Danica Patrick First Woman to Win IRL race
Big deal or just another first time winner?
Danica Patrick First Woman to Win IRL race
Discussion in 'Sports Forum' started by PastorSBC1303, Apr 21, 2008.
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This is a big deal. A woman winning in one of a big-time racing series is a big deal. I never thought she'd win anything. Good for her.
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I agree.
Do you think we will eventually see her in NASCAR and if so, do you think she will win? -
Headline should read Danica Patrick First Woman to Back into a Victory in a Major U.S. Series
Sorry, but this is a gas mileage strategy win. Some of the greats have won this way, but they did not become great by winning this way. They became great because they outran their competitors and won. Can Danica Patrick actually outrun her male competitors at the end of a race and win? Maybe she can. Maybe a woman can. So far, she has not done it.
Also, I think she is too small physically to compete in long NASCAR races. I don't think she would have the stamina.
BTW, I love all women! :praying: -
IMO, a win is a win.
Was people claiming the same thing when Jimmie Johnson won on gas strategy last week? -
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It's a win...and how many guys in the IRL have not won this season? How about ever. I think she is getting a bit of a bum rap from some. Personally i'm glad she won and got the "monkey" off her back. Although now the "can she win again" monkey has moved in i'm sure.
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I can see the earlier controversies being reborn about her weight (or lack of) being a factor now :rolleyes:
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I think it's a big deal, if for no other reason than it was "history made" during my lifetime.....just as I think the Hillary and Obama candidacy's are a big deal (yeah, I know that's another thread!)
But I'm not a racing fan at all, so it was not a big deal to me "as a fan", so I hadn't read anything indepth about it--just saw the headlines. I find it interesting to learn here that even in driving a car there are discrepancies on physical performance between men/women. Not knowing anything about the "physics" involved (since I don't follow the sport), I hadn't a clue that gender would matter on the track. So, gas-mileage strategy, or sheer dumb-luck, it's pretty cool she won! -
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swaim, I see what you are saying but I still think it is ridiculous. The cry all throughout her career has been she has not won. Now she gets a win, and it wasn't the "right kind" of win. Just seems unfair to me. But either way she has made history and put herself in an elite club of people with an IRL win.
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Hard to break through the "good-ole-boy" network.
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People 50 years from now will read that she won and probably won't know how; for them it will not matter how she won--unless she never wins again. If she never wins again, then it will probably always be noted that she won on gas strategy, not by outrunning the boys.
If she wins again, I'll congratulate her and then stick my foot back in my mouth, but, IMHO, she has had the equipment, the financing, and the opportunities to win but has not. I'm just not sure she can actually outrun the boys in a head-to-head finish. Even Darrel Waltrip doubted that she would come to NASCAR last year or that she would succeed if she did because of her small build.
I remember when Janet Guthrie came to NASCAR back in the nmid-seventies. At first, her equipment was lousy and she honestly did not have the opportunity to run up front. Later, she did get good equipment, but simply did not get the job done. -
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It is Big...
Danica didn't back into victory lane - and she wasn't the only one doing a fuel mileage race. She passed Helio Castroneves and took the lead on lap 198 of the 200 lap race. He finished less than 6 seconds behind her afterword.
She's a racer - and has been in a position to win several times. This is by no means the first. -
One more point: Here is a list of some drivers who have won 500 mile Sprint Cup races at Talledega, Alabama: Richard Brickhouse, James Hylton, Lennie Pond, Ron Bouchard, Bobby Hillin Jr., Phil Parsons and Brian Vickers. What do they all have in common? This is the only Sprint Cup race they ever won (actually Hylton won one other race in his career). Danica is in the same class with them right now. Whenever one of these drivers is mentioned, their single win is duly noted and the coincidence (not) that so many drivers who have only a single win have it at that track. Danica will always be remembered for this one win and the circumstances of it will always be noted. To avoid this, she must win more.
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Given the team that Mears is on and the success that Earnhardt Jr, who has not been on the team as long as Mears, has had, I think it is quite possible that his win was a fluke. This is why I am not hesitant to say it of Danica and the circumstances of her win make it even more so. -
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