Edited out
Edited out
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Editorial
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About the Author Joe Boxer (scribe)
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5 months ago
Met Dancia at Fontana in 2005 and then again last year at Chicago. I was unimpressed. She's not a nice person by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, she "tries" to be nice but it is obviously so faked that a little kid could spot it.
She seems very immature and self-centered. My wife noticed an insecurity about her too. The latter I can understand. It's an intimidating male-dominated sport that she is in. The former traits are just personality defects common in many people. Show me something new.
Danica is a talented race car driver who earns a great living at it. And she is an attractive woman too. Nothing more, nothing less. Expecting her to be more than that will disappoint you. She's just not a nice person. I say, who cares? It's not wise to expect race car driver's to be warm and fuzzy. Nine out of ten are not. Most, in fact, are egomanical jerks.
Of the winners in Indy Car racing, John Paul Jr. and Greg Ray are the only truly nice guys I have ever known in the sport. And the former did a stint in prison! The latter had a big ego, but was a very nice and decent man. The rest? Jerks all on some level.
Of the non-winners, Scott Brayton and Milka Duno come to mind as very decent people. Johnny Parsons Jr. was a great guy too.
from 5 months ago
You hit the nail on the head, Rayford. There are a lot of open-wheel drivers out there who are like that. And then the average open-wheel fan wants to try and compare these drivers to those boys over in the NASCAR garage. You know, I was only ever refused for one autograph from a star of NASCAR, and that was Ray Evernham, who ironically is the one who signed Erin Crocker to drive for him.
5 months ago
Bottom line is that on the race track, Danica is not out there to entertain people. Who really knew 10 years ago that in 2005 a woman would create so much media attention. I don't think she expected it and it just went into a "danica mania" and she didn't ask for it. You can't expect everyone to be so camera friendly ALL of the time especially when you are a racecar driver. She's not an actress and doesn't take on-camera etiquette classes ... yes she does promotion that puts her out there ... its a job that basically came with being a pretty female racecar driver. She would NEVER have been put in SI swimsuit if she wasn't a racecar driver. So it all stems from the sport ... so you critics and all that can just do something else with your time. Notice how no one comments on the impressions they have on the other stars of the sport because from LOTS of experience with them, most of them are WORSE than her. Men are worse when it comes to egos and media attention.
from 5 months ago
Well, that's just the point, Kelsey. Erin Crocker and Sara Fisher are also accomplished race car drivers, but do you see any signs of ErinMania, or FisherMania? Absolutely not! And, Sara Fisher was driving at Indy long before Danica ever took a lap there. It's the self-aggrandizing manner in which she handles herself that I find detracting. But, as I said, you are entitled to your opinion. I am just not satisfied by being another sports writer who is afraid to call a spade, a spade, and I refuse to kiss Danica's ass, like every other writer seems inclined to do.
5 months ago
The writer is obviously suffering from "horror feminae" or somethin' even more serious ... a frustrated, wannabe racer.
5 months ago
The writer of this article...how do you know that she did all that...I live in Indiana.....and I watched the whole thing......................................never saw anything wrong.Danica isn't rude.....AND have you ever had a bad day??? yes you have.Are you being chased by cameras,and being pressured by media to do certain things ALL day? no your not.GET A LIFE,AND DONT BE IN REALITY,OR DREAMING ANYMORE?
from 5 months ago
Interesting....you only joined 2 minutes ago and you chose my article as your first to comment on! I am touched! Did you join just to comment on my article? I am truly blessed, indeed. By the way, what part of Indiana do you come from, and did you pass your ISTEP exam for English?
5 months ago
As I have said in the past, it's a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, even trite, moronic, and juvenile responses...much like the ones L.J. likes to leave for me.
5 months ago
Wow, that some stellar reporting, were you even at the track? Did you actually talk to anyone present? Did you see her flip the finger as she rolled on by? You may be lacking a few sources, but maybe you’re on to something. I am sure she hit that guy just to get some desperately needed publicity. No more Danica who? I bet that self-absorbed tart was secretly naked under her driving suit and when she did it too.
from 5 months ago
Another fine response from somebody so irked by the article, he or she felt that they had to join, just so they could apply a negative comment. Sad part is that they merely skimmed over the article, too. My evidence? The flipping of the bird was during a drive along interview in Scottsdale, AZ, not here, in Indy. Read the material, first, people!
5 months ago
Great article. Glad someone is not afraid to point out that may be Danica is not as great and fabulous as some media would have you think. She hasn't won a race since her karting days. So great driver she is not. What really annoying is that she claimed she wanted to be view as a race car driver, not a "female" race car driver. Then turn around and put on a bikini and poses with racing gloves and a helmet... In reality I think she actually has the adverse effect on advancing women in sports. She is the media darling because some people find her attractive not because she is a good driver. As far as "not her fault" with the whole running over the crew member incident. They should both share the blame some what since both of them should be more alert to the situation. However, she didn't even once said she's sorry. Now I ask you, if you accidentally ran over someone or even bump into another person, no matter your fault or not, would you offer your apologies? I believe any well mannered, non egocentric person would do so. need I say more?
I've been involve with racing for years and know many people on her team and I can tell you that even her own crew doesn't like her... That pretty much sums it up, don't you think?
5 months ago
Adelbert (why not Bert or Delbert?) So Bert? – what happen – Did you get called on the carpet by the Big Brother Nascar PR Boys for your article on falling Nascar Attendance? Did they threaten to revoke you Press, Pit Area and Corporate Sponsor Event Passes? Are your two recent articles throwing mud at Danica Patrick – is this part of your penance? Or are you just another one of those threatened Nascar types a little in shock to see the “landscape of the racing world” move so much since the Indycar/Champ Car merger in February?
Bert? - Danica is not perfect, she’s not the best driver in the Indycar series – but she has earned the respect of her peers. She is dedicated, gracious, truly supportive of her series, dedicates time to worth causes, is a good spouse and loving partner (divorce Nascar Style - No). She loves her family and does them proud. She doesn’t do drugs (heroin?) and her Pit Crew can always depend on her to drive by the numbers (Like Jimmy Johnson at Texas?). She stays off the front page for the wrong reasons - hasn’t gotten as much as a speeding ticket since she was a teenager. Yeah – from time to time she puts on a bathing suit (no nudity) and gets in from of a camera – big deal – if you got it flaunt it! Most important she is a solid team mate off (and on) the track. So Bert? Why are you giving her the “Naval Aircrewman” routine – because she’s a girl?
By the way Bert? – don’t kid yourself about Stewart, Gordon and Dale Jr. Within a few seasons – after a few go arounds - Montoya, Hornish and Dario will win about a dozen or so races between them and each will challenge for the Chase. They are too talented - they can win anywhere - Formula 1, Nascar and Indycar just as Kannan, Dixon, Helio, Wilson, Wheldon could do. Within a year or so you can probably include Andretti (the talented one), Rahal and yes Danica Patrick on that list.
Also – Today Indycar drivers are easily the most accessible Pro Athletes – anywhere – including Danica.
Finally, please remove the Philadelphia Phillies and Flyers from your Favorite teams list. Co-listing the Phils and Flyers along with the Yankees and Cowboys – its embarrassing – and a little dysfunctional. Also, remove the “aspiring writer from the Indianapolis Area” reference too – it’s embarrassing to the good folks of Indy.
Take your prosaic, decide on a name for yourself, be on time for class and point your pen some place else. Pele or Maradona? Who cares!
Bill Trotter, Madison, NJ (1972Indy500)
5 months ago
Cleveland Grand Prix, July 2003:
It's Friday (Independence Day) evening, and as the next day's Champ Car race will be CART's first ever non-oval night-race, there is an evening night-practice scheduled for the Champ Car drivers. After the Atlantics drivers completed their qualifying session at 5:45PM, the Trans-Am Series held its race, finishing at 7PM, and then the corner workers were brought in from their corners for a well-deserved dinner break. From 7:15-7:45, the pace-car team and the Champ Car 2-seater did some free lapping, and then there was a 35-minute break scheduled so the Musco Lighting systems could be fired up and tested while the sun began to set. Champ Car was scheduled to hit the track for their night practice at 8:20PM.
At 8:08PM, just as the corner workers were about to be delivered by pickup truck back to their corners, a racecar driver (in coveralls) on a motor-scooter budges past the waiting trucks and ventures onto the track surface and heads into Turn 1. "Hey!", yells one of the truck's occupants after the driver. "Where are you going?!"
Before anyone can even grab a walkie talkie to ask Race Control if this person had been granted permission to go on-track, Race Control had screamed into their handset "GET THAT DRIVER OFF THE TRACK.. IMMEDIATELY! I WANT THAT DRIVER'S NAME AND I WANT TO KNOW WHO GAVE THEM PERMISSION TO GO ON TRACK! THEY DO *NOT* HAVE PERMISSION TO GO ON TRACK!!".
A pause to catch his breath was followed by an equally furious: "GO GET THAT DRIVER AND SEND THEM RIGHT BACK WHERE THEY CAME FROM AND THEM TELL THEM NOT TO STOP UNTIL THEY GET TO RACE CONTROL. THAT IS AN ORDER!".
The truck driver was happy to oblige and heads off around Turn-1, where the scooter-driver is puttering along at a leisurely pace as though SHE has no care in the world. Yes, for it was Danica Patrick, an Atlantics driver 'nobody' were it not for the fact that she was female, though it must be said everyone had already heard rumours by that time that she had quite the attitude. This then might be interesting..
The truck pulls up beside the scooter and the occupants yell out, in an annoyed and yet excited unison, "GET OFF THE TRACK! TURN AROUND AND GO BACK TO TURN-1!.."
Before they can even continue on that it was Race Control who had issued the order, the girl on the scooter sticks up her nose and snarls unapologetically, "UM, *EXCUSE ME*! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?!!"
With it said like that, it was too easy. ALL of the truck's occupants yelled back, in joyful unison:
"YES! YOU'RE DANICA PATRICK AND YOU'RE A BITCH!"
5 months ago
Danica is overated and a pouting piece of s*it.
She didn't win but was gifted that win from Gaylio, he even admitted it but pulled his remark later on.
She is a joke as a driver.
The only reason she is in the Earl is because she used to be Bobby Rahal's girlfriend.
He is to blame for this mess.
She needs a karma slap to hit her soon. It's coming soon i think.
5 months ago
Again, I don't want this to turn into a Danica-bashing party. I don't want it to get too personal. All I am trying to point out is that I think she is overrated, as is the media hype surrounding her. Let's not take it to the personal attack level.
5 months ago
"She did win a race, yes…but in Japan, on an atypical course, with only 18 other drivers involved, instead of the usual 30 or so, with the wind at her back, on fuel mileage."
I find this an intriguing statement.
"In Japan" - Well, that's where they were racing that week. Is there something I am missing about being in Japan rather than any of the other locations?
"an atypical course" - The same course the other drivers were driving. That it is atypical means it requires a little more effort by the drivers. At many of the typical courses, they can pretty much drive flat out all the way around. On this course, teh two sets of corners require different approaches. Again, is there something I am missing here?
"18 drivers" - Not all of the current IndyCar drivers were in Japan, but the 18 included the leagues best oval drivers, who finished in positions 2 -5. The missing drivers would not have been competitive in this race, though more drivers = more traffic = more opportunities for a yellow in the last 50 laps, but then the strategy might have been different, but the result may have been the same. She raced against who was there, in a field of comparable size to the fields of most Indycar races over the previous 2 seasons. To diminish the win based on field size is to diminish any Indycar win (except for the Indy 500) in 2006 or 2007.
"wind at her back" - The wind conditions were the same for all drivers.
"fuel mileage" - The strategy is only as good as it's implimentation. She had to maintain speed while making 3.5 mpg to be in position to win - very difficult according to the knowledgable comentators onthe IMS Radio Network. Here is where your "atypical" arguement works against you. Because it was and atypical course - she had to either downshift and upshift around turns 3 and 4, or find a way to run the laps, at speed, without shifting. Either way, she showed a lot for skill to stay close to the front while saving fuel enough to pull away at the end.
I will leave the nice/not nice argument to others. I have never met her. Friends of mine have and most seem to have found her to be neutral to very nice. But as for Motegi, she won the race the old fashion way, she earrrnnned it.
5 months ago
Where is this news video of her flipping everyone off and cutting people off on the road? there is no record of this anywhere. You can't site something without the source, and there is no source to the thing you are referring too which in your case of wanting to be an Indianapolis writer, you aren't naming your sources. You can't refer to a news video from an Arizona news source and expect people all over the country to have any idea of what you are talking about since there is no access to this video anywhere.
from 5 months ago
It was on the 11:00 news, on Channel 6, in Indy, on Sunday night.
5 months ago
Was that video on before or after the video of the Loc Ness monster eating wee little Jackie Stewart? Site a source that we can all see. Did Channel 6 actually show the raised middle finger of that tart over public airwaves? Or was it pixilated out? My channel six news missed out on that story big time.
Why would not Fox/NASCAR jump all over that finger raising clip, with replays every hour, to show the world that Tony Stewart is a kinder and gentler person, who loves his Momma, compared to those open wheeled broken English-speaking foreigners and that egotistic tart.
Have you ever met more assholes per-square-foot than the whole community known as profession sports people? Maybe actors and politicians could have a higher a/sq-ft factor, but to claim that that tart is out side of the norm compared to her fellow professional is irresponsible unless you personally interviewed her and a few other of her peers for a comparison.
Bryan’s comments said it best regarding your points on Japan, 18 drivers, the wind on her back, and fuel mileage. From your article, the main point is she is over rated because she has a higher press profile than a male driver in the same profession; she won once, but has not been able to repeat another win; she is egotistical and/or conceded and/or just overall not a nice person; and she makes money using her looks and notoriety outside of making it to a podium. Wow, life is unfair.
5 months ago
It was blurred (pixilated?) out. She was driving around with the news crew through traffic, and started yelling at the people in front of her. Then, she cut some people off, bolted through a stop sign and raised her finger, which they blurred out. I imagine that she could have just been telling them they were number 1, but I don't see why they would blur it out, if that were the case. Maybe that's why nobody jumped on it? I don't know the reason, but that's my point. Anybody else out there, and the press would have been all over it, but not Danica, and not in Indy. It's like she has become a demi-god, or something.
Ashley Force doesn't get that kind of press or publicity, now does she? And look what she has done in a male-dominated sport. She won a championship, but that didn't so much as raise an eyebrow, did it? Now, what's fair and unfair?
4 months ago
Danica is a very natural person,she's the real deal,for that she attracts so much attention,no one is attracted by someone fake,the people feel all her emotions and her naturalness.How you can be so mean and so insensitive ?.You get it all so wrong,it's not about a woman in a "male-dominated" sport,it's all about a human spirit competing with others human spirits,that come very obvious after her "historical win" when she said that she didn't felt her victory as a woman's victory,but only a victory,the media was the one who has made all the fuss,proclaiming her win as a victory of the women.She's not self-centered,she's a magnificent natural person,that is her charisma,her gift she's sharing with the whole world.Try a bit more to see the bright side of the things,express your beautiful feelings shine over you and you'll see how good you'll feel.
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