Danica Patrick wins pole for the Daytona 500

[Rules]

Quote: Originally Posted by Happy29

Yeah I don't read to much into the weight issue either. Jimmy Spencer won a few races in his day and he was a big guy.

Like Matt said during his interview, additional weight will actually help the car drive better by lowing the center of gravity. I think the media is wanting to make a story out of nothing. When she eventually wins a race, it will be who helped her versus what she did.

Side note, did you see her interview following winning the pole? She struggled to give thanks to her crew and those who worked on the car. She needs to work on that aspect if she is going to talk more in the press.

[brandon27]

Quote: Originally Posted by bluengold34_OS

I agree, I don't understand the people who want her to fail just to fail and I would kill to trade places with her. My only point is that one day I hope her accomplishments match the coverage that goes with it. I don't look at her as a female driver, I just look at her as driver -

Thats the part that gets me, its like people blame her for the media attention. It's not her fault she's a female, in a sport dominated by males. Even if she never lives up to the media hype, blame the media, not the driver.

[sgf83]

My thoughts on the whole Danica thing are as follows. I think she is a talented driver but there are TONS of talented drivers racing local short tracks that will never get to the big time. She hasn't shown me anything in NASCAR to warrant a full-time ride with a top caliber team. I don't hold that against her though that is just a product of her having the $$$ behind her with sponsorship. If she was a male driver she wouldn't be where she is, plain and simple. But, it is selling merchandise, attracting sponsors and we are talking about it so I don't blame Tony Stewart for hiring her either.

I hope she proves everyone(including me) wrong but I just think she didn't ever prove herself in the Nationwide Series.

On winning the Daytona 500 pole being a big accomplishment. Loy Allen Jr, Jeff Green and David Gilliland say HI!

[Segagendude]

"Now let's see how you do in traffic".......

Rowdy Burns

[Bubba_Zanetti]

Quote: Originally Posted by brandon27

Thats the part that gets me, its like people blame her for the media attention. It's not her fault she's a female, in a sport dominated by males. Even if she never lives up to the media hype, blame the media, not the driver.

Can't agree with that brandon. Danica has marketed herself to the max and she's done it not based on her driving skills but on sexuality. I hardly see her shying away from the media attention. Instead we are fed scantily clad photoshoots, topless SI photos and sexually suggestive GoDaddy commercials. Her driving record is, quite frankly, average-to-mediocre and right now she's not ready for fulltime Sprint Cup.

I think it's great that a woman has won the pole but qualifying at Daytona is heavily based on car setup and not driver skill. Right now there is mega saturation of her. She was the face of IndyCar and that both helped and hurt that league. Now the media circus has gone over to Nascar.

[CameRoN0407]

Now let's see if anybody wants to partner up with her. Gordon and Harvick said they would if they didn't have a partner. Kenneth said he would, and I believe he's free as Hamlin and Busch are together.

[ubernoob]

Even if I didn't have any personal preference, I would cheer for her just to try to balance the inordinate amount of hate she gets for being a female driver.

[dingleberryfinn]

Call me when women are workin' the pits, changin' tires & such