'Danica Patrick Takes Pole Position'

[Panther_99FS]

Congrats to her! Now some odds & ends.
- Stewart Haas looking very strong (even stronger next year with Harvick?)
- Kenseth looked really strong last night
- Good to see Trevor Bayne up there
- 5 of top 10 running Hendrick engines
- Montoya & McMurray doing better with Hendrick power (although that team in general has flat out sucked - regardless of drivers)

Must say that I agree with EasyEd in that wishing someone would've have picked up Dodge

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

As most of you know I've backed Danica since day 1.

I'm really glad to see this. I'll say right now I believe she will win a race too - probably not the 500 as I don't think she is ready for that but she will win. This is a huge step forward.

No I don't expect her to ever dominate or be a serious challenger for the cup but she is what she is - a trailblazer for women yet to come.

Go Danica!

-Ed-

PS Dang it Roger - Brad and Joey in Dodges - how cool would that be!

[Firekitten]

Never been a nascar fan myself, but I've watched Danica Patrick with interest. Not enough women in motorsport... with trailblazers creeping towards the edges of F1... its a pivotal time. good on her!

[Panther_99FS]

Not enough women in motorsport...

I think the bigger issue is that the teams with the $$ aren't taking risks to get them. Rahal-Letterman Racing did and so did Andretti racing. Katherine Legge's Toyota Atlantic record was better than Danica's but Legge never had the opportunity to be with teams like Danica has. Simona De Silvestro on a lesser team was able to take the fight to Danica on road courses even though Danica had the might of Andretti Racing.

Then there's Johanna Long who's been quite impressive considering her lack of powerful backing too.

There are fast women out there IMHO - just folks have to take some risks....

[Terry]

Lets not leave out the NHRA. There have been women in their events for a good many years. Yesterday Courtney Force won her class at the Winter Nationals, a very prestigious event.

[Daveroo]

and theres Michelle Theriault in ARCA and limited runs in NCTS ,shes not bad...theres also Milka Duno,and Maryeve Dufault..Milka started outside front row in the ARCA race saterday and had the lead until a slow pitstop messed her up..and later a mechanical problem...but shes in Ventruini equipment,so if shes out to chase down Danica in nascar...shes got a good shot at it in a good car now for expieriance .i may have this wrong..but isnt Milka the gal that Danica had the fight with where she threw a towel in milka's face and they cussed at eachother like sailors??

[Panther_99FS]

Lets not leave out the NHRA. There have been women in their events for a good many years. Yesterday Courtney Force won her class at the Winter Nationals, a very prestigious event.

:jump::jump::jump:

[Terry]

If you did not see the NHRA race, you should at least check out the run by Antron Brown where the dragster totaly disintigrated, NHRA.com should have it available. Thanks to the new design F-16 type cockpit canopy and carbon fibre shell he got out and walked away.
I have seen a lot of dragster wrecks in my life but this was without a doubt the worst.

[eddie]

Congrats to Danica on the pole! She did a good job! Have to say though, that first race they ran before Qualifying, that the yellow scheme JJ had, didn't look good to me at all!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/JJ-1_zpsae13451a.jpg

[wombat666]

There have been several outstanding Female drivers in the real racing disciplines, Lella Lombardi drove an older Matich in the F5000 'Tasman' series and made almost all the Male regulars look very average, but she never had a decent drive in F1.
Lynn St James is another who punched above her weight, while Divina Galcia only managed to get F1 drives in old cars, despite her obvious talent.
Michelle Mouton was an outstanding driver in the era of WRC 'Men Only' super cars, driving for Audi she came very close to beating them all, as usual, the behind the scenes machinations of Walter Rohrl ensured she wouldn't.
Tiny little Kay Petre (Pre WW2) set the outright record at Brooklands at the wheel of a monster aero engined 'Brooklands Special' which was only beaten by John Cobb in late 1939.
There has always been talented Women in motor racing, but the establishment has more or less ignored them.
I was sceptical (still am in some ways) about Ms. Patrick but I give her 100 points for her determination, and to be honest, I would be very pleased if she won races, on merit, not as part of a NASCAR publicity stunt.
:kilroy:

[stansdds]

Congrats to Danica on the pole! She did a good job! Have to say though, that first race they ran before Qualifying, that the yellow scheme JJ had, didn't look good to me at all!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v138/Thony/JJ-1_zpsae13451a.jpg

It's not uncommon for teams to use non-standard color schemes for races that lead up to the Daytona 500. I didn't like the yellow either and I'm not a big fan of the 48. After saying I'm not a big fan of the 48, I'll run and hide! :running:

[Daveroo]

i like the yellow cars...but i think a color like red for lettering and graphics is better than black...even an orange...

81419

[Panther_99FS]

Lynn St James is another who punched above her weight,


Oh yeah for sure!
When you factor in the "big picture", she did quite well at Indy - all things considered!

[ViperPilot2]

Before Danica, GoDaddy and all the hype there was Janet Guthrie...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Guthrie

http://www.janetguthrie.com/