Posted on 02/17/2013 12:43:17 PM PST by Libloather
Danica Patrick backed up her fast practice speeds during NASCAR Sprint Cup Daytona 500 qualifying on Sunday, taking the pole position for the race.
Patrick was the eighth to go out in the session — and knocked teammate and Stewart-Haas Racing team co-owner Tony Stewart out of the pole position. Patrick's qualifying lap of 196.434 mph eclipsed the 195.925 mph lap of Stewart.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.foxsports.com ...
You forgot Juan Pablo to round out the cross-cultural appeal.
because she’s a female I bet
Seriously? I take it you never watched much NASCAR. Quite a few drivers are known for swapping paint with other drivers on purpose. Why do you think Dale Earnhardt earned the nickname “The Intimidator” – was it because he gave other drivers stern looks? And drivers such as Geoff Bodine, Cale Yarborough, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch to name just a few, all have had run ins with other drivers, sometimes retaliatory run ins, bumping and pushing other drivers off the track and causing accidents and even getting into fistfights with other drivers. There is of course a fine line between aggressive driving and dirty driving but there have been quite a few who have crossed that line from time to time, a good many end up in the winner’s circle.
crashing at 196 vs 206 I don’t think will make much difference.
I was just wondering because the speed she got the pole at seems to be lower than what I remember people qualifying for pole was a few years ago, up in the 204-206 range, maybe 209 range on a good day.
She publicly admitted trying to make someone crash
You know, I think I may be erroneously crossing this with formula racing. For some reason I thought daytona was formula but someone posted about Nascar, so maybe I am thinking of formula races where I’m seeing those guys crusing around the twohundred-teens for pole.
There was one open-wheel race at Daytona in 1959, shortly after the track opened, sanctioned by USAC. The speeds were high enough to be dangerous, and this race produced the track’s first fatality. It was never repeated.
Fast-forwarding a few years, and moving to a different high-banked track, anyone remember the CART race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2001?
what does she weigh? like 100 lbs. Do the cars have to all weigh the same?
All drivers are going to have to adjust to the new car designs this year. I just hope there isn't major mishap that wipes out 1/3 of the field.
They’re equally as fun.
Stewart is much more likely to do that.
F1 cars are a good deal faster. A lot of the F1 guys don’t like racing at the super speedways. They’re just going to fast. That’s how Dan Wheldon died at Vegas.
I liked JPM in F1, and he recently helped Pruett and Rojas win the Rolex 24 at Daytona in a Grand Am car. He drove the wheels off it, getting some impressive avg laptimes.
I always watch the Daytona 500, but am just a casual NASCAR fan.
And why do you think she keeps losing? Because the guys give her payback on the track by making her crash. I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it again at this race.
If I’m not mistaken, minimum weight includes the driver. So, less driver = more ballast.
I know one of her PIT guys ... “she is a true competitor, one of the guys and never plays the “I’m a Girl” card”... they think she is beyond awesome.
Good enough for me
Now if we could find an Halfrican President that would follow similar rules
TT
JPM was a badass in CART. More so than he was in F1, frankly.
“I’d look for her to relinquish that top position quickly, and drop back...”
You can’t expect her to be on top all the time, now can you?
plus she is a low informational voter!
It wasn’t the speed; it was the sudden stop. And probably a greater contributing factor was the fact that IndyCar decided to start more cars (34) on a 1.5-mile high-banked oval than they do at Indianapolis (33, and Indy is 2.5mi, btw). Considering that incident involved 15 cars, it’s a wonder that Wheldon was the only one who was killed.
I think the fix is in. If she doesn’t crash, she wins.
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