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SlowNeasy
Guest
that's it. now i know you're certifiably insane.
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Digger
Guest
Go look at the TV ratings for the average IRL race (excluding "the greatest spectacle in racing"
).3.9/100 for the Indy 500. Those numbers, for a race of that caliber, are dismal. Ratings are down 40% for the Indy 500 over 2 years.
Versus -- they had 230,000 viewers for Long Beach (and that's an improvement). In total terms -- that's still only a little over 1 million viewers which is ALMOST as many viewers as the Neilsen ratings for the 2009 ARCA Daytona 200 (which was an awful race).
Call me insane -- IRL's in bigger trouble than NASCAR is. Considering Danica's their most popular driver by a wide margin, I don't think IRL wants her to leave anytime soon.
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Digger
Guest
Another bad result
She should hang it up and retire Coming from 32nd to 10th (or something like that) means nothing Nope, no talent here 
ran 7th most of the race. I would know, I was standing below the scoring pylon at pit exit the first 1/2 of the race.Another bad result
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Digger
Guest
I wasn't talking about Danica. Read the post.
The IRL race was a snoozefest. The IRL oval races used to be good -- not anymore. There was hardly any passing.
What IRL race were you watching? Yes the cars got strung out in front and back, but within the seperate packs there was alot of side by side racing.I wasn't talking about Danica. Read the post.
The IRL race was a snoozefest. The IRL oval races used to be good -- not anymore. There was hardly any passing.
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Digger
Guest
How many lead changes were there?
I didn't say there were lead changes. I said there was lots of 2 wide racing and passing in the middle of the two packs.
They need to go back to Michigan and maybe California. I only went to 1 IRL race at MIS but they were awesome there. I went to the one where Darios car got airborne a few years ago.
I remmeber that- he didn't realize it was the checkered flag and went over the back of another car and endo'd?
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Digger
Guest
That's the only way ACSSC and MIS will ever be exciting. Hell, at the least, I'd like to see the IndyCars run Pocono and Texas World.
They couldn't run TWS i dont think...too much speed and no banking. Bad enough they hit the rev limiters and flatfoot TMS....TWS would be a death trap
No that was actually the following week at Kentucky. At Michigan it was during the middle of the race.
Yeah I agree. I have a lot of fun going to the NASCAR weekends there but those tracks are much better for open wheel racing. With the Detroit Belle Isle GP being cancelled this year maybe they will bring MIS back next year so they have an event in that market.
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Digger
Guest
Did you just say, "no banking"?
Auto Club Speedway has 14° of banking in the turns. Michigan International Speedway has 18° of banking in the turns. TWS has more banking than both of those tracks (22° to be exact).
blue92
Team Owner
Yea Sports Illustrated only photographs ugly women for their bathing suit issues. Your just jealous she's got looks, money, and a ride. BTW, what is it you drive?
blue92
Team Owner
Yea that's why some of the NASCAR, and IRL guys rent the TWS track for testing. When was the last time you were actually at TWS. My car club does 2 events a year there, was just there the last week of April, 2009.
mike honcho
Knuckleheads
Did you just say, "no banking"?
Auto Club Speedway has 14° of banking in the turns. Michigan International Speedway has 18° of banking in the turns. TWS has more banking than both of those tracks (22° to be exact).
Mag just meant that there were no ATM's at the track.
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GREAT AMERICAN RACE FAN
Guest
Indy used to run at Pocono.
Danica Patrick to sign with Ganassi? Chip Ganassi is supposedly working on a deal at the moment that would not only keep open wheel racing's biggest name away from the clutches of NASCAR, it would likely advance her ascention in Indy cars. Ganassi is considering signing Danica Patrick for a third car on the Target team for 2010, joining Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. Ganassi didn't return phone calls Wednesday but his veteran lieutenant acknowledged adding a car for Patrick could be possible. "We've always entertained having a third driver if we could get the comparable funding that Target provides us," said Mike Hull, managing director of Target/Ganassi. "If Danica has something and wants to talk to us, that would be great because I think she's ready to take that next step. But I can tell you we haven't spoken to her." Patrick's three-year contract with Andretti-Green Racing, which was sponsored by Motorola to the tune of $21 million, expires at the end of this season. And, if she wanted to test the waters in NASCAR down the road, Ganassi could slide her right into one of his seats on the team he shares with Teresa Earnhardt.(Robin Miller/SPEEDtv)(6-11-2009)
UPDATEanica Patrick will be in NASCAR next season. If NASCAR executives can pull it off. George Pyne -- the former NASCAR Chief Operating Officer, and thus one of the top officials in stock car racing, and now head of IMG sports and entertainment, the high-buck talent marketing agency – and key NASCAR executives are together working the entire Sprint Cup garage trying to put together a package for Patrick to run NASCAR next season. Finding sponsorship is quite likely not the big issue, as hot a property as Danica Patrick is. (mikemulhern.net)(6-15-2009)
UPDATE
anica Patrick will be in NASCAR next season. If NASCAR executives can pull it off. George Pyne -- the former NASCAR Chief Operating Officer, and thus one of the top officials in stock car racing, and now head of IMG sports and entertainment, the high-buck talent marketing agency – and key NASCAR executives are together working the entire Sprint Cup garage trying to put together a package for Patrick to run NASCAR next season. Finding sponsorship is quite likely not the big issue, as hot a property as Danica Patrick is. (mikemulhern.net)(6-15-2009)
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Newracefan
Guest
Danica Patrick to sign with Ganassi? Chip Ganassi is supposedly working on a deal at the moment that would not only keep open wheel racing's biggest name away from the clutches of NASCAR, it would likely advance her ascention in Indy cars. Ganassi is considering signing Danica Patrick for a third car on the Target team for 2010, joining Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti. Ganassi didn't return phone calls Wednesday but his veteran lieutenant acknowledged adding a car for Patrick could be possible. "We've always entertained having a third driver if we could get the comparable funding that Target provides us," said Mike Hull, managing director of Target/Ganassi. "If Danica has something and wants to talk to us, that would be great because I think she's ready to take that next step. But I can tell you we haven't spoken to her." Patrick's three-year contract with Andretti-Green Racing, which was sponsored by Motorola to the tune of $21 million, expires at the end of this season. And, if she wanted to test the waters in NASCAR down the road, Ganassi could slide her right into one of his seats on the team he shares with Teresa Earnhardt.(Robin Miller/SPEEDtv)(6-11-2009)
UPDATE
Good Lord I hope not
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chromehorn
Guest
I like her but she will fail. Look at how hard of a time Hornish is having with NASCAR and this guy has actually done something in IRL, 3 championships and an Indy 500 win.
And don't forget Franchitti. I felt bad for him.
And don't forget Franchitti. I felt bad for him.
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Digger
Guest
Montoya and Stewart have been complete failures in NASCAR as well.
Yes, Andy, but more have had big trouble trying to adjust than have had success.
Your 2 examples are head and shoulders above most in talent.
Your 2 examples are head and shoulders above most in talent.
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chromehorn
Guest
Montoya and Stewart have been complete failures in NASCAR as well.
If she is no Hornish or Franchitti then she sure is hell no Montoya or Stewart.
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Digger
Guest
I don't think Danica will make it 20 laps in her introduction to stock cars. IndyCar and F1 both, those cars practically drive themselves.
But for the sake of argument, just because you aren't great in IRL doesn't mean you'd suck in NASCAR.
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Mopardh9
Guest
I think this is just a contract ploy to get her more money, isn't she a free agent at the end of the IRL season? You guys really think Gannasi or another team would take a chance on Danica driving a stock car without having spent even a test session behind the wheel? I honestly don't think this will happen, IMO she will stay in IRL where she has it made for at least another couple of seasons. At some point in time she may, and this is a big if, may dabble in some form of stock car racing. I still feel she is not cut out for it, will not be good at it, and if she does try it as a career move it will be a very big mistake.
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SST55
Guest
DING,DING,DING WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!!!
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foehammer111
Guest
This.
I don't think she's ready to jump to NASCAR. I think she will eventually, but I think she wants to win the Indy 500 more than anything. I expect to see her in IRL at least one more season, but I think she'll eventually move to stock cars. She has to.
IRL is a dying sport. Without some serious help, the series will be out of money within 3 years. Tony George can't support it on the success of Indy alone. Danica knows this, and even if she finishes 43rd in every race she'll still make more money in NASCAR then she ever has in IRL.
She's a media and marketing gold mine regardless of how well she races.
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ajk112802
Guest
I agree 100%, BUT I think she'll try to move to a Ganassi or Penske IndyCar team where she'll have the option to run NASCAR if/when she wants to in the future.
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SST55
Guest
Ok, years ago I drove a modified. Ok, some say I aimed it not drove it but lets not quibble. One night I was asked to drive a sportsman, a lm if you will. Their driver was at the hospital having a baby, not the driver silly , his wife.
That lm did not accelerate, brake or turn like a mod. I thought I was driving a Greyhound Bus.
It was slow, compared to the mod, to react to driver input. I mean blink and the mod changed lanes, in the LM you could take a nap or at least it felt like that.
Danica moving to Na$car will be a disaster. It's not a apples to oranges comparison, more like apples to pineapples.
I really don't see it happening, she's just throwing it out to increase her value.
not drove it but lets not quibble. One night I was asked to drive a sportsman, a lm if you will. Their driver was at the hospital having a baby, not the driver silly , his wife.That lm did not accelerate, brake or turn like a mod. I thought I was driving a Greyhound Bus.
It was slow, compared to the mod, to react to driver input. I mean blink and the mod changed lanes, in the LM you could take a nap or at least it felt like that.
Danica moving to Na$car will be a disaster. It's not a apples to oranges comparison, more like apples to pineapples.
I really don't see it happening, she's just throwing it out to increase her value.
Very few have been able to make a successful transition.
buckaroo
Here kitty, kitty, kitty
Always a nice discussion here. But there is one thing that I haven't read here and that is sponsorship. Yeah, I know what people have said that she can sell regardless of whether she can drive, but let's take a look back at the series with lady drivers. Who was the last woman to give NASCAR's Cup series a good shot with supposedly good equipment and backing. Shana Robinson, and she was a dang good stockcar pilot. She was attractive and very popular, but she didn't last very long, not even in the Busch series where some women have been able to at least make a good stab at it. I do think that like others have said, she lacks the skill it takes to wheel one of the top cars and has no experience at all. If she were to give it a shot, one would believe that she would be in a Busch car, with a few races in ARCA. But who really knows. We all could be blowing smoke and one of the top owners could give her a seat in one of their cars and she does great. But it's fun to speculate and that is all it is until we actually see her behind the wheel of a stockcar.
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Digger
Guest
Shawna would've done good in NASCAR if she had come in much earlier in her career. And I'd hardly call BAM Racing good equipment.
I'm surprised at the success Montoya's had. Because there are a lot of drivers who have run three or four races in ARCA and even won a few races that have failed miserably in NASCAR. Steven Wallace, Michael McDowell, Chad McCumbee, Chase Miller, Stuart Kirby, Joey Logano, David Stremee, etc.
FYI, you have to run some ARCA in order to be able to race in any of the top-3 divisions on a track bigger than a mile.
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Camp65
Guest
Shawna had her chace in Busch years ago in good equipment. She sat on the pole at Atlanta...wrecked going into 3 the first lap. She had top notch equipment in ARCA with Kranefuss and could not win. She could stand on the gas but she struggled in real race conditions. Patty Moise was a much better driver than her but never had the equipment.
Joey Logano ...lets see, not setting the world on fire in the Cup car but far from failing miserably. Nationwide this season, 12 starts, 2 poles 2 wins 7 top fives and 9 top tens. I would think alot of drivers would like too be in his shoes and be that miserable. If your criteria have Logano as "failing miserably" then how about adding Scott Speed to the list.
Last but not least... FYI that is false. While running ARCA may get you in easier it is not required.
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Digger
Guest
I did forget to add Scott Speed to the list.
NASCAR does mandate you run a restrictor plate race in ARCA before you are allowed to run an RP race in CWTS/NNS/NSCS. They made Logano race at Talladega and Daytona in an ARCA car.
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foehammer111
Guest
Actually, I'm surprised that Montoya hasn't been more successful. He's easily the best all-around active driver in any series. I really consider him a modern Mario Andretti, and has proven that he can drive anything with 4 wheels, and do it well.
He's the only driver that has won the Indy 500 and GP of Monaco in his first attempts. If he wins the Daytona 500, he'll be the only driver to have won what some consider the "Triple Crown" of motorsport (Indy, Monaco, Daytona).
He's doing a lot better this year, but if he was in a Hendrick car I think he'd be in the top-six right now.
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Camp65
Guest
Again, this is false. Brent Raymer never ran in ARCA and he has been on 8 tracks including Daytona that are over 1 mile. It was stongly suggested to him that he run a few ARCA races but he wanted nothing too do with it. He ran those big block modifieds so I guess NASCAR approved him.
Now Duane Bischoff from the ARCA truck series is making his debut at Milwaukee this weekend. I spoke with him and he is trying to do it the same way Raymer did. Run some 1 mile and under tracks and hope NASCAR approves him. It is a huge step from buzzing around in those V-6 powered ARCA trucks to a NCWTS ride. He has some good equipment. He got two really nice pieces from the 16 team...a short track and an intermediate truck. They sold most their stuff when they switched to Toyota this year. I do not know who is doing his engines. Hopefully he can adapt quickly and not tear anything up. He is really a nice guy and I wish him well.
I do think it should be mandatory to run some ARCA stuff to get on the 1.5 mile ovals and over. Brett Bodine makes the decisions on who is approved or not. That is another topic......
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Digger
Guest
Interesting... because SPEED says every year that drivers have to have ARCA experience to run on the big tracks. Perhaps NASCAR doesn't enforce it as well, and Raymer slipped through the cracks?
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