Danica Patrick
Well, apparently the writers at the Indianapolis Star (the top motorsports newspaper) are thinking what I'm thinking. Good.
The best part of the race was when she passed for the lead with 10 laps left and they showed the whole crowd up on their feet cheering.
It will be fun to watch and see if she really can turn the sport around. To do it, she is going to have to do some winning, but she had a bunch of great quotes on the weekend. When asked what it meant for her to finish fourth (with the obviously implied "holy shit, you are a woman and managed fourth,") she replied "It means I should have finished three places higher."
When Kathy and I were talking about her, she brought up "the pictures," with a comment that it was sad they had to market her like that (Kathy, let me know if that was misquoted at all). In case you haven't seen them, there they are. They brought up a couple of questions.
Side note: Kathy thinks the ass crack shot is, er, less empowering. I had to vote for the other.
A little research answered the first question. The FMH pictures were taken before she had her "major league" contract. She was racing formula atlantics, and probably not under contract to any sponsors. And racing is expensive when you don't have a "bigtime" sponsor. We'll assume that she was doing what she had to do to keep racing. The picture at the beginning of this post is her in the current sponser's gear.
The second question was, would I be able to find any pictures of male drivers doing "fashion" pictures like that? I thought that there might be some goofy shirtless GQ shots or something like that.
Well, the answer is not really. There are a few "outside the car" shots, but you don't get much more provocative than these:
Dario Franchitti, husband of Ensign Leffler. For my money, the picture at the top of this post is in the ballpark with those. Hopefully, that is the new standard now that she has "arrived." I want to see her racing, not wearing plastic.
So, go Danica, there is a lot at stake.
The best part of the race was when she passed for the lead with 10 laps left and they showed the whole crowd up on their feet cheering.
It will be fun to watch and see if she really can turn the sport around. To do it, she is going to have to do some winning, but she had a bunch of great quotes on the weekend. When asked what it meant for her to finish fourth (with the obviously implied "holy shit, you are a woman and managed fourth,") she replied "It means I should have finished three places higher."
When Kathy and I were talking about her, she brought up "the pictures," with a comment that it was sad they had to market her like that (Kathy, let me know if that was misquoted at all). In case you haven't seen them, there they are. They brought up a couple of questions.
Side note: Kathy thinks the ass crack shot is, er, less empowering. I had to vote for the other.
A little research answered the first question. The FMH pictures were taken before she had her "major league" contract. She was racing formula atlantics, and probably not under contract to any sponsors. And racing is expensive when you don't have a "bigtime" sponsor. We'll assume that she was doing what she had to do to keep racing. The picture at the beginning of this post is her in the current sponser's gear.
The second question was, would I be able to find any pictures of male drivers doing "fashion" pictures like that? I thought that there might be some goofy shirtless GQ shots or something like that.
Well, the answer is not really. There are a few "outside the car" shots, but you don't get much more provocative than these:
Dario Franchitti, husband of Ensign Leffler. For my money, the picture at the top of this post is in the ballpark with those. Hopefully, that is the new standard now that she has "arrived." I want to see her racing, not wearing plastic.
So, go Danica, there is a lot at stake.
posted by Tom at 7:32 PM
9 Comments:
Indianapolis quote of the week went to the winner:-
'Wheldon, when kidded that he'd upset the major media story line coming out of Indy all month, replied, "Don't care one bit." '
My neighbour was remarking on the fact that Danica Patrick was ~50 pounds lighter than the male drivers which gave her an edge on fuel consumption. Does this mean we'll see racing jockeys or even midgets in future races? I might even buy a ticket for that.
careful, it's borderline obsession
Nah, not obsession. Just interesting.
Obsessed, I am now!
I'd rather see her ass crack than Dario's. I think even Kathy might agree with that.
Visit Danica's own website. You'll see that she downplays the fashion shots, favoring action shots of her at work, and the FHM shots are nowhere to be seen.
My God, the weight advantage! Why doesn't the IRL check car weight including driver? A fifty-pound advantage is huge in this sport. She's a great driver, make no mistake.
Yeah, the probably need to address it, but I bet they won't move too quickly (if she does have an unfair advantage, I doubt they'll yank it right away).
What is funny is that Robbie Gordon (who made the initial weight comment) used to be tiny (it jumped out at me when he almost rode me down on a bike in the pit lane one day). He's been enjoying some southern barbeque I think.
Boy, did he backpedal quickly (and correctly). I think I saw where the Penske egg heads said that the weight would give her .4 MPH, which is not insignificant by any means. She was also getting better fuel economy.
I'm sure the reason they didn't used to check is that all drivers wieghted about the same (except fat ass A.J. Foyt).
It's Danica not Danika :-)
Noted and fixed Dave
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