview that I wasn't all the way up alongside of him. So I'm not sure what is lost in translation there, but I was completely alongside of him. I've made many more passes happen with being less far up on someone.

She was on the straight before, but she took a tighter line in to the turn, so had to be slower in than Dan, hence dropping back just before they made contact. I still think nothing more than a racing incident. Dan could have given a little more room, Danica could have been a touch slower in. She was after all trying to do 2 cars in one move.

I just think for such a minor incident she need not have made her frustration so public. She's using the media - fair enough, but one day it'll bite back. It always does

[Mystery]

I've already made my feelings on the subject known elsewhere.

All I'll say here is that it is interesting to compare and contrast reactions after the event with two recent crashes.

Firstly, the lack of any aftermath following Marco taking out a fair proportion of the Indy 500 field by driving into Dan.

....compared to the frankly excessive aftermath after Dan may or may not have driven into Danica.


I will however agree with JohnSSC about one thing. I like the fact Danica cares - too often these days you get an anodyne reaction from the driver, yet the opposite reaction is reviled. I won't condone violence (however slappy and girly) but she does at least care. That said it probably does her no favours much like it didn't when her idol Mr Wheldon went off on one after a race a couple of years back when his team fouled something up - he made himself look stroppy - much like Danica did here.

Personality is to be applauded - doing something in public just for the dramatic effect of it is not - i'll leave it to you to decide for yourselves which this was.

[Tim Northcutt]

She had momentum, but in the final look at it, her right front tire hit his left rear....thus she was not along side him in the corner and he was in the groove and the racing line.

Barnhart saw it the same way and neither Wheldon (for the contact) nor Danica (from the confrontation) were penalized.

[rcarr]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

She had momentum, but in the final look at it, her right front tire hit his left rear....thus she was not along side him in the corner and he was in the groove and the racing line.

Barnhart saw it the same way and neither Wheldon (for the contact) nor Danica (from the confrontation) were penalized.

Thats the way I see it too! She was just being a silly little kid for throwing her toys out of the pram! It has happened with other drivers.

Remember when DC moved over to let MS through at Spa? Michael was out for blood that day anyway!

[Neil22]

Danica is a media savvy individual. Not only was she on the evening news for the confrontation, they also showed her saving her car. IRL needs all the press they can get. Go Danica.

[Tim Northcutt]

It's a shame that controversies in both the IRL and CCWS right now may detract from the fact that both are racing this weekend...

I covered this topic in my column this week...

[Dutton]

It was certainly only a racing incident. I can totally understand why Danica got ****ed off about it, but that does not make it intentional on anyone's part.

Regarding the post-race stuff, well, these things happen. I can most certainly live without it, and I think it is counter-productive for everyone involved, but I can't say it actively bothers me.

It bothers me if people complain when they get treated the way they treat other people. In the context of Danica, as long as she doesn't complain if she gets a physical response to one of her physical approaches, then I will fail to be particularly bothered by any of this stuff.

[indycool]

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/column...ohn&id=2894096

And Gossage at Texas has been quick to pick up on it and promote it for his race down there and use the situation to the advantage of his facility.....smart dude.

[Dutton]

Sure. Sensationalist stuff gets attention, therefor it works nicely for promotional purposes.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

It's a shame that controversies in both the IRL and CCWS right now may detract from the fact that both are racing this weekend...

I covered this topic in my column this week...

Here's how you get to Tim's (at least weekly) column.

(The Title tells the story, doesn't it?)

[deejay]

I tuned into Pardon the Interuption last night and there were TWO seperate segments on this incident... and they were really enthused about it.

Say what you will but this is great publicity for the series.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by runshaw

I assure you I'm not naiive. But I can tell you that the lead changes on every lap in the IRL because all they have to do is turn left slightly on full throttle, slipstreaming is easy. Would you call Michael Schumacher naiive? Because he says he can't understand where the challenge lies if you race on ovals. Now lets not get into this pointless argument as it will become an enormous thread. Back to Danica!

It is always good to wake up and log-on to Ten-Tenths for a good laugh.

[indycool]

A BIG laugh. Guess Indy brings out the easy-oval crowd.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by chavez

It is always good to wake up and log-on to Ten-Tenths for a good laugh.

Yeah, read the sentence after the one you highlighted, guess you're laughing at Schumacher then.

I guess this will be deleted by the mods, but I want to point something out which i genuinely think is a valid point. On the first page of threads of the IRL on this forum, there has been 5 threads with over 1,000 views. 3 of the threads are 'Danica has lost the plot'---'is Danica Patrick that attractive'---'Milko Duno to run 10 races'. How much interesting news does the IRL have? If the mods delete this paragraph, enough said.

[indycool]

Yeah, laughing at Schumacher, talking down ovals and the "500." Graham Hill, Jimmy Clark, Emerson Fittipaldi, Nigel Mansell -- none of them did. Maybe he's a buddy of Mark C's.

[runshaw]

Good job Schuey has more F1 titles than all of them put together them isn't it? Wish I hadn't got into this debate now. I don't dislike the IRL, but I think my points are vaild.

[indycool]

I disagree. If you like Schumacher's take, your privilege. Myself, Montoya impresses me. He won a "500." He won a CART championship (when that was more significant). He impressed in F1. He is trying to learn NASCAR. And he wasn't afraid to compete in Tony Stewart's dirt-track charity race at Eldora the other day and said it was hard to learn.

Schumacher ran off in his Ferrari for "X" years without much competition and never tried anything else. Maybe he got too rich, maybe his deal was too good, maybe he was a wuss for other stuff, I don't know. But just because Schumacher puts oval racing down doesn't make it so. Many NASCAR, IRL, "500" fans plus fans at any of the 800 U.S. short tracks would disagree.

So it goes with somebody who puts down another form of racing.