Hanging out w/ Danica...

kompressornsc · 05-24-05, 05:00

Okay, maybe I wasn't really 'hanging out' with her, but I did attend a luncheon in her honor today. The media around her was insane-5 or 6 TV cameras in her face the whole time. I think she said she had done 56 TV interviews in 48 hours. And she is so tiny! They list her at 5', 100 lb., but there is no way.

Also there were Sebastian Bourdais, Tomas Enge, Patrick Carpentier (he's probably under 5' tall as well), Jeff Bucknam, Ryan Briscoe, Phillipe Giafonne, Johnny Rutherford, Donald Davidson and Tom Carnigie. My friend that went with me was supposed to bring his camera & forgot. Ugh.

And tomorrow I have to go to my glass etcher and pick up the milk bottle that the winner takes the traditional drink of milk from each year-hope I don't drop it.

themightytimmah · 05-24-05, 06:01

Whose Danica? Or should I not ask

.

MongooseGA · 05-24-05, 06:19

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Goose · 05-24-05, 06:30

she races race cars around a (many) tracks, very well I might add.

perry · 05-24-05, 09:07

Cool! You going to the race? Got any hookups for gasoline alley or any of the fancy tents?

We moved our seats last year from H stand down to about 15 feet past the yard of bricks.. Really awesome seats. Nice to be under cover.

Saw her on Letterman last night.. Hopefully she'll do better than Sarah Fisher who seems to wreck each year.

J.J. · 05-24-05, 09:12

Danica Patrick, yeah she was on Letterman lastnight. I'm looking forward to watching her race, but I bet she hits the wall. I wish her no ill will or anything but it seems she has something she wants to prove.

JJ

kompressornsc · 05-25-05, 05:34

Quote:

Originally posted by perry
Cool! You going to the race? Got any hookups for gasoline alley or any of the fancy tents? We moved our seats last year from H stand down to about 15 feet past the yard of bricks.. Really awesome seats. Nice to be under cover.

Saw her on Letterman last night.. Hopefully she'll do better than Sarah Fisher who seems to wreck each year.

Not this year.

I go on Sunday morning & buy scalped tickets.

Danica will do well if she can get lucky and avoid all the things that drivers have no control over-she's actually a really good driver and has been driving in Europe for a long time. Fisher was a star because she was a woman. Patrick will be a star becasue she's a good driver.

rjstaaf · 05-25-05, 05:50

She is also the host of the PowerBlock on Spike TV

http://www.powerblocktv.com/

Here is her official website.

http://www.danicaracing.com/

Spilchy · 05-25-05, 06:51

She's a cutey. I see her on Power Block on Spike TV on Saturdays if I can catch a few episodes of Hot Rod TV, etc...

I think she qualified with a speed of 223mph or something near that.

the other pc · 05-25-05, 07:49

Quote:

Originally posted by kompressornsc
... They list her at 5', 100 lb., but there is no way....

Built for speed.

And I mean that in a technical way, not a chauvinist pig way (although that works too, she is cute).

Chassis engineers would much rather have small-framed drivers. They require less “wasted” cockpit volume that could otherwise be dedicated to something useful like structural triangulation.

An IRL car with partial load of fuel weighs in around 1600lbs. The difference between a 100lbs. Driver and a 180lbs. Driver is about 5% of the total vehicle weight. That’s 5% less mass for the engine to push, the brakes to haul down and the tires to hold sideways. What team wouldn’t kill for a 5% advantage?

PC.

themightytimmah · 05-25-05, 12:00

Saw her on the Powerblock today, yeah she is a cutie. Shes gotta have a big advantage over a guy like me, all other things considered, as you're looking at about 120 pounds of ballast that you can place in the most structurally advantageous point, rather than up in the cockpit.

perry · 05-29-05, 02:57

Was that a helluva race or what?!?!?! The crowd was on their feet with 25 laps to go and Danica in the lead. She had a ballsy crew chief that had her make her last pit stop with 40 to go. Ended up paying off as she went from around 9th place to finally finish 4th.

Saw Janet Guthrey badmouthing her this morning, but I think Danica will give the league a much needed kick in the ***. What she did today was just awesome.

Dan Wheldon was my Uncle's man so we were cheering for him anyways. We were right across from his pit so we were really paying attention as he moved up all day.

Seeing Reggie Miller on the starter's stand was pretty cool and he seemed to have a blast. The crowd really appreciated him too... "REGGIE! REGGIE! REGGIE!" And so did the Archbishop of Indianapolis that said a prayer before the race.. "Lord, please bless the drivers and Reggie."

After last year, I wasn't all that excited to go this year. But I can't wait for next year!

Now time to relax and watch the race on TV and see what all I missed.