TV Sports: ABC Turns Race Into Danica 500

I am a fan of all different series of racing. The Danica 500 was an embarassment. I love the IRL drivers but cannot stand what TG has done to the series. The fact that they hinged the race coverage on Danica is just one of those reasons. Danica does have a weight advantage as the IRL does not take driver weight into the equation when calculating total weight of the car. According to Tim Cindric, president of Team Penske of the IRL, Patricks 60-pound advantage over Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr could amount to a difference of as much as 0.8mph in lap average speed - or roughly the difference between Danica in fourth and Tomas Enge in 10th in the starting grid for this years 89th running of the Indy 500. A driver, Robby Gordon, is having his reputation torn to shreds and being called every derogatory name in the book by media members that wouldn't know a camshaft from an elevator shaft for pointing out this very same fact. They have turned it into a gender issue when all it ever was was a weight issue and Robby's not the only guy to ever talk about it. Weight advantages have been negated in most series by adding additional weight to cars that have smaller drivers so the issue wasn't even being brought up because of Danica's gender. If you thought the ABC coverage was overly fawning, you should have heard the IMS Radio coverage. The commentator had the nerve to ask Dan if he felt like he he 'rained on the parade by passing Danica'. The same commentator asked Bryan Herta if he thought he would have had a chance to get by Danica if Wheldon hadn't beaten him to it. Bryan finished 3rd, a position ahead of Danica. If she had been a male rookie and posted the same finish and committed the same stupid mistakes, he would have been overlooked entirely if not flat-out ripped for his mistakes. Most depressing to me as a race fan and, specifically is a female race fan, is that Danica is being hyped as the female saviour of the IRL when she has done nothing to deserve that title. In eight years as a pro, she has won no championships. The only race she has won as a pro was a Long Beach Celeb/Pro race back in 2002. Most race fans wouldn't even count that race in her stats if she were a guy but, because she is a girl, we've been told it counts just as much as any other win. Danica was not the first woman to race in the Indy 500. She was the fourth. She may have been the first woman to lead laps in the 500 but she led the first two times because of pit strategy (she pitted later than everyone else or did not pit at all). The third time she took the lead was on a restart from second place. At Indy, a driver would rather be in second on a restart because he knows he can get the lead with help from the draft of the guy in first. She isn't even the highest finishing female in IRL history. Sarah Fisher finished 2nd in a race a few years ago. Danica isn't even the highest finishing rookie in Indy 500 history. Several rookies have won in their first race, most recently Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. I like Danica. I think she does have potential. What I don't like is that true female racers who have won races are being ignored for someone who has done nothing to deserve the hype she has received. Danica has to show she is the racing version of Annika Sorenstram and, so far, all she has shown is that she is the racing version of Anna Kournikova.

I think there has been too much focus on the fact that Danica is a woman. If you forget that little detail you would still have a young driver, a rookie at this race that lead that race and almost won. This alone would have generated 80% of the same comments during the race. IRL racing had to do something because since the split from Indy cars we have two series that suck. How many people can name drivers in that series? If it wasn't for Danica it would be 1 or 2 (and that's being generous). People generally watch the Indy 500 because it's the Indy 500. Hopefully we can move this page 3 news to the front again.

OK, I'm a racing fan, although I haven't watched Indy 500 for years (not the same as IRL, too many commericals by ABC, too many human interest stories, too much "God Bless America")... ABC probably played up the woman's entry because interest in Indy 500 has dropped like a rock ever since it move to the new unpopular IRL series. They found a "human interest" story that might attract new viewers and used it up the way only American TV can. Women racing Cart (aka Indy) and Formula One cars IS a big deal. These cars impose tremendous G-forces on the drivers and especially their necks. You must be a top athlete and have fantastic neck muscles to complete these races. BTW, like it or not, USA is not the world's best country for equality of sexes. E.g, it only ranks 61st in percentage of women in parliaments: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

It was her tires that finally made the diference, with fresh tires and enough fuel, she may have won the thing!

Ya, not to mention the fact that she's so much lighter. I'm not a hug racing fan, and I've NEVER watched an Indy Car race before, but on those last few laps, her car must have been 200 pounds or more lighter than the others. She had little fuel, and she was about 100 lbs lighter than everyone else anyway. Isn't this a HUGE advantage? And yet she still got run down to 4th?

I think it's great and all .. but what's the big deal? It's driving a car, it's something I see all the time when out an about. If ever there was a sport where there shouldn't be a "gender" barrier this is it. Maybe perhaps behind bowling.