Danica's 2009 SI Swimsuit Edition photo shoot

[ChicagocrewIRL]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009_swimsuit/models/danica-patrick/

The pictures speak for themselves. Good or bad, she is the face of the IRL to the non-race fan public.

[Chamoo]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009_swimsuit/models/danica-patrick/

The pictures speak for themselves. Good or bad, she is the face of the IRL to the non-race fan public.

What happened to those enhancements she was talking about?

[DBell]

It's the economy. Everything is being downsized,

:D :D :D Good one!

[Rex Monaco]

If she's going to pimp herself out like that, shouldn't she at least be posing on her Indycar, an Indy pacecar, or a historical Indycar instead of a kitcar with Ford badging? She's probably just along for the ride and the photographer doesn't really get the whole motorsports angle here.

And to bad too. She's looks pretty good in a bikini and tying it to Indycar would have made this better for promoting the series.

To me, this is like a tennis hottie posing on a ping pong table.

[Chris R]

If she's going to pimp herself out like that, shouldn't she at least be posing on her Indycar, an Indy pacecar, or a historical Indycar instead of a kitcar with Ford badging? She's probably just along for the ride and the photographer doesn't really get the whole motorsports angle here.

And to bad too. She's looks pretty good in a bikini and tying it to Indycar would have made this better for promoting the series.

To me, this is like a tennis hottie posing on a ping pong table.

It does seem to be a promotional opportunity blown - I'll bet Honda is none too happy with the "Ford" in the photos.....

[coogmaster]

You know, I may not like her, but I would still wreck that chick. :s mokin:

[car20]

only car i want her posing on IS MINE (GO BABY)

[philipbain]

Liking the car, an AC/Shelby Cobra, though as she drives in IRL perhaps she ought to be draped over a Honda Civic!

[Chamoo]

Liking the car, an AC/Shelby Cobra, though as she drives in IRL perhaps she ought to be draped over a Honda Civic!

Or like Rex said, maybe a Dallara?

[Rex Monaco]

Liking the car, an AC/Shelby Cobra, though as she drives in IRL perhaps she ought to be draped over a Honda Civic!

Maybe it's an AC/Cobra. Or maybe it's an Autocraft or Factory Five Cobra? If I had real 427 Cobra, I certainly wouldn't allow her to lay on it's hood unless she was topless.

If the Dallara was out of the question, then I'd have picked a 1969 Camaro Indy 500 Pacecar to tie it back to Indy.

[Jag_Warrior]

Maybe it's an AC/Cobra. Or maybe it's an Autocraft or Factory Five Cobra? If I had real 427 Cobra, I certainly wouldn't allow her to lay on it's hood unless she was topless.

Dude, if you had a real 427 Cobra and she's the best you could do, I'd have to key your car for you not making more of an effort to pull a hottius maximus.

[harvick#1]

+1 to Jag :laugh: :up:

[Mark in Oshawa]

Just remember though, she wants to be taken as a "Serious" racing driver. To me...she is cute alright...but I wish like hell she would concede that we don't have to take her seriously.

It is one thing to be cheesecake for us leering letches but it is quite another to then turn around and ask to be just "one of the boys". The only plus I give Duno is that she never lets you forget she is a woman, even on the track.......

[markabilly]

[quote="Mark in Oshawa"]Just remember though, she wants to be taken as a "Serious" racing driver. quote]


yep, if she wants to be serious...wake me up when she does playboy, or better yet, Hustler (is that old mag still around?)

[PA Rick]

If she was a guy she couldn't buy a ride in the Atlantics. I followed her early in her career but she has not gotten much better.
I think Memo Gidley has way more talent but he doesn't look as good in a swimsuit.

[The instant classic]

sholud i be truned on by that photo?
na i rather look at my french girlfriend, she makes Danica look like road kill

[Mark in Oshawa]

If she was a guy she couldn't buy a ride in the Atlantics. I followed her early in her career but she has not gotten much better.
I think Memo Gidley has way more talent but he doesn't look as good in a swimsuit.

Very good point. Yet everyone knocked Katharine Legge in Champ Car. Legge actually won 2 Atlantic races and didn't pose for SI in a bikini to keep the hype machine going.

I partially understand why Danica keeps putting out the cheesecake image, bad publicity always beats no pub, but as I said before, when she does things like SI with the bikini, she diminishes her argument she should be one of the guys at the track. The guys don't like her, and it has been obvious for sometime....

[Jag_Warrior]

Very good point. Yet everyone knocked Katharine Legge in Champ Car. Legge actually won 2 Atlantic races and didn't pose for SI in a bikini to keep the hype machine going.

I agree with you. Legge did take a lot of flack when she moved up to CCWS. I think that a lot of the criticism she got should have gone toward Kalkhoven for moving her up too soon, not providing her with any sort of support in his own team (remember the talk of the team manager and other members who gave her the cold shoulder?)... or pawning her off to the likes of Coyne on short notice the next year.

I think she actually won three races in her first and only season in Atlantics. I know some say that year was not the strongest grid, but hell, she won 3 races and seemed to always be on the sharp end of the grid. It just seems like she was the kind of driver who they could have made something of.

But with Kalkhoven as her "manager" :rolleyes: ... my 20/20 hindsight says that if that guy was Lewis Hamilton's manager, Hamilton would be lucky to have a ride with Force India right now. I'm not saying that he did anything creepy, but one has to wonder what sort of "career enhancing suggestions" Kalkhoven had for Katherine, as he seemed to be touting her as competition for Danica. At the end of the first year, Legge didn't seem to know what she was going to be doing until she was farmed out to Coyne at last minute. Maybe she wasn't cool with something someone wanted her to do? I dunno. But it's really too bad that she went out the way she did. I think of the girls we've seen lately, Katherine had more on the ball than either Danica or Sarah Fisher.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I agree with you. Legge did take a lot of flack when she moved up to CCWS. I think that a lot of the criticism she got should have gone toward Kalkhoven for moving her up too soon, not providing her with any sort of support in his own team (remember the talk of the team manager and other members who gave her the cold shoulder?)... or pawning her off to the likes of Coyne on short notice the next year.

I think she actually won three races in her first and only season in Atlantics. I know some say that year was not the strongest grid, but hell, she won 3 races and seemed to always be on the sharp end of the grid. It just seems like she was the kind of driver who they could have made something of.

But with Kalkhoven as her "manager" :rolleyes: ... my 20/20 hindsight says that if that guy was Lewis Hamilton's manager, Hamilton would be lucky to have a ride with Force India right now. I'm not saying that he did anything creepy, but one has to wonder what sort of "career enhancing suggestions" Kalkhoven had for Katherine, as he seemed to be touting her as competition for Danica. At the end of the first year, Legge didn't seem to know what she was going to be doing until she was farmed out to Coyne at last minute. Maybe she wasn't cool with something someone wanted her to do? I dunno. But it's really too bad that she went out the way she did. I think of the girls we've seen lately, Katherine had more on the ball than either Danica or Sarah Fisher.


Most excellent points. You are right too...it was 3 races. I just know Legge was running pretty decent at times in her rookie year yet got dropped at the kerb of Coyne when the DP-01 was a new chassis to deal with. Not the best situation for someone who was pushed up to the CCWS without really enough support in her FIRST year. She was a drift at Coyne.

Kath has dropped off the face of racing it seems and THAT is a shame. The girl beat some pretty decent guys in that Atlantic grid...whether it was 14 cars or 20 is immaterial.

[Easy Drifter]

She ran DTM last year in an old car and was a back marker.
It appears Mercedes saw enough last year to provide her with a far newer car this year, although not the latest model.
Every Car in DTM is factory to some extent.

[beachgirl]

She ran DTM last year in an old car and was a back marker.
It appears Mercedes saw enough last year to provide her with a far newer car this year, although not the latest model.
Every Car in DTM is factory to some extent.

Audi, not Mercedes. And they are quite happy with her. She was moved up to the direct factory team for 2009, in a one-year old car, which half of the team is running (the other half have the newest one). She was running for an indirect factory "farm" team last year.

[Easy Drifter]

Ooooooops!!!!!!!

[Cart750hp]

Anyways, back to Patrick before you all get carried away with Legge's screw up in CCWS.

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[beachbum]

Is she still chubby?We all know you don't like Legge, but are you talking about Legge or Patrick? Legge is a big girl, but with the Audi fitness program appears to be in excellent shape. On the other hand, even Patrick acknowledged she had to seriously diet for the SI photo shoot, and there are a number of pictures from her early days and even recently that show she has a tendency to be a little less than thin.

In either case, who cares? Are Legge and Patrick models or race drivers? Some seem to think Panica's looks are more important than her ability to drive. As a race fan, I want to know what they can do driving the car, not standing beside it (or laying on top of it). If I am looking for "hotness" it won't be at a race track. Apparently Audi thinks highly of Legge as they have moved her into the championship winning car from last year.

[elis]

.

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Seriously are you like 14? :rolleyes:

Your comment about 'forgot she's a race car driver' actually says it all.. few boys actually give a toss about her as a driver, they are only interested in her digitally manipulated scanty shots or similarly fashioned commercials... So in all reality, her aim to be seen as a serious race car driver, an equal to her competitors, has seemingly been an epic fail... as she keeps resorting to these tiresome easy money/promo shots. *yawn*

[The instant classic]

ah shes got cubby legs i lost interest

[Jimmy Magnusson]

With all the time Patrick has had to mature in IndyCar and before, she's right now good enough to be in the series. Not that she has ever done anything to deserve to actually get this far, but hey, she's here and right now good enough to get a place on my grid. Not one anywhere near a top team, but hey ho. I can't get excited about any of her photo shoots, either. She looks OK, I suppose, but there's so much material of good looking women out there anyway. And I think her draping herself over a Cobra gells badly with her requests to be taken seriously. Prove it on the track, girl, and I'll take you seriously.

--

About Legge, she was given the Audi drive much because Audi wanted another female to replace the departing Vanina Ickx (who is a decent sports car "gentleman" (gentlewoman?) driver, but not a pro, and was quite terrible in DTM). She did better than Vanina, and probably better than her competitors for the seat (Leanne Tander and Emma Kimiläinen) would have done. Still, she was thoroughly outdriver by Albers in the same car (who didn't exactly endear himself in F1), but that was to be expected with his experience I suppose. I'll be interested to see how she goes this year, with a newer car and better team. Time to perform.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I didn't know about Legge running DTM but glad to see she found a place to race and I hope she does well. She was a disappointment in her second year of CCWS but that doens't make her talentless.

Patrick is in the IRL to stay but I laugh when someone mentions a woman in NASCAR or F1 and some idiot thinks Patrick's name is relvent to either. Danica Patrick is never going to drive in F1 and if she goes to NASCAR she will find herself in a deep pool where her temper and attitude will sink her faster than she can say "I want". The prima donna racing driver is tolerated to a point in the world of OW, but in NASCAR, with a 37 race season, any personality trait that ticks people off will have you run out of town on a rail. We wont even get into whether she has the talent or physical gifts to race in NASCAR.

[FormerFF]

I just went to the index page at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009_swimsuit/models/ . They categorized the ladies into groups, and put Danica into the "models" group! Now I realize that she's the only non-tennis player among the athletes there, but couldn't they have put her in a group with them?? It's like she's now a model and nothing is said about being a racing driver.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I just went to the index page at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009_swimsuit/models/ . They categorized the ladies into groups, and put Danica into the "models" group! Now I realize that she's the only non-tennis player among the athletes there, but couldn't they have put her in a group with them?? It's like she's now a model and nothing is said about being a racing driver.

To many this is true. The fact is Danica has done nothing to stop this. She cares as much about the promotion and exposure for being a celeb as she does being a race driver. It may not help the IRL but I dont' think it hurts it either. IT just hurts Danica's cred when she says she wants to be one of the boys. Danica...you aint one of the boys....

[beachgirl]

On the other hand, which other driver brought that kind of bucks into the series for a ride? She's doing something right. Many others a begging just to get in a seat. She got the sponsor.

I'll take a "wait and see" on this. Motorola is in deep, deep trouble, having laid off literally thousands of employees, and what they call the Handheld Division (cell phones, which is the division sponsoring Danica) has been up for sale for some time now. If Motorola doesn't renew, who will step up to the plate for her? AirTran appears to be gone, if the sponsor decals (or lack of them) are to be believed on her car at the Homestead test. Argent is long gone. The only decals on her car were Motorola and Go Daddy. Except for the Super Bowl ads, Go Daddy isn't using her in any advertising. I'm afraid her other activities (photo shoots, on and off track conflicts and attitude, etc.) may have damaged her rep with some of the few companies who might still have money to spare for sponsorship right now. Strictly IMHO.

[beachgirl]

All true. But she got three year's worth while most others got nothing.

You're right.

[Easy Drifter]

If she doesn't produce this year and I have seen no indication she will I suspect she will be gone from AGR especially if Motorola goes.
Then I guess Milka will take over as poster girl! :D :D :D