Did Barnhart leave the black flag at IMS?

[Scotty G.]

Hey Brian, where was the black flag tonight pal? Did you leave them in the pagoda at IMS?

Or do we have "selective black flags" in Indy Racing?


I hope somebody, one day puts Danica into the fence when she pulls crap like that. She has been one of the worst offenders of blocking and dirty driving for years. But she knows Indy Car doesn't have the balls to do anything about it. As Graham so correctly said last weekend, "nobody blocks more in Indy Car then Danica". How many times has she been black-flagged in 88 races? Uhh...

Send her sailing one time, and she would cut the BS out. She actually drove a good race for once in her life, but that kind of chicken-youknowwhat stuff to your own teammate was low class.

[markabilly]

it looked to me she was trying to make a move on the guy in front...I think the spotter might have more responsibility than she did...

OTOH, if the radio shows he was telling her......look out...or whatever, well, she is overdue....

[fugariracing]

Great post by OP. TK was rightly frustrated after that exchange, she nearly put him in the fence. And after everything he did for her in terms of consoling and coaxing at Indy, plus all the setup knowledge. Payback's going to suck if it happens.

[Scotty G.]

it looked to me she was trying to make a move on the guy in front.

No, she knew exactly what she was doing. Nobody mirror-drives better then Princess in this sport.

TK had a huge run on her and was about to get under her. She drove him down under the white line and he lost about 10 spots.

DIRTY. Nothing more you can say about it.

And even more heinous then anything the "black flaggers" did at Indy last weekend. Because that was all done on a straight-away with no banking.

If TK and DP get together there (and one of these days, if she sticks around long enough, somebody isn't going to back out of it and there is going to be contact) its going to be huge and possibly take out multiple cars.

Barnhart and Cotman are both clueless.

[Lousada]

Tony Cotman was calling in Indy, maybe that has something to do with it. Although I do think there is favouritism. When was the last time Helio got a black flag?? Or any Penske/Ganassi for that matter??

[shazbot]

Oh come on guys give it a rest. She drove a great race, and there were plenty of similar incidents throughout the race. I'm not a fan but some the Danica bashers might get some credit if they acknowledged her once in a while.

[anthonyvop]

Oh come on guys give it a rest. She drove a great race, and there were plenty of similar incidents throughout the race. I'm not a fan but some the Danica bashers might get some credit if they acknowledged her once in a while.

Until she posts some podium finishes at road/street courses she will always be a glorified back-marker in top equipment.

A 2nd place at a race that is all about set-up (something we all know she had no involvement with) does not a great driver make.

[beachbum]

There is no doubt that AA nailed the setup for the race. In an interview, Marco indicated they had set up his and Danica's car with a lot of downforce so they could run most of the race flat. That certainly fits with her style. Add in some luck and great pit stops and the 2nd is a great result.

But IHMO there was an additional factor. She was almost impossible to pass. I couldn't get the Versus coverage and online video I could get was very choppy, but I did see the huge block she threw on TK. He wasn't the only one. She also ran Viso way up the track, and Dario dropped back right after he tried to pass her. Since the video was covering the leaders only, her wondering all over the track was very visible. If someone went high, she moved up a lane. With Viso, it looked like they may have touched. If they went low (like TK) she ran them into the apron. One car was almost completely beside her (couldn't tell from the crappy video, but it looked like Viso) and she chopped them so bad they visibly had to hit the brakes and lost a whole bunch of positions. Later in the race, people seemed to be able to catch her, but rarely made any move to go around.

I really wondered if the blocking rules had been lifted. Running a defensive line is one thing, but changing your line so much someone has to lift to keep from crashing is quite another. In the one move, if the outside driver hadn't lifted big time, Danica would have been turned straight into the outside wall going. As it was, it was very close. That would have been nasty. With everyone blasting TK for complaining about an obvious block, can you image how a driver would be treated if they touched and turned her into the wall? She is a "protected" driver who can do know wrong and everyone else is the "bad guy". Had almost any other driver pulled those stunts, they would have been black flagged.

She ran a solid race (possible the best of her career) and was very aggressive. But it all could have come to disaster more than once. She won't find the same restraint in NASCAR.

[Scotty G.]

Oh come on guys give it a rest. She drove a great race, and there were plenty of similar incidents throughout the race. I'm not a fan but some the Danica bashers might get some credit if they acknowledged her once in a while.

She drove a very good race. I don't see anyone here saying she didn't. Probably passed more cars total last night on the track then she did all of last year.

But it was HER TEAMMATE who brought this up. You say you saw similar incidents in the race? I didn't happen to see Briscoe do that to Power or Helio. I didn't see Marco do that to RHR or TK. I didn't see Dario do that to Dixon.

It was dirty. I said it as soon it happened. "Typical Danica". TK (after he had about 15 minutes to cool down; because if you noticed he didn't speak immediately after the race and never spoke at all to IMS radio) understands it too. So do most at AA. So do most in the series.

She is not a team player. Never has been and never will be. You maybe pull that move on lap 225 if you are fighting for position (and even then, its not cool and dangerous to do that). You don't do it in the middle of the race, with a guy who has a huge run on you.

One of these days, that trailing car isn't going to back out of it (like she wants them to do) and its going to be ugly.

[PAcartfan]

Conventional wisdom seems to be that Indy Car benefits from her presence. IMHO opinion, she is the main thing that's holding it back. She is a consistent, unwavering loser and the poster child for what's supposed to be the premiere American based racing circuit. She is a joke, the public knows she's a joke, and thus, the IRL is a joke. The day she leaves will be the day Indy Car can start to rise from the ashes of the destruction of the past 15 years.

I found it unbelievably awesome that TK doesn't even think she won the Japan farce in '08 (commenting on her best previous finish being a 2nd while he has won 13 times). That was the most telling -public- thing I've heard in a long time regarding how she is really viewed in the paddock.