Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

[ykiki]

The always fun "Spotter's Guide"
http://www.indycar.com:8080/var/asse...otter_WEB1.pdf

[garyshell]

Well, I know I will take slack but I think Danica will out qualify and finish better than Paul. Danica has a lot more seat time.

Out qualify? Please come over here and clean the diet coke off my screen. It is YOUR fault it is there. More seat time or not, your girl can't drive on road courses plain and simple.

Gary

[Anubis]

Well, I know I will take slack but I think Danica will out qualify and finish better than Paul. Danica has a lot more seat time.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken, but in these cars, she has more seat time than Pagenaud (none?), Kimball, Servia, Hinchcliffe, Bourdais and Hilderbrand, yet all bar one of those out-qualified her (and Pagenaud was quicker in absolute terms) and of those who finished, all were ahead of her. Hole in the theory there? I'm not expecting miracles from PT, but to elevate Danica above him solely on seat time is ludicrous given the evidence of Barber. Christ, she probably has more seat time than Pagenaud, Kimball, Hinch and JR COMBINED, yet they all still outperformed her by a considerable margin. I fear you may indeed take some stick...

[maxmach]

Wow, you go away from the computer for a day and all sorts of interesnting "things" appear. Sorry DF, only two ways Danika finishes ahead of PT, if she has a rocket in her a$$(well, does she or doesn't she) or if PT crashes out. Seriously, if they're both still running PT's ahead. Now, the seat time thing, I will say one thing, PT hasn't run much lately.....and no matter how good you are it some getting used too, to get all the little reflexes back.

[EagleEye]

Well, I know I will take slack but I think Danica will out qualify and finish better than Paul. Danica has a lot more seat time.

PT has more seat time than DP. She had more seat time than others in the first two races, and her results were HORRIBLE. I’d take an old and bad PT, over a good DP any day. There are times when the team has to ask Paul to go slower. Sometimes he listens….sometimes he doesn’t. There have been many times the team has asked DP to go faster. Not an easy task, when you are now fast….

Race 1- Last car running on the lead lap, P12.
Race 2- 1 lap down, running ahead of Rahal who was two laps down, P17.

People give you flack because you suffer from severe myopia.

You picked her to win, again, on a track and race that are not suited to her driving style (or weight advantage). Not only has she struggled, but the team has struggled since TK left. Conway was quick at St. Pete, and Marco did okay at Barber (outstanding, using the DP yardstick).

Your constant "She drove a great race, despite her result" is a falsehood and lacks any objective observation at all. She has been slow in practice, slow in qualifying and she was awful the first two races….yet you picked her to win, yet again in Long Beach, despite our plea’s to be sensible.....

The only way she has a great result (which in your book is anywhere P5-P26) is if everyone crashes or breaks down, and she lollygags along to another finish.
My myopic picks for Long Beach:

Da Bears (With Ditka driving the bus), Da Bears (Smith driving the bus), Da Bears (with Cutler), Da Bears (W/O cutler), Power.

If Da Bear finish last, or DNS then it is still a great result!

[TURN3]

While I agree with the spirit of your statement, ultimately racing is about who finishes first (or "in front") of the others... Viso is fast but...... I wouldn't be surprised to see Danica finish in front of PT but I doubt it would be an inspiring drive by her to get that result... There was a great driver (NASCAR sort I think) who said (more or less) "the object of racing is to drive as slow as you can and still win" .....

As far as "no chance" of Danica out-qualifying PT - are you drinking some of DF's juice (you know the stuff that blinds you to the possibility that someone might do better than your driver ) ?? There is definitely a chance (albeit a small one) - who knows how these guys will run out of the box - TK didn't qualify so well last week but did fine...... I think your are probably right - but I do not think it is so clear cut right yet...... Personally, I want Tracy and the rising from the ashes Dragon team to kick everyone's butt - that would be a cool story

C'mon man! That doesn't make sense. Either you agree with me or you don't. As you say, you seem to understand the spirit of my post, which is cool. But, I'm saying right now Daniker has NO chance of out qualifying PT. NONE, ZILCH, NOTTA! The possibility remains she could FINISH in front of him, but no way she out RACES him. PT has had a couple of bad qualy sessions during the past few years with his part-time stops at KV (Toronto last year with the suspension screw up). Other than that (and I have not looked this up), I don't think Daniker has out qualified him on a road or street. I realize he is coming in cold with a team that hasn't tested, but there is a lot of experience and talent in there. I'm thinking they should have a realistic shot at the top 12 (that would be outstanding under the circumstances). Daniker is looking at top 22 or 23 based on recent and not so recent results. I'm not so much predicting how successful he'll be as much as how UNsuccessful she'll be (which is easy money, right?).

[beachbum]

C'mon man! That doesn't make sense. Either you agree with me or you don't. As you say, you seem to understand the spirit of my post, which is cool. But, I'm saying right now Daniker has NO chance of out qualifying PT. NONE, ZILCH, NOTTA! The possibility remains she could FINISH in front of him, but no way she out RACES him. PT has had a couple of bad qualy sessions during the past few years with his part-time stops at KV (Toronto last year with the suspension screw up). Other than that (and I have not looked this up), I don't think Daniker has out qualified him on a road or street. I realize he is coming in cold with a team that hasn't tested, but there is a lot of experience and talent in there. I'm thinking they should have a realistic shot at the top 12 (that would be outstanding under the circumstances). Daniker is looking at top 22 or 23 based on recent and not so recent results. I'm not so much predicting how successful he'll be as much as how UNsuccessful she'll be (which is easy money, right?).

Who would have thought the Princess would qualify ahead of TK at Barber? While it is unlikely, PT 's teams hasn't run yet this year so who knows how good the setups will be. If I had to bet, I would say PT will out qualify her - easily, but it isn't a sure thing. Nothing in racing is a sure thing (other than one fan predicting "a great finish" for DP)

I would be very confident he will race better than her, but wouldn't be that condfident that he finishes better. That sounds crazy, but PT is RACER and often takes chances, so the likelihood of an incident is higher than Daniker who usually runs alone. On the other hand, the Princess has bounced off a lot of people so far this year, so maybe this time her luck won't hold. She sure used up a lot of front wings at St Pete.

But really, who cares? Danimania is getting VERY tiresome.

[Chris R]

Who would have thought the Princess would qualify ahead of TK at Barber? While it is unlikely, PT 's teams hasn't run yet this year so who knows how good the setups will be. If I had to bet, I would say PT will out qualify her - easily, but it isn't a sure thing. Nothing in racing is a sure thing (other than one fan predicting "a great finish" for DP)

I would be very confident he will race better than her, but wouldn't be that condfident that he finishes better. That sounds crazy, but PT is RACER and often takes chances, so the likelihood of an incident is higher than Daniker who usually runs alone. On the other hand, the Princess has bounced off a lot of people so far this year, so maybe this time her luck won't hold. She sure used up a lot of front wings at St Pete.

But really, who cares? Danimania is getting VERY tiresome.

well stated...

[maximilian]

Does every one of these threads really HAVE to degrade into a "What Danica will do/Danica sucks/Danica ate my homework, etc." festival? Is it THAT hard to for once ignore DF's fanboy statements? We all know he loves Danica and is passionate about her, despite of what many race fans think, so is it really necessary to swallow his bait each time?

There are lots of interesting drivers to talk about for this and other races, and quite frankly, someone as bland in personality and mediocre in results as Danica does NOT deserve the attention, especially given that we have other FASTER women in the field, and other FASTER Americans, too (not to mention the many excellent drivers who fit neither of those categories in what is turning out to be the best Indycar field in a long time!). So how about talking about THOSE for a change?

[TURN3]

Does every one of these threads really HAVE to degrade into a "What Danica will do/Danica sucks/Danica ate my homework, etc." festival? Is it THAT hard to for once ignore DF's fanboy statements? We all know he loves Danica and is passionate about her, despite of what many race fans think, so is it really necessary to swallow his bait each time?

There are lots of interesting drivers to talk about for this and other races, and quite frankly, someone as bland in personality and mediocre in results as Danica does NOT deserve the attention, especially given that we have other FASTER women in the field, and other FASTER Americans, too (not to mention the many excellent drivers who fit neither of those categories in what is turning out to be the best Indycar field in a long time!). So how about talking about THOSE for a change?

I think you are correct BUT, it I don't believe it is about her anymore. I think it is about the forum member.

Who would have thought the Princess would qualify ahead of TK at Barber? While it is unlikely, PT 's teams hasn't run yet this year so who knows how good the setups will be. If I had to bet, I would say PT will out qualify her - easily, but it isn't a sure thing. Nothing in racing is a sure thing (other than one fan predicting "a great finish" for DP)

I would be very confident he will race better than her, but wouldn't be that condfident that he finishes better. That sounds crazy, but PT is RACER and often takes chances, so the likelihood of an incident is higher than Daniker who usually runs alone. On the other hand, the Princess has bounced off a lot of people so far this year, so maybe this time her luck won't hold. She sure used up a lot of front wings at St Pete.

But really, who cares? Danimania is getting VERY tiresome.

In reality, I absolutely agree and we basically say the same thing except I will stand by my statement about qualifying. I hope I was clear about meaning that my predicition is based on her lack of results and not that I expect PT to be something impossible for this weekend.

well stated...

Exactly true.