Robby Gordon whines about female NASCAR driver

“He complains that a female driver has an has unfair advantage because she is lighter and he won't race against her unless something is done to even the score (for example her car should be heavier). Yikes! What's next? Tall basketball players have to kneel when taking a shot? We need to nuetralize the weight advantage of large football players? We have to kill some brain cells for athletes who are too much smarter than the others? NASCAR drivers with the quickest reflexes have to drink two beers before a race to slow their reflexes down?

I bet he's already embarassed!”

“Here's th whole story:

May 28) - Robby Gordon accused Danica Patrick of having an unfair advantage in the Indianapolis 500 and said Saturday he will not compete in the race again unless the field is equalized.

Gordon, a former open-wheel driver now in NASCAR, contends that Patrick is at an advantage over the rest of the competitors because she only weighs 100 pounds. Because all the cars weigh the same, Patrick's is lighter on the race track.

"The lighter the car, the faster it goes," Gordon said. "Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier.

"I won't race against her until the IRL does something to take that advantage away."

The Indy Racing League does not consider the weight of the driver in its race specifications. The car has to weigh at least 1,525 pounds before the fuel and driver are added, and teams in Indy have estimated that Patrick will gain close to 1 mph in speed because of her small stature.

Although her rivals in Sunday's race have said she doesn't have a huge advantage, pole-sitter Tony Kanaan told reporters he would like the Indy Racing League to look into the issue.

"Right off the bat, a guy my size is spotting her 105 pounds," Gordon said. "That's the reason she's so much faster."

Patrick has been among the quickest drivers since rookie orientation began on the famed 2 1/2-mile oval on May 5. Only a bobble on the first lap of her qualifying effort kept her from winning the pole, and she will take the green flag from fourth on Sunday, the best starting position for a woman at Indy.

Patrick was fastest with a lap of 225.997 mph to lead the one-hour "Carb Day" practice on Friday, the only time the cars got on the track during the week between the end of time trials and the start of the race.

She follows Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, needing only to finish eighth or better to improve on the best previous finish by a female - ninth by Guthrie in 1978.


The Starlet of the Indy 500




Patrick, however, is not focused on simply finishing in the top 10 or just staying out of trouble.

"I think I have a great chance of winning this race," the confident Patrick said.

Driving the 650-horsepower IndyCars for the first time this year, Patrick has improved in each of the first four IRL races, culminating in an impressive fourth place last month in Japan.

At Indy, she has been nothing less than a phenomenon.

Patrick would not be the first rookie to win here, although certainly among the least experienced.

Juan Montoya was the defending champion of the rival CART series when he won here in 2000, and Helio Castroneves was a two-year regular in CART and winner of three races before he took the checkered flag as an Indy rookie in 2001.

Still, Castroneves, who also won the next year, said he has no doubt Patrick could win on Sunday, particularly since she is driving a Honda-powered Panoz for the powerful Rahal Letterman Racing team that won here last year with Buddy Rice.

"She is driving for a great team and she has been fast every day since she got here," Castroneves said. "If she can keep her nose clean, she'll be OK. The only thing that might be a problem is you have to have patience and, sometimes, rookies don't have much patience."

Castroneves, starting fifth, and Marlboro Team Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr., a two-time IRL champion and starting in the middle of the first row, also will be among the favorites Sunday as they try to give Roger Penske a record 14th Indy win.

Others to watch include all four members of Andretti Green Racing, including Kanaan, current IRL points leader Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta.

If one of them can manage to get to Victory Lane, it would be a very big day indeed for team co-owner Michael Andretti, who led more laps than any other nonwinner at Indy. His father, Mario, won the race in 1969, then spent 25 frustrating years trying and failing to win it again.

The two had so many things go wrong here that the term "Andretti Luck" became part of the Indy lexicon. "We've done everything in our power to put ourselves in a good position," Michael said. "Of course, this feeling doesn't mean anything. I've been here before in this position. We'll see what fate has in store."

And don't forget perhaps the most heartwarming story of the month: Kenny Brack. The 1999 Indy winner, nearly killed in a devastating crash at Texas Motor Speedway in October 2003, was called upon just last week to replace Rice, injured in a crash here on May 10.


Women at Indy 500



AP

· Driver: Janet Guthrie
· Year: 1977
· Finish: 29th
· Notable: The first woman to race at the Indy 500, Guthrie would compete three times at the Brickyard.



AP

· Driver: Lyn St. James
· Year: 1992
· Finish: 11th
· Notable: The only woman to be named the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, she raced seven times at Indy.



AP

· Driver: Sarah Fisher
· Year: 2000
· Finish: 31st
· Notable: At 19, Fisher was the youngest woman to ever race in the Indianapolis 500.



AP

· Driver: Danica Patrick
· Year: 2005
· Starting Position: 4th
· Notable: Her starting position for this year's race is the highest ever for a woman at the Indy 500.




Brack responded by posting the fastest qualifying speed of the month, 227.598 mph. Since it came on the second week of time trials, though, he will start 23rd. Nobody has won from that far back since Johnny Rutherford started 25th in 1974 and charged to the second of his three victories.

Still, Brack is confident he can be competitive in basically the same Honda-powered Panoz in which Rice won last year.

"Maybe I'll be a little rusty in traffic, but it's a long race," said Brack, who hasn't raced an IndyCar since his crash. "I think we'll be just fine after the first pit stop."

The third Rahal Letterman entry, Vitor Meira, making his fourth Indy start - from seventh - could be the dark horse in the race.

"Vitor also has great equipment and he's been flying all month," Kanaan said. "I think maybe he's a little under the radar."

Hornish has been perhaps the IRL's biggest star since winning his first series title in 2001, but he has struggled mightily at Indy. In five starts here, he has yet to finish better than 14th or even complete all 200 laps.

"The big thing is to make it to the end, which I have not done yet," Hornish said. "But we have a great team and two great cars and we've got as good a shot as anybody.

"If I do win here, it would be my 14th (career) win and it would be Roger's 14th at Indy," he added. "I think that would be very nice."

The big question going into Sunday, though, remains: What will Danica do?

Castroneves was asked if it bothers him that most of the questions he and other veterans have fielded this month have been about Patrick.

"It's good for the series, it's good for the sport," he replied. "When I came here they gave me the nickname 'Spider Man.' Maybe they should call her 'Wonder Woman."”

“I hope he's embarrassed. .... because he weighed 200lb and she weighed 100lb, her car was faster....good thing he's not a jockey.

I knew a climber (Kerr) who had no feet. He used prosthetics with rubber foot shaped devices on them. Guys were saying he had an unfair advantage because he could customize them for the type of rock he was on.
last edited: 5/29/05 12:43:37 AM”

“it's not very often that you hear that the woman has the advantage over a man in a sport, usually the men being bigger is considered an advantage. so does that mean that they're gonna weigh all the drivers and equalize all the weight? what if one of the male drivers is closer to 300lbs, then the 200lb male drivers would have an advantage, better put some wieghts in their cars.”

“I guess those guys had better start their diets huh? I bet he never said anything when he had say ... a 10 lb advantage over one of the other male drivers.

Nevertheless, skill and weight aside, I only hope this female wins because she is good looking and I bet under that fireproof suit she's got some fabulous hooters!”

“In NASCAR the car weight inludes the driver. IN a sport where differences are measured in thousandths of a second a mile per hour advantage is HUGE. It's hard for a non-racing fan to understand how muh of an advantage that really is.”

“Oh... and in F1 racing the minimum weight includes the driver. It's only CART that the minimun weight doesn't include driver.”

“Weight is a major issue with racing, there is no doubt about it, but why bring it up now? Divers don't all weigh the same, cars don't all weigh the same. The drivers ablity to actually drive varies. Racing is a challange to perform a certian function on a givin day and whoever performs best and/or comes in first wins. The rest are just details.”

“Several years ago, Tony George (the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway) split from CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams(?)) and started his own series IRL (Indy Racing League).

Amungst the reasons for the split were...
1) High cost of putting a car into the field.
2) To many foriegn drivers
3) Wants to run American Made cars
4 Make the race a greater family experience.
Lets see how this move has done so far...

1) Although Tony George sucessfully got rid of the Penske influence, it is still damn expensive to field a car.
2) 33 drivers, 18 not American
Tony Kanaan, Brazil
Helio Castroneves, Brazil
Dario Franchitti, Scotland
Vitor Meira, Brazil
Kosuke Matsuura, Japan
Tomas Enge, Czech
Tomas Scheckter, South Africa
Bruno Junqueira, Brazil
Scott Dixon, New Zealand
Adrian Fernandez, Mexico
Sebastien Bourdais, France
Dan Wheldon, England
Darren Manning, England
Kenny Brack, Sweden
Ryan Briscoe, Australia
Patrick Carpentier, French Canadian
Marty Roth, Canadian
Filipe Giaffone, Brazil

3) 33 cars in the field.
Body: 19 Dallara - Italian Made car
14 Panoz - Offices in Georgia
Engine: 14 Honda
14 Toyota
5 Chevrolet

4) Danica Patrick... Now this is my kinda family values!!
”

“Mmmmmmmmm.... sweeet sweeeeet candie!!!
last edited: 5/29/05 9:03:20 AM”

“What a blowhard! It's someone else's fault, isn't it, that he's not up to snuff?

I understand that weight is an issue. But come on!!!! They could have been handicapping drivers for years. What about the previous women drivers? They may not have been 100 pounds, but I bet they weren't 200. If this truly was an issue, I think the issue would have been addressed before.

He's a stinking cry baby. No one will ever display his number on the back of their pick-up truck. ;)
last edited: 5/29/05 9:17:40 AM”

“she looks like a grease monkey trying to guess how to be sexy.... not that that isn't sexy in itself.”

“Oh I totally understand that weight makes a huge difference in racing. in the 1/4mile, for every 100lbs that you can take out of your car, you're supposed to gain 1/100th of a second, which is quite a bit in drag racing. However, in a race that is quite often a riduculous amount of laps, and not just a 1/4mile, the weight advantage isn't as great. Sure it's still there but it's not as much as in a race that only takes 8-9seconds. I say if they want to start adding weight to her car, then the minimum weight should include the driver and ALL of the men who happen to be a bit lighter than some of the others should have to have weights too.”

“Tell lardass to call my good friend "jenny craig" and to put the jelly donuts down.”

“maybe if fairness is the goal, everyone will have bricks added to their vehicle until they are all as heavy as the fattest..er I mean heaviest driver.”

“If it hadn't been for the outstanding graphics on this thread, I would have passed right by without comment.”

“25 laps left... Danica in the lead with only clean air ahead. After stalling in the pits, then later spinning and messing up her nose cone a few laps back, she is in front.
last edited: 5/29/05 3:24:39 PM”

“What a great race!!!”

“Taking a driver's weight into account is pretty standard in other leagues.”

“It's time for Danica to sign up for some Home Economics classes. She needs a man to support her, because she can't cut it in a mens world. One more chick that's saved by marriage . Oh we men are so stuuupid.”

“Of course weight is important to racing, all kinds of physical attributes are important to competitive sports. Height is essential in basketball, but you don't have people asking for hanicaps tobalance the height advantage.

Actually this all reminded me of a short story I read in high school, by Kurt Vonnegut. I guess it could be called a politically conservative piece, because it makes fun of the pursuit of absolute equality. It's a great story, and very short. Here is a link:

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html”

“Uh, hmmmm, NASCAR? I don't think you'll see Danica Patrick anywhere near NASCAR, she drives in the IRL.

btw, she managed to wreck under caution in the Indy 500, UNDER CAUTION! Fortuneatly the crew was able to just replace the damaged part of the car. Seemed like the fourth place finish was a lot more car than driver.

And yes, in IRL a one hundred pound difference would represent somewhat of an advantage.
last edited: 5/29/05 7:06:05 PM”

“So she ran into another car during green flag racing and wrecked a few more cars on the caution lap.

Wrecked under yellow? At highway speeds a professional driver takes out at least two other cars. An extended yellow allows the ABC team favoite to get back into competition.

No way the yellow goes this long with any other driver.

No way.”

“I know they want to do anything possible to pump her up to raise the profile of the IRL but wrecking under the yellow is absolutely inexcusable.”

“Hey, any woman that’s not in front of my in the fast lane, in a Tahoe, talking on her cell and driving 65 is fine with me.”

“Mea Culpa on the bad title should have said Robby Gordon, NASCAR driver, whines about female IRL driver - or some such.”

“We understand, ped. You know don't know anything about racing, but that won't stop you from grabbing a headline to further your agenda.”

““Mea Culpa on the bad title should have said Robby Gordon, NASCAR driver, whines about female IRL driver - or some such.”

I don't believe he drives NASCAR anymore. He sucked real bad at it and was an even bigger crybaby in that league.”

“Robby Gordon is driving NASCAR this season. He has his own team which just doesn't work, so he hasn't qualified for a lot of races.

He wrecked out of the 600 earlier tonight.”

“R. Gordon does race NASCAR.
He also raced a few Indy 500's.
For a few years, there were some guys that raced both the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600. The Indy race started at 11am. After the completion of the race, the drivers would be wisked away to a waiting helochopter and taken to the airport. There, they would get on a jet and fly to North Carolina and eventually to the Lowes Motor Speedway for the 600.
This year, the Indy management changed to start time to noon so that they could get the extra TV viewership on the west coast. This has nixed the 2 race hopes that any driver might have had.

As for crash under the yellow caution periods...
Even under caution, the cars are running over 100 miles per hour. The "wings" and vents which hold the car to the pavement do not work at low speeds. It is very easy to loose control at low speed. I guess she was shifting gears when she bumped into the car in front of her.”

“"that won't stop you from grabbing a headline to further your agenda.”
bacpac
7:45:52 PM
5/29/05

A little paranoid, ain't ya?

(And who told you about my diabolical scheme to lay the ground works for a UFO invasion? Was he wearing a tinfoil hat?)”

“Whoa, Robbie made up his laps, his car is fixed and he's in sixth.”

“I never considered putting a race car number on my truck before but I'm thinking of getting a #16 soon! Whoo Hoo go Danica! I don't follow racing much anymore, I used to watch it and others sports a lot in the 70's and 80's. I just can't see some of those old guys comming up with this kind of crap. This Gordon fella sounds like a sissy!”

“Danica is also very sharp. Saw her on Letterman one night and she was doing mental gymnastics around Letterman.”

“Letterman is part owner of the team she drives for.”

“"I never considered putting a race car number on my truck before but I'm thinking of getting a #16 soon!"

bateauxdriver
10:01:37 PM
5/29/05

I suggest you get to know who Greg Biffle is then, all but the 15 people who care about the IRL will assume that you're a Biffle fan.”

“Sounds to me like some racing fans have found a new idol ... one apparently not found using the "thinking" organ.

Somebody's getting rich off of this marketing gem.”

“"I don't believe he drives NASCAR anymore. He sucked real bad at it and was an even bigger crybaby in that league."

Nigal
7:47:37 PM
5/29/05

One caveat to that - Road Courses, Robbie Gordon kicks ass on road courses in any league, he's one of the best in the world. And he is also one of the best off-road racers. He just isn't very good on ovals, and ovals are what racing is about these days.
last edited: 5/29/05 10:51:05 PM”

“I agree with that Sarge, and she does have quite a bit of talent, but what really pissed me off is that she screwed up majorly twice in the 500 today (stalling in the pits, and wrecking under caution). Any other driver would have been chastised by the announcers, but she was praised? WTF. That just annoys me.”

“"One caveat to that - Road Courses, Robbie Gordon kicks ass on road courses in any league, he's one of the best in the world."

Best in the world? I wouldn't go that far. There are others in the open wheel leagues much, much better than him and as for NASCAR's road courses, he's a big fish in a little pond on the road courses. That's why smaller teams get guys like him and Boris Said for the road course races.”

“Thank you sarge for telling us how to think. We're so incapable of thinking without you. How did I live all those years before you were born?

Here all the time I thought only the fourth woman driving in the Indy 500 was news. Who wudda thunk it was a marketing ploy all along?

And who wudda thunk a stupid crash in the Indy is the exclusive province of women? A.J. Foyt IV came down on the wheels of a guy trying to lap him when A.J. was so far behind it didn't matter to him - even admitted that his crew had radioed that he was being passed on the inside.”

“I didn't get to watch the whole race but this woman held her own from what I can gather. When she stalled the engine she dropped to sixteen. The next time I came back from working in the garden she was back in fourth. My eight year old neighbor later told me she would have won the race if she hadn't run out of fuel. Sounds like she has a promising future.

As far as the wrecks, Dale himself said it best. "That's racing."”

“Geo- Do you want some cheese to go with that whine?”

“I wasn't too sure if the IRL weighed their type of race cars.... my daughter ,the car, and fuel must meet a certain weight before and after each race. Last saturday night she finished third out of some twelve or so cars. She started dead last (flat tire during time trials,picked up some metal in the pits), was spun out by the number 5 car at lap seven and still finished in the points and money by lap fifteen at the end of the race. I need Robbie to come on down to the Highland Rim Racetrack ... Think he has it rough... anyway the weight issue does have merit and the officials should have that in consideration to qualify and dis-qualify the cars in the field... to level the playing field if for nothing else.”

“And Geo, the announcers let you know that AJ made a dumbass move, Danica's was far worse than even that and she get's no criticism whatsoever, that's what bothered me about the whole thing.”

“Scott Sharp may have slowed down in front of her. She didn't take out any other cars, only damaged her own a bit. Rookies quite often make mistakes, no matter what sex that rookie may be.
For several years, I'd go to the track almost every day throughout the month. First day of qualifications, the stands were packed. Bump Day, the stands were packed. Each of those seats cost at least $10. I may have been inside the track twice since IRL.
Since the coming of IRL, the month of May has not been as profitable for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). When Tony George shut CART out, he lost the big name drivers, and many of the fans. The first day of qualifications and bump day, some of the stands are bare.
Every year, Indianapolis has an entire month to get to know the drivers, and for the drivers to get to know the Indy. Each year, there seems to be a "darling" chosen. The darling is usually a charismatic driver who has been doing well in the previous races. Dan Wheldon has won 4 of 5 races this year, but he has been racing for a few years now. This year, the darling is a rookie female. She is fast, and slightly more pleasing to the eye than Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher.
(I'd still kick her out of the tent for eating crackers)”

“The whine was this: “Sounds to me like some racing fans have found a new idol ... one apparently not found using the "thinking" organ.

Somebody's getting rich off of this marketing gem.””

“You're obsessed w/ me Geo. Find another hobby.

Are we still going camping with Treebeard?”

“It's the WV family camping and cookoff trip on the trips thread if you're interested.

Not obsessed at all sarge. Just reacting to your post about people not thinking, which I found patronizing. We had another guy who posted similar things, passing himself off as a geopolitical genius. You post that kind of demeaning crap and then wonder why people jump on you. Well, that's why.”