OT Indy 500

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the first
female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she may have
won the race.

"Danica Patrick Danica Patrick Danica Patrick " that's basically what
all the pre and during race commentary sounded like. if i hear that
name again i think i'll torch my TV.

jason whitlock even has a piece on espn (pg2) saying she's the tiger
woods of racing.

i still can't decide who's prettier though, dan wheldon or danica
patrick. wheldon has nicer highlights.

The best part is listening to the other drivers [censored] and moan about
how she only weighs 100lbs and that it's an unfair advantage.

If you want "fair" get into NASCAR whiner.

Funny how weight is such an issue in all racing sports.

D

On Sun, 29 May 2005 21:26:42 GMT, "Dave H" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the first
female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she may have
won the race.
Dave

amit said:

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the
first female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel
she may have won the race.

"Danica Patrick Danica Patrick Danica Patrick " that's basically what
all the pre and during race commentary sounded like. if i hear that
name again i think i'll torch my TV.

I haven't been paying much attention to the hype, but I go on
over to the ESPN site and about the second article I see is this:

<http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/indy2005/news/story?id=2071467>

Drivers shouldn't expect rule changes

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - The IndyCar Series isn't giving any weight to the
complaints about Danica Patrick's slight frame.

One day after NASCAR's Robby Gordon said he would not race against
the petite Patrick because he believes she has a weight advantage at
a mere 100 pounds, IndyCar Series officials said they were not
considering changing their rules to level the playing field. ...

Gordon suggested Saturday that Patrick's small frame gave her a
significant edge over someone like himself, who weighs nearly 200
pounds.

I swear, you could not make this [censored] up. There is another quote
from Tony Kanaan about it, but at least he has a sense of humor -
he talks about losing weight and jokes about chopping off his nose.

I didn't see anything that suggested 200-lb drivers like Gordon
had been protesting 150-lb drivers like Kanaan previously. Maybe
the dude is just afraid of getting beat by a girl.

We watched the race start to finish and it was a good one; especially the
last laps when she was leading. A few years ago at work during lunch, I
mentioned Sarah Fischer running in the Indy race and suddenly morons chime
in saying she got the drive for blowjobs...how small minded...No I was
really hoping she would win, just to put the boots to sexist morons
everywhere.

Laz

"Dave H" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the first
female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she may

have

Quoted message said:

won the race.
Dave

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the first
female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she may have
won the race.
Dave

Yes, she looked real good on the track. She demonstrated great presence of mind by pitting
immediately after her late spin rather than taking a slow lap to the pits. Also, when an announcer
asked her the "how does it feel to be the first woman blah, blah, blah..." in the post-race
interview she only talked about her team. I'd love to see her in F1 soon.

BTW, did you see how long it took her crew to change the nose and wing of her car? The Ferrari boys
took only 15 seconds at Monaco.

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the first
female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she may have
won the race.
Dave

Obligatory cycling content: Todd Harris has done some cycling
commentary/reporting for both Fox and OLN over the years.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.bicycles.racing/msg/5dc88270ca688674?hl=en

Anyway, how about all the bubbas whining about her weighing only about 100lbs?

Weight aside, she obviously knows how drive. You can't fake that at 230mph.
They spent alot of time showing her on-car camera. At one point she made
a routine passing maneuver in either turn 2 or 4 that made my heart skip
a beat.

http://www.indymotorspeedway.com/danica.htm

-Gerard

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dan Spisak said:

BTW, did you see how long it took her crew to change the nose and wing of her
car? The Ferrari boys took only 15 seconds at Monaco.

Well, I think the F1 cars are designed to do very fast nosecone changes
and the Indy cars really aren't. I think it's because they figure that if
an Indy car crashes, it'll cause more catastrophic damage than can be
repaired by simply swapping noses. Plus, I think F1 teams get to have more
people out doing the work.

--
tanx,
Howard

Butter is love.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted post said:

<http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/indy2005/news/story?id=2071467>

(snipper)

Quoted message said:

I swear, you could not make this [censored] up. There is another quote
from Tony Kanaan about it, but at least he has a sense of humor -
he talks about losing weight and jokes about chopping off his nose.

I didn't see anything that suggested 200-lb drivers like Gordon
had been protesting 150-lb drivers like Kanaan previously. Maybe
the dude is just afraid of getting beat by a girl.

Robbie Gordon is (and always has been) a meathead.

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005_05_29_firedoglake_archive.html#11173562
8116674040

The top post and the one immediately following are good.

--
tanx,
Howard

Butter is love.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the
first female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she
may have won the race.
Dave

no one would care at all about danica patrick if she was not a reasonably
attractive looking woman.

Howard Kveck said:

Robbie Gordon is (and always has been) a meathead.

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005_05_29_firedoglake_archive.html#11173562
8116674040

--
tanx,
Howard

Butter is love.

remove YOUR SHOES to reply, ok?

Thanks Howard that's a great piece. If there were any real questions
about her as a racer she answered those today, but you know I was sold
on her after the crash at the first race in Homestead Fla. She
should've finished 6th there, but barely got caught in the crash with
her foot flat to the floor trying to dive inside the car that was
sliding down from the top at her. Damn near made it too. That's exactly
what an experienced winning racer would've done. Sold me right there.
Bill C

dwjones45 said:

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the
first female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel she
may have won the race.
Dave

no one would care at all about danica patrick if she was not a reasonably
attractive looking woman.

Other than hardcore fans your right, but would Lance have been the
American Darling he is without the cancer story? I think he'd be viewed
a lot more like Barry Bonds than the way he is now especially with all
the allegations out there. Danica has been incredibly succesful in
coming up the hard way and has set records everywhere she has raced,
and not records sorted by gender. She'd still be a solid story as an
almost sure lock for rookie of the year, and one hell of a young
driver. Can't blame them or her for selling what they have to sell.
Doesn't take anything away from the skill level or committment.
Bill C

Bill C said:

Other than hardcore fans your right, but would Lance have been the
American Darling he is without the cancer story? I think he'd be viewed
a lot more like Barry Bonds than the way he is now especially with all
the allegations out there.

dumbass,

the US sports media in particular has to always cook up a human
interest "angle" for every big event. they don't trust the sport alone
to appeal to the casual fan.

amit said:

Bill C said:

Other than hardcore fans your right, but would Lance have been the
American Darling he is without the cancer story? I think he'd be viewed
a lot more like Barry Bonds than the way he is now especially with all
the allegations out there.

dumbass,

the US sports media in particular has to always cook up a human
interest "angle" for every big event. they don't trust the sport alone
to appeal to the casual fan.

Hey to the casual fan and the marketing geeks that's just working
smart. If they had to depend on the core groups that actually give a
[censored] about niche sports they'd never even get on TV. Indy is a huge
event here, though not as big since the split with CART, but on the
scale of one day TV and ticket sales it's a top 5 one day event in the
US even without a "human interest" story.
My point was that Lance has been a total [censored] at times and really
[censored] a lot of people. Without the "good feeling" from the cancer
story he'd be one more arrogant [censored] who made too much money and was
probably drugging it up to win. At least to the few people who could be
found who gave a [censored].
He also has gotten some support from the Bubbas just because he's an
American kicking "[censored] loser European" ass. Do you really think
that any significant percentage of the US population actually gives a
[censored] about "[censored] in their underwear on bicycles" without a big
backstory? I don't know how much, if any, coverage the Giro win is
getting in local papers, but I'll bet where it does it's billed as a
win for "Lance's team".
There are a hell of a lot more Americans who care about Indy, than
cycling and we won't even begin to compare it to Nascar. When Lance
goes you can kiss most of the coverage of the sport here goodbye.
The reality is that they have to do whatever it takes to sell the
product to the widest possible audience, no matter what the hardcore
fan thinks. They'll still show up no matter what, pretty much, no
matter how much they [censored].
It's all about the dollars, and always will be.
Bill C

Bill C said:

amit said:

Bill C said:

Other than hardcore fans your right, but would Lance have been the
American Darling he is without the cancer story? I think he'd be viewed
a lot more like Barry Bonds than the way he is now especially with all
the allegations out there.

dumbass,

the US sports media in particular has to always cook up a human
interest "angle" for every big event. they don't trust the sport alone
to appeal to the casual fan.

Hey to the casual fan and the marketing geeks that's just working
smart. If they had to depend on the core groups that actually give a
[censored] about niche sports they'd never even get on TV.

i think you're not giving enough credit to average sportsfan.

the reason olympics, cycling or any non big-time sports coverage
generally sucks in the US is because they kill it with puff pieces and
don't focus on the competition. this actually drives away real
sportsfans.

sure some people will only follow a certain sport, but other sports
fans will get interested in any competition they're exposed to.

Quoted message said:

Indy is a huge
event here, though not as big since the split with CART, but on the
scale of one day TV and ticket sales it's a top 5 one day event in the
US even without a "human interest" story.

yes, but they have to cook up something even for the superbowl or world
series (comeback, rematch, revenge, curse? yadda yadda)

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

amit said:

Dave H said:

What a great drive by Danica Patrick to finish 4th and beconing the
first female driver to lead the Indy 500.
If not for tuning the car down in the closing laps to save fuel
she may have won the race.

"Danica Patrick Danica Patrick Danica Patrick " that's basically what
all the pre and during race commentary sounded like. if i hear that
name again i think i'll torch my TV.

I haven't been paying much attention to the hype, but I go on
over to the ESPN site and about the second article I see is this:

<http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/indy2005/news/story?id=2071467>

Drivers shouldn't expect rule changes

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - The IndyCar Series isn't giving any weight to the
complaints about Danica Patrick's slight frame.

One day after NASCAR's Robby Gordon said he would not race against
the petite Patrick because he believes she has a weight advantage at
a mere 100 pounds, IndyCar Series officials said they were not
considering changing their rules to level the playing field. ...

Gordon suggested Saturday that Patrick's small frame gave her a
significant edge over someone like himself, who weighs nearly 200
pounds.

I swear, you could not make this [censored] up. There is another quote
from Tony Kanaan about it, but at least he has a sense of humor -
he talks about losing weight and jokes about chopping off his nose.

I didn't see anything that suggested 200-lb drivers like Gordon
had been protesting 150-lb drivers like Kanaan previously. Maybe
the dude is just afraid of getting beat by a girl.

Robbie Gordon has and always will be one big whiney [censored]
Dave

Quoted message said:

David Ferguson said:

The best part is listening to the other drivers [censored] and moan about
how she only weighs 100lbs and that it's an unfair advantage.

If you want "fair" get into NASCAR whiner.

Funny how weight is such an issue in all racing sports.

It depends on the rules of course. In F1 and also in MotoGP the minimum
weights of the cars/bikes include the driver/rider. In F1 that's 600 kg
including the driver but not including fuel. Of course a lighter driver
is still slightly beneficial because the team can then use more ballast
to optimize the center of gravity.

In the 125 cc class of MotoGP there at least used to be this Italian
guy competing who weighed about 39 kg (86 lbs).

-as

Howard Kveck said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dan Spisak said:

BTW, did you see how long it took her crew to change the nose and wing of her
car? The Ferrari boys took only 15 seconds at Monaco.

Well, I think the F1 cars are designed to do very fast nosecone changes
and the Indy cars really aren't. I think it's because they figure that if
an Indy car crashes, it'll cause more catastrophic damage than can be
repaired by simply swapping noses. Plus, I think F1 teams get to have more
people out doing the work.

Well if an F1 car crashes, it's also often catastropic. It's just that
these beast are much more fragile and even light touches causes the
front wing to be damaged. That's why it's quite easy to exchange.
The reason for the fragility is that the F1 teams have to squeeze a lot
more out a lot more bang with a far lesser weight - I think around
200kgs less.

amit said:

Bill C said:

amit said:

Bill C wrote:

> Other than hardcore fans your right, but would Lance have been the
> American Darling he is without the cancer story? I think he'd be viewed
> a lot more like Barry Bonds than the way he is now especially with all
> the allegations out there.

dumbass,

the US sports media in particular has to always cook up a human
interest "angle" for every big event. they don't trust the sport alone
to appeal to the casual fan.

Hey to the casual fan and the marketing geeks that's just working
smart. If they had to depend on the core groups that actually give a
[censored] about niche sports they'd never even get on TV.

i think you're not giving enough credit to average sportsfan.

the reason olympics, cycling or any non big-time sports coverage
generally sucks in the US is because they kill it with puff pieces and
don't focus on the competition. this actually drives away real
sportsfans.

sure some people will only follow a certain sport, but other sports
fans will get interested in any competition they're exposed to.

Quoted message said:

Indy is a huge
event here, though not as big since the split with CART, but on the
scale of one day TV and ticket sales it's a top 5 one day event in the
US even without a "human interest" story.

yes, but they have to cook up something even for the superbowl or world
series (comeback, rematch, revenge, curse? yadda yadda)

I generally don't have the highest opinion of sports fans, US or
otherwise.
Listening to ESPN radio this morning they are talking about sports
figures who can draw higher sales and rating by just being there
because the Indy numbers were up by 40% over last year. That's a
[censored] of money. They aren't giving Danica Patrick "the star" credit
for this though, they are crediting the hype and this being the first
time a woman has really had a legit chance to win. They are taking a
wait and see attitude before putting her in the category of a Gretzky,
Jordan, Clemens, Woods, etc... Which I think is right. I think she's
going to be a really solid star in the sport, but as she starts winning
regularly she'll just become another great racer and not a media
circus. From all the interviews and stuff, and just watching her
reactions I really don't think she cares about the sideshow, she's much
more focused on selling the sport as a whole and winning races.
Either way it was a hell of a successful marketing job.
Bill C