Congrats to Danica! (1 Viewer)

[The Counterfeiter]

A very gutsy and smart drive to one of the biggest milestones in all of motorsports history! I cannot tell you how excited I am that I will be at the Indy 500 this year.
My first exposure to motorsports was the Indy 500 with my father when I was 8 years old - considering the current sad state of NHRA racing, I'm really happy to see the resurgence of open wheel racing.

 

[Bobby]

Danica!!!!

She won tonight(today in Japan)

Now the nay-sayers can shut it.

 

[clwill]

Re: Danica!!!!

Very cool! Good for her.

Next is Ashley

 

[D]

Re: Danica!!!!

Cool hot and a winner, now we just have to get Ashley, Hillary and Melanie into the winners circle this year

S/F
D

 

[Rich]

Re: Danica!!!!

My eleven-year-old stepdaughter was watching with me tonight and was almost in tears with excitement. She's had the opportunity to meet Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel and now she's seen Danica win her first race on television. Gotta be good for a young girl to see women succeed in a sport that has traditionally been dominated by men. It was great seening history be made and I love it.

Congrats to Danica.

 

[Dave]

I second that Congrats!!! It was really great to see this happen. I am really trying to make a point to watch the Indy Car races this year. I have had it with the Nascar Soap Opera. I thought it was nice that Marty Reid mentioned what Shirley did for Drag Racing and women in Racing.

Dave

 

[none]

Nice job Danica! I`m not the biggest fan of hers, but at least now she won`t have to listen to all the critics questioning if she`ll ever get a win. No doubt she`s got a great ride with Andretti and she could certainly win Indy and it wouldn`t surprise me.

 

[Toejam]

Re: Danica!!!!

Of course Ashley's first win won't get the ink that Dan Patrick gets...

 

[Toejam]

I'm not a fanica of Danica, all the hype when she came on the scene. Now it's historic she won her first race? Give me a break!

 

[Johnny Mopar]

Re: Danica!!!!

I didn't realize how consistent she's been...29 Top 10 finishes, that's incredible. Way to go Danica!

There was an attempt to lure her to NASCAR last year...that would have been nice. It would have been even better to see her behind the wheel of a Pro Stocker. The class could use a high profile woman driver.

 

[Jim]

Re: Danica!!!!

That's good to hear.
That's a great big wooly monkey off HER back!

Even I (a big fan) was beginning to tire of the big promotion/hype with no results.

 

[Jim]

Re: Danica!!!!

Of course Ashley's first win won't get the ink that Dan Patrick gets...

Well, for one thing, Ashley won't be the first woman to win in NHRA so why would she get the same ink?

Jim

 

[Joker]

Re: Danica!!!!

Congrats to Danica. And Joe, I think you might be surprised when Ash wins her first one.

 

[Gutter Brain]

Re: Danica!!!!

I am not the biggest Danica fan. But, this is pretty cool. Congrats to her and the AGR team.
When Ashley becomes the first female FC winner, it will be huge.

 

[Bobby]

I'm not a fanica of Danica, all the hype when she came on the scene. Now it's historic she won her first race? Give me a break!

Joe ,it is historic. Just like when Shirley won for the first time. Danica has overcome an enormous amount of pressure to do this. She's had to deal with the 21st century instant media cycle and constant criticism, especially on boards like this. Some of the comments I've read over the past 4 years on indy boards I post on have been plain neanderthal. You'd think Shirley Muldowney never happened the way some of them talk. The 'Anna Kournikova' of racing. Well, I've seen her drive several times and this was just a matter of time. She's good. She deserves it.
She did it on the only 1.5 mile track the indycars run on that requires real driving. Turns 3 and 4 there are a tighter radius than 1 and 2. You have to lift to make it thru. She did this while saving fuel which is a matter of finesse and skill - how quick can you get back on it without using too much?

It was a brilliant performance. The thing that was awesome about it was you could see it coming from her quick splash of fuel with 52 to go until the end. If it stayed green and she did her job - it was hers.

The thing I found to be striking is that ESPN stayed with it after the race - of course they had to - but they usually don't. Seeing her on the top step of the podium was just awesome. Scott Dixon and Helio were totally cool up there.

What a night. I'm glad the race was postponed a day or I would have missed it.

 

[PJ]

Congrats to her, Poor thing looked more relived than anything afterwards. I know the reporter was trying to be funny when he joked so when ya gonna win again but I think she should have dropped kicked him for it.

now lets get Hillary and Ashley to get their first wins

 

[Paul]

It was pretty cool to see Danica get her first win and yes this was a historic victory. Joe, women winning in the NHRA is nothing new so I do not expect Ashley to get anywhere near the same amount of press when she gets her first pro victory.

 

[Toejam]

For the Danica fans yes I'm sure it's a big deal. But she always came across as a primodonna to me, like she was entitled to be there!

 

[willy]

Re: Danica!!!!

Well, for one thing, Ashley won't be the first woman to win in NHRA so why would she get the same ink?

Jim

Has there been another woman win in funny car? It'll be big.

Happy for Danica.

 

[Jim]

Re: Danica!!!!

Has there been another woman win in funny car?

To drag racing fans, maybe. The mainstream media and casual fans don't care one bit about the difference between Funny Car or Top Fuel.

Jim