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- United States
- VNAF Ace
2008 Indianapolis 500 Race Results
Congratulations to Scott Dixon for winning the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
Congratulations to Scott Dixon for winning the 2008 Indianapolis 500.
2016 Verizon IndyCar SeriesOpen Wheel
- Thread starter VNAF Ace
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- 693
- United States
- VNAF Ace
Ryan Briscoe was 100% at fault for that accident. Danica was right next to the wall when he pulled off that idiotic drift. There was nowhere for her to go. If she had slowed down, then whoever was behind her would've rear ended her car and that would've caused a pile up in pit lane. Briscoe is making the same reckless mistakes that got him fired from Target Chip Ganassi Racing 3 years ago. I hope Roger Penske fires him and rehires Paul Tracy. I, for one, would love to see The Thrill From West Hill back in a Penske IndyCar.
- 8,017
- GTP_Royalton
I think Vitor Meira or Tomas Scheckter would be a better fit for the Brisco Penske ride
Tracy is 40+ and hasn't driven an openwheel car in sometime, Meira is 31 and has been an IRL regular for sometime. As for Scheckter they would get a fast driver but again he would resemble Briscoe by crashing, or maybe/hopefully he has gone beyond that?
Sadly, I think Tracy will never be in a top ride again except for maybe a few one race deals. Maybe he can still get a top ride in the ALMS. He's already semi-failed in trying to get into NASCAR so that's out of the question.
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This may sound odd, but I enjoyed seeing the Champ Car drivers eat concrete all day.
Rahal, Wilson, all of them. I'm sure their respect for the Brickyard oval has gone up.
Sort of like "Welcome to the IRL" or "Welcome to Indy" instead of welcome to the NFL
Tracy is 40+ and hasn't driven an openwheel car in sometime, Meira is 31 and has been an IRL regular for sometime. As for Scheckter they would get a fast driver but again he would resemble Briscoe by crashing, or maybe/hopefully he has gone beyond that?
Sadly, I think Tracy will never be in a top ride again except for maybe a few one race deals. Maybe he can still get a top ride in the ALMS. He's already semi-failed in trying to get into NASCAR so that's out of the question.
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This may sound odd, but I enjoyed seeing the Champ Car drivers eat concrete all day.
Rahal, Wilson, all of them. I'm sure their respect for the Brickyard oval has gone up.
Sort of like "Welcome to the IRL" or "Welcome to Indy" instead of welcome to the NFL
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
Yeah, but wasn't that the splinter one-off ChampCar event that happened the same day as the race at Motegi?
- 2,886
Agreed. I find it quite hard to believe that after winning so many times in the ALMS series you would think Briscoe wouldn't crash out so much when he returned to IndyCars.
Vitor would be a good fit teaming with Helio and it would be a true test of his driving abilities in car from the big-3 teams.
I don't see Scheckter getting the ride, Luzco Dragon racing is essentially a satellite Penske team, they get parts and engineering from Penske, plus one of the team co-owners is Roger's son, Jay. All they need to go full time with Tomas is full time sponsorship.
It's been rumored that he may drive for the Rahal-Letterman ALMS team next year in the M3's.
You can't blame Graham for his crash, Alex Lloyd was slowing down to pit not realizing that he was blocking Rahal's line, then Graham made the mistake of moving up the track where he got in the gray and crashed.
Plus, 5 more IndyCar regulars crashed than CCWS transition drivers, and Wilson has competed and Indy before, granted it was in an F1 car but he's seen the place before and is somewhat familiar with it.
- 693
- United States
- VNAF Ace
2008 Milwaukee 225 Starting Lineup
The 2008 Milwaukee 225 airs tomorrow at 4:00 PM EDT on ABC!
The 2008 Milwaukee 225 airs tomorrow at 4:00 PM EDT on ABC!
- 2,886
Weird how both front row starters crashed out, and how this is the first time in a while that an Andretti out finished a Rahal at Milwaukee.
Congrats to Ryan Briscoe on winning his first IndyCar race, turning away from all the negativity following him after Indy and doing something positive.
Congrats to Ryan Briscoe on winning his first IndyCar race, turning away from all the negativity following him after Indy and doing something positive.
- 793
I read up on Ryan Briscoe, he's not all that impressive to be a Penske man.
- 693
- United States
- VNAF Ace
2008 Milwaukee 225 Race Results
Congratulations to Ryan Briscoe for winning the 2008 Milwaukee 225 and his first IndyCar race.
Congratulations to Ryan Briscoe for winning the 2008 Milwaukee 225 and his first IndyCar race.
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
A case of bad karma... Ryan Briscoe spins out Danica Patrick in the pits at Indy last weekend. Then for this race weekend, Briscoe wins this race.
I had one debate question lined up that I thought would be good. But here's another:
John's Debate! Danica Patrick... the Fighter?
The most recent "SPEED Report" intro on the Milwaukee race talked about if Danica Patrick could get win number two, or get into fight #3. I've never been entertained about showing off Danica's frustration and anger on TV the way TV has done her. The coverage has even shown Danica tried to show up Dan Wheldon from last year. So... are you okay with media types labeling Danica Patrick as a fighter? Do you think the media has overstepped the boundaries a bit giving her the label of a fighter? What are your overall views on this perception of Danica?
So here I am again to defend the black and blue #7.
John Sounds Off! - Labeling Danica as a Fighter or Anything Similar
As I noted in my most recent debate question, I'm not real happy noting Danica as a fighter or anything along those lines. I think Danica's very emotional. She has character, but not the kind of all-about-me mentality. She's no high-maintenance diva like Paris Hilton or somebody. She was very proud picking up the win at Motegi. People will always find some kind of way to perceive ANYTHING the wrong way. Take NASCAR. There's always the perception of the cars being bang-up toys and that racing doesn't mean a damn thing to all the dead presidents NASCAR racers are getting for simply getting her done on the race track. I'm personally sick of Danica being portrayed in frustrated states. It's not good TV for me. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned. I didn't see Sarah Fisher get mad at the world that she didn't win a race in the (then) IRL. So why Danica? It's this Hollywood, "good TV" bulls:censored: that's got this black guy from Houston upset.
Danica doesn't make a living wrecking cars and making sure to get everybody upset. She's not Kyle Busch or Tony Stewart personality-wise. She's no tomboy. There is personality in the 26-year old who practices yoga to stay fit. Pretty feisty for someone 5'2" and about 100 lbs. She has had the honor she's garnered because of her potential and because of just how much she stays in the fight. Kind of think of her as that (not that I've seen the movie) "Million Dollar Baby" trying to cash in every chance she gets on the track. I'm glad someone mentioned this in the Indy 500 thread- Danica is a consistent racer. She doesn't finish all the time or in high positions all the time, but she does stay consistent and complete as many laps as she can and finishes races as best as she can. She's a winner to me even if she falls out of a race. It still fails me that people can love guys in NASCAR who do nothing better but spin people out or crash all the time... and overlook Danica. Still unclear to me. Maybe I'm getting too old to know the mindset of such people who've disliked or downplayed her.
Have your comments about my debate or my sound off. Up next... Ryan Hunter-Reay comes home to his part of Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth area) and racing at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. I'm sure you IndyCar fans in the Lone Star State will have your say about racing action at the track called the spiritual home of the IndyCar Series. I think in last year's race, Danica finished 3rd (with my heart beating faster in the process). We'll see who gets it done at Texas this Saturday at 9PM CDT!
I had one debate question lined up that I thought would be good. But here's another:
John's Debate! Danica Patrick... the Fighter?
The most recent "SPEED Report" intro on the Milwaukee race talked about if Danica Patrick could get win number two, or get into fight #3. I've never been entertained about showing off Danica's frustration and anger on TV the way TV has done her. The coverage has even shown Danica tried to show up Dan Wheldon from last year. So... are you okay with media types labeling Danica Patrick as a fighter? Do you think the media has overstepped the boundaries a bit giving her the label of a fighter? What are your overall views on this perception of Danica?
So here I am again to defend the black and blue #7.
John Sounds Off! - Labeling Danica as a Fighter or Anything Similar
As I noted in my most recent debate question, I'm not real happy noting Danica as a fighter or anything along those lines. I think Danica's very emotional. She has character, but not the kind of all-about-me mentality. She's no high-maintenance diva like Paris Hilton or somebody. She was very proud picking up the win at Motegi. People will always find some kind of way to perceive ANYTHING the wrong way. Take NASCAR. There's always the perception of the cars being bang-up toys and that racing doesn't mean a damn thing to all the dead presidents NASCAR racers are getting for simply getting her done on the race track. I'm personally sick of Danica being portrayed in frustrated states. It's not good TV for me. Maybe I'm too old-fashioned. I didn't see Sarah Fisher get mad at the world that she didn't win a race in the (then) IRL. So why Danica? It's this Hollywood, "good TV" bulls:censored: that's got this black guy from Houston upset.
Danica doesn't make a living wrecking cars and making sure to get everybody upset. She's not Kyle Busch or Tony Stewart personality-wise. She's no tomboy. There is personality in the 26-year old who practices yoga to stay fit. Pretty feisty for someone 5'2" and about 100 lbs. She has had the honor she's garnered because of her potential and because of just how much she stays in the fight. Kind of think of her as that (not that I've seen the movie) "Million Dollar Baby" trying to cash in every chance she gets on the track. I'm glad someone mentioned this in the Indy 500 thread- Danica is a consistent racer. She doesn't finish all the time or in high positions all the time, but she does stay consistent and complete as many laps as she can and finishes races as best as she can. She's a winner to me even if she falls out of a race. It still fails me that people can love guys in NASCAR who do nothing better but spin people out or crash all the time... and overlook Danica. Still unclear to me. Maybe I'm getting too old to know the mindset of such people who've disliked or downplayed her.
Have your comments about my debate or my sound off. Up next... Ryan Hunter-Reay comes home to his part of Texas (the Dallas/Fort Worth area) and racing at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth. I'm sure you IndyCar fans in the Lone Star State will have your say about racing action at the track called the spiritual home of the IndyCar Series. I think in last year's race, Danica finished 3rd (with my heart beating faster in the process). We'll see who gets it done at Texas this Saturday at 9PM CDT!
- 33,155
- Hammerhead Garage
John, there's a difference between getting mad because you didn't win a race and getting mad because somebody else's stupid mistake put you out of the running when you were doing well. Danica's a racer, and she'd know that the race isn't over until everyone has crossed the line (and not even then: the outcome of the Formula One season was up in the air for over a week after the Brazilian Grand Prix last year when three cars were found to be illegal). Briscoe was competely at fault in the incident; his stupidity in leaving his pit box when Danica was there put the both of them out of the race. Danica had every right to be upset with him: he had cost her a possible top-five finish. Anyone would be emotional in such circumstances.
As I said in the thread on the race itself, I think there's a lot of character assassination going on by the media. Danica's a woman, and there's never been a woman of her calibre in the sport before. When she won at Motegi, there was a lot of downplaying by the media; the suggestion that Helio Castronevers (I think it was him) slowed down and let her through, or the idea that her win was simply Danica getting lucky rather than Danica planning out a strategy. And now they've latched onto her march down pit lane, suggesting it was unsafe, stupid and unprofessional. But we've seen other drivers do the selfsame thing in the past; hell, drives have come to blows over a perceied slight before. One time, Nelson Piquest didn't even wait until he was safely behind the safety barriers to get stuck in to Elisio Salazar. And most of the time, these things don't get nearly as much attention as Danica's walk.
To me, the media are seeing her as a woman who happens to be a racer as opposed to a racer who happens to be a woman. While the latter may sound like semantics, it's not: on the racing circuit, all the drivers are drivers. They have to be, because if they're anything else, they don't stand a chance. And as Danica herself pointed out, the car doesn't care that she's female. It doesn't go any faster or slower simply because she was born with an XX chromosome instead of an XY like most of the other drivers. And I think this is why there's a lot of character assassination going on: because Danica has proven she's a clear and present danger to the egos of everyone else on the circuit. And it's my experience that people don't like it when that happens. I can only imagine that it's worse for racing drivers because they kind of have to be possessed of an incredible self-confidence to be able to propel a 300km/h guided missile around a racing circuit with twenty or thirty others in tow.
If someone like Marco Andretti had been th one to march down pit lane to confront Brisoe, there wouldn't be any of this, an I'm at a loss as to explain why. But I do have a theory and it's is one that I've been working on for a while, and it doesn't just apply to women in motorsport: womb envy. Women are tough. Women are stong. Women are able to bear and raise children, and they can often do it without a man's help. But for some reason, we've got this whole notion that half the population have come out the wrong way. Women are somehow weak and inferior because they are women. I've seen it everywhere, rife in popular culture: music, film, television and now sports. It's like the stories we used to hear of Chinese parents killing their baby if it were female because females wouldn't carry on the family name under the One Child Policy. It's almost if, at the very beginning of human history, a bunch of males got together and said "Alright, let's make hunting and gathering the awesomest achivements there are, and we'll make giving birth kind of weak and not-awesome" because they were jealous of the fact that women had a stength men never could have.
If I may quote one of my favourite writers of all time, Danica has done the impossible, and that makes her mighty. She's gone against the trend, proven that the international motorsport arena is not exclusively a man's world. I do admit that it's going to be predominantly male, largely because of all the women I know, only one or two have any passing interest in motor racing (and I suspectone of them is only in it for the crashes). But that doesn't mean women should be kept out by any means necessary. It's an irony then, that Danica needs win number two, and she needs it soon. While I hold her victory in Japan quite highly - it should be on any and every list of the top sporting momens of 2008 - the media aren't going to be as accepting, and I surely believe that if Danica desn't get another win, they're going to be incredibly cruel and devour her over a perceived lack of talent; moreso than if she had never notched up any victories in the first place. She might be consistent, but second is not a winner, and most people can't even recall who came third. Danica needs to deliver a second victory to silence her critics, and the longer it takes, the more convincing she will have to be. It's a sadness that it has to come down to that, but it's the harsh reality of it: everyone is going to be all over her for every slight or mistake - be it genuine or imaginary - until she can win again, and the longer it goes on, the more likely she is to succmb to the pressure.
So Danica, if you're reading this - and I'd be very surprised if you were - it's pressure-driving time. But who knows; maybe you're like me and like a bit of stress because it produces better results.
But you knew that already, didn't you?
As I said in the thread on the race itself, I think there's a lot of character assassination going on by the media. Danica's a woman, and there's never been a woman of her calibre in the sport before. When she won at Motegi, there was a lot of downplaying by the media; the suggestion that Helio Castronevers (I think it was him) slowed down and let her through, or the idea that her win was simply Danica getting lucky rather than Danica planning out a strategy. And now they've latched onto her march down pit lane, suggesting it was unsafe, stupid and unprofessional. But we've seen other drivers do the selfsame thing in the past; hell, drives have come to blows over a perceied slight before. One time, Nelson Piquest didn't even wait until he was safely behind the safety barriers to get stuck in to Elisio Salazar. And most of the time, these things don't get nearly as much attention as Danica's walk.
To me, the media are seeing her as a woman who happens to be a racer as opposed to a racer who happens to be a woman. While the latter may sound like semantics, it's not: on the racing circuit, all the drivers are drivers. They have to be, because if they're anything else, they don't stand a chance. And as Danica herself pointed out, the car doesn't care that she's female. It doesn't go any faster or slower simply because she was born with an XX chromosome instead of an XY like most of the other drivers. And I think this is why there's a lot of character assassination going on: because Danica has proven she's a clear and present danger to the egos of everyone else on the circuit. And it's my experience that people don't like it when that happens. I can only imagine that it's worse for racing drivers because they kind of have to be possessed of an incredible self-confidence to be able to propel a 300km/h guided missile around a racing circuit with twenty or thirty others in tow.
If someone like Marco Andretti had been th one to march down pit lane to confront Brisoe, there wouldn't be any of this, an I'm at a loss as to explain why. But I do have a theory and it's is one that I've been working on for a while, and it doesn't just apply to women in motorsport: womb envy. Women are tough. Women are stong. Women are able to bear and raise children, and they can often do it without a man's help. But for some reason, we've got this whole notion that half the population have come out the wrong way. Women are somehow weak and inferior because they are women. I've seen it everywhere, rife in popular culture: music, film, television and now sports. It's like the stories we used to hear of Chinese parents killing their baby if it were female because females wouldn't carry on the family name under the One Child Policy. It's almost if, at the very beginning of human history, a bunch of males got together and said "Alright, let's make hunting and gathering the awesomest achivements there are, and we'll make giving birth kind of weak and not-awesome" because they were jealous of the fact that women had a stength men never could have.
If I may quote one of my favourite writers of all time, Danica has done the impossible, and that makes her mighty. She's gone against the trend, proven that the international motorsport arena is not exclusively a man's world. I do admit that it's going to be predominantly male, largely because of all the women I know, only one or two have any passing interest in motor racing (and I suspectone of them is only in it for the crashes). But that doesn't mean women should be kept out by any means necessary. It's an irony then, that Danica needs win number two, and she needs it soon. While I hold her victory in Japan quite highly - it should be on any and every list of the top sporting momens of 2008 - the media aren't going to be as accepting, and I surely believe that if Danica desn't get another win, they're going to be incredibly cruel and devour her over a perceived lack of talent; moreso than if she had never notched up any victories in the first place. She might be consistent, but second is not a winner, and most people can't even recall who came third. Danica needs to deliver a second victory to silence her critics, and the longer it takes, the more convincing she will have to be. It's a sadness that it has to come down to that, but it's the harsh reality of it: everyone is going to be all over her for every slight or mistake - be it genuine or imaginary - until she can win again, and the longer it goes on, the more likely she is to succmb to the pressure.
So Danica, if you're reading this - and I'd be very surprised if you were - it's pressure-driving time. But who knows; maybe you're like me and like a bit of stress because it produces better results.
But you knew that already, didn't you?
- 150
- thebtspecial
Bombardier Learjet 550k this weekend! My father and I are making the trip from OK to watch it anyone else going?
Also check out practice session 2. 28 cars all lapping within 6/10ths of a second of each other. Not to mention that John Andretti is competitive! And of course the return of my boy Sheckter!!! (So great of him to get a ride for the rest of the season)
Also check out practice session 2. 28 cars all lapping within 6/10ths of a second of each other. Not to mention that John Andretti is competitive! And of course the return of my boy Sheckter!!! (So great of him to get a ride for the rest of the season)
- 150
- thebtspecial
Really? Darn. I figured it was for the rest of the season.
- 693
- United States
- VNAF Ace
2008 Texas 550 Starting Lineup
The 2008 Texas 550 airs tomorrow night at 10:00 PM EDT on ESPN2!
The 2008 Texas 550 airs tomorrow night at 10:00 PM EDT on ESPN2!
- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
Well, that's if you're going on that one (then) IRL race at Charlotte years ago that had a vicious crash moment where a few fans were injured or even killed. The image of open-wheel cars that I best remember is that one high-speed lap in a Champ Car in 2001. It was so scary because he was going incredibly fast. Not sure who the driver was in that one hot lap. Then in 2003(?), there was that vicious Kenny Brack crash that's scared the life out of me. He was thankful to survive. To me, I see no problem with Indy Cars on NASCAR ovals. Even before then, don't forget the Indy Car racing at Michigan International Speedway that's been around for the longest. I'll watch an IndyCar oval race because I like the IndyCar Series action on ovals and road courses.
A big issue for Saturday night's race could be the wind. From the NASCAR Truck race around Texas back on Friday, wind speeds were 20 mph at least. Indy cars are much lighter than any NASCAR stock car, so I just hope the teams can keep the cars weighed down on the track up there in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. As I noted last week, Ryan Hunter-Reay comes home to his home state and his home part of Texas. I'm sure he'll be as much of a local favorite like Denny Hamlin at Richmond or the Busch brothers at Las Vegas.
[UPDATE] Whoa! I almost forgot... I wish Dan Wheldon a speedy recovery. I'm sorry that I almost forgot to post this well-wishing in my post.
A big issue for Saturday night's race could be the wind. From the NASCAR Truck race around Texas back on Friday, wind speeds were 20 mph at least. Indy cars are much lighter than any NASCAR stock car, so I just hope the teams can keep the cars weighed down on the track up there in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex. As I noted last week, Ryan Hunter-Reay comes home to his home state and his home part of Texas. I'm sure he'll be as much of a local favorite like Denny Hamlin at Richmond or the Busch brothers at Las Vegas.
[UPDATE] Whoa! I almost forgot... I wish Dan Wheldon a speedy recovery. I'm sorry that I almost forgot to post this well-wishing in my post.
- 150
- thebtspecial
Congrats Scott Dixon on a race well done! Last night was absolutely fantastic! The first half of the race had some of the best racing I've ever seen. After now seeing NASCAR and INDY on the same track I can safely say that NASCAR has absolutely nothing on INDY. The speed at which the cars come flying by is amazing and in my opinion the racing was much better. The only time I kinda started to get bored was during the giant green flag run where it became difficult to keep up with where everyone was on the track. The finish left a sour taste in my mouth though because it seemed that there was potential for another classic Texas finish.
Side note: Poor Sheckter! Another race where he is competitive but fails to finish due to his car failing. It was obvious that the mechanics found something wrong with his car because, his car was the only one sitting with the covers off during most of the pre-race cerimonies. Also, his pit crew is pathetic! Every time he made a pitstop he lost at least 6 positions. Then the wreck he was in seemed to damage something in the suspension, but when they were about to try to fix it the car caught fire. Oh well, hopefully they can keep racing next weekend and beyond.
Side Side note: Nearly forgot, I was completely shocked by the amount of fans that turned out to the race. It was a great showing and hopefully is a sign that INDY is on it's way back. If you live anywhere near a track I highly recommend going to see a race. You won't be dissappointed.
Side note: Poor Sheckter! Another race where he is competitive but fails to finish due to his car failing. It was obvious that the mechanics found something wrong with his car because, his car was the only one sitting with the covers off during most of the pre-race cerimonies. Also, his pit crew is pathetic! Every time he made a pitstop he lost at least 6 positions. Then the wreck he was in seemed to damage something in the suspension, but when they were about to try to fix it the car caught fire. Oh well, hopefully they can keep racing next weekend and beyond.
Side Side note: Nearly forgot, I was completely shocked by the amount of fans that turned out to the race. It was a great showing and hopefully is a sign that INDY is on it's way back. If you live anywhere near a track I highly recommend going to see a race. You won't be dissappointed.
- 1,192
- Columbia, SC
- carolina2001 & GTP_carolina2001
- 793
im going with Marco on that incident.
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