Fox Sports: Better teamwork without Danica?

[SoCalPVguy]

Link: Andretti team finding better teamwork without Danica Patrick - Motor News | FOX Sports on MSN (http://msn.foxsports.com/motor/story/andretti-team-finding-better-teamwork-without-danica-patrick-indy-500-052512)


INDIANAPOLIS (AP)

Michael Andretti's three drivers go into the Indianapolis 500 with strong chances to win. Yet there was still talk Friday about the driver who is no longer with the team: Danica Patrick.

The drivers say they are working like teammates again. Though nobody on Andretti Autosport has publicly cited Patrick's departure to NASCAR as the sole reason for the change, the team clearly has a new zest for racing. "I don't know about friction, but there wasn't a lot of trust and things like that and when it isn't happening it's all forced and you can't force those things to happen," the team owner said after Friday's final practice for Sunday's Indianapolis 500.



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[heliocastroneves#3]

Reminds me of Rahal Letterman Racing, before she came in the series: They won 3 races with Buddy Rice (including the Indy 500) in 2004 and in 2005 and 2006 they were winless... Then Danica left and guess what? In 2007 they went much better and in 2008 they even won again... Danica joins AGR in 2007 and the team still wins the '500 and the championship with Franchitti but after that...?

It slowly went all down under with the team, conclusion: Danica has had a lot of bad influences in the team work of both the RLR and AGR/AA teams... Hope she stays in NASCAR and will not even give the Indy 500 a try once... It's not worth it. Look now at AA, since she's gone to NASCAR... The team is no longer the worst of the 3 top teams and is running again for race wins!

[Mark in Oshawa]

Reminds me of Rahal Letterman Racing, before she came in the series: They won 3 races with Buddy Rice (including the Indy 500) in 2004 and in 2005 and 2006 they were winless... Then Danica left and guess what? In 2007 they went much better and in 2008 they even won again... Danica joins AGR in 2007 and the team still wins the '500 and the championship with Franchitti but after that...?

It slowly went all down under with the team, conclusion: Danica has had a lot of bad influences in the team work of both the RLR and AGR/AA teams... Hope she stays in NASCAR and will not even give the Indy 500 a try once... It's not worth it. Look now at AA, since she's gone to NASCAR... The team is no longer the worst of the 3 top teams and is running again for race wins!

Well didn't Danica say on Memorial Day weekend she wanted to do the double next year??? I guess she is trying to get a foot in the door to come back because she will wear out her welcome in NASCAR when she doesn't get results.

Danica creates issues because the rest of the team has to supply notes and settings and all the work they do for her, and she isn't apparently from rumour didn't give good input or no input back....

[heliocastroneves#3]

Well didn't Danica say on Memorial Day weekend she wanted to do the double next year??? I guess she is trying to get a foot in the door to come back because she will wear out her welcome in NASCAR when she doesn't get results.

Danica creates issues because the rest of the team has to supply notes and settings and all the work they do for her, and she isn't apparently from rumour didn't give good input or no input back....
Exactly.

[beachgirl]

Well didn't Danica say on Memorial Day weekend she wanted to do the double next year??? I guess she is trying to get a foot in the door to come back because she will wear out her welcome in NASCAR when she doesn't get results.

Danica creates issues because the rest of the team has to supply notes and settings and all the work they do for her, and she isn't apparently from rumour didn't give good input or no input back....

First of all, the "Doing the Double" thing is all show, no go, IMHO. Danica hadn't been front and center on the news front for a couple weeks. She, or her PR machine, doesn't take well to that. So, let's get something out there. The thing is with the Double, there's got to be an Indycar team willing to take her on. Considering she burns bridges really well, Go-Daddy's going to have to front a LOT of money to even get someone interested. But, it's great PR fodder for the fawning press, so there you go. I'm not seeing Andretti taking her back, and if Penske or Ganassi were at all interested, they would have gone after her at some point during her Indy career. And that didn't happen.

Regarding the sharing of notes, set-ups, etc., I realized pretty early on they were expected to do that, and the reason there wasn't any reciprocation with her was because she couldn't. Not wouldn't, but couldn't. As long as her car was set up for her, she could do well. The only consistent feedback I ever heard from the in-car radio feeds provided to the TV shows were "it's loose". If you listen to that stuff in the other series now, it's the same old, same old. Some things never change.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Beachgirl, I agree with you 100 percent. I am only pointing out by my previous post is it is HER way of staying in the news. I am not naive about her at all. I think she has been all hype and no substance for a lot of years, and people are finally waking up to it. OH those fools in NASCAR land haven't given it up, and ESPN and FOX both keep trying to legitmitize her 3 lap back or more finishing positions, but in the end, she isn't going to progress too much further than she has...which will mirror to an extent her Indycar record. Good..competant, but not capable of running in the top 5 on a regular basis or winning. Some down at the heels Indycar team might be tempted at the money but Danica knows she needs a support network to pull it off, and she isn't capable of doing the grunt work on her own. Good luck DP, Andretti and Rahal wont take you back, Penske isn't stupid and Chip Ganassi doesn't need the money or the headache.....that doesn't leave any real top drawer teams. AJ Foyt probably still isn't on board with women racing..lol...and I cant see any of the decent third tier teams giving her what she needs at Indy either....

[djparky]

her absence as stopped the Indy Car commentary team waffling about her every chance they get- as she's circling round near the back of the field. I've had some fun with the NASCAR commentary teams bigging her up at every opportunity- even though she's laps off the lead early in some races

funny the only race she's looked remotely competitive was Daytona Nationwide. I know it's her first year but she doesn't look good in the Nationwide series which has not got a particuarly deep talent pool nowadays. That said look at Sam Hornish's struggles- ditto Franchitti

I don't see any IndyCar team giving her a ride just for Indy- she had one good year and never that well again there

[Mark in Oshawa]

her absence as stopped the Indy Car commentary team waffling about her every chance they get- as she's circling round near the back of the field. I've had some fun with the NASCAR commentary teams bigging her up at every opportunity- even though she's laps off the lead early in some races

funny the only race she's looked remotely competitive was Daytona Nationwide. I know it's her first year but she doesn't look good in the Nationwide series which has not got a particuarly deep talent pool nowadays. That said look at Sam Hornish's struggles- ditto Franchitti

I don't see any IndyCar team giving her a ride just for Indy- she had one good year and never that well again there

I think in time...her 15 minutes will be up. It will take a while in NASCAR still, since she is selling lots of swag and people are still caught up in the mania, but they will find out what we knew. She is competant in driving around in the pack to a point, but she isn't competitive.

She has the worst resume of anyone who has hit the highest levels of the sport. Save that one fluke win in Japan (and it was a fluke, anyone can argue with me on that, I will stand by it), name one professional race at any level has she won? Non in Atlantics, none in ARCA, NASCAR or Indycar outside of the one. None in Formula Ford. We need to go to go karts I suspect. I am shocked she keeps up as well as she does considering her lack of finish and killer instinct. The hype has never been backed up by solid results. NEVER.

[heliocastroneves#3]

Also we have to mention that during the 2008 Indy Japan 300, they were only with 18 cars... I would almost compare it with Michael Schumacher winning the 2005 United States Grand Prix with 6 cars but maybe that goes too far. She wasn't even mediocre in her last IndyCar seasons and still she got more attention than true champions, like Dario Franchitti and Will Power. I'd also not understand why Michael Andretti never considered, to FIRE her..

And now, look, she drives NASCAR and is completely sponsored by GoDaddy. She is a spoiled brat, who has never had to work hard for career. With the lack of results in feeder series, it's even a wonder how she got into the IndyCar Series. Look at Luca Filippi, who has won a lot more than she did in feeder series and he's not able to make his series debut because of the lack of sponsorship. Shame.

[FIAT1]

...hmm, she is just that bad ,and you would think she doesn't matter anymore, but she still finds a way to be a topic and makes millions...you go girl!!!

[heliocastroneves#3]

...hmm, she is just that bad ,and you would think she doesn't matter anymore, but she still finds a way to be a topic and makes millions...you go girl!!!
Not in the way as it should be, she's not even mediocre and she does get the same amount of attention (or even more) than Dario Franchitti and Will Power, which is NOT right. A race car driver should want to win races, instead of always staying out of trouble and rarely passing someone for position. Doesn't matter if she's making millions or not, she's still not a good driver and doesn't deserve all the attention she gets now. There are drivers with much more potential, who are not getting a chance because of her.

[heliocastroneves#3]

Starter, maybe my reaction was a little... You know, sometimes I can bring the things a little awful. I might have said some things, which I didn't want to say and which were probably a little unfair. Forgive me guys. ;)

[gm99]

@Starter: I totally agree with you. It seems that depending on who you listen to, Danica is either the second coming of Rick Mears or of 'King Hiro. IMO, she's neither.
"the worst resume of anyone who has hit the highest levels of the sport": What about Servia? 1 victory in 14 seasons of American open-wheel racing (Indy Lights, CART/ChampCar and IRL/IndyCar)
Meira? Nine seasons, not a single win. Yet, the pair of them are well-respected. Granted, there has never been this hype around them, but results-wise, Danica doesn't look that bad compared to them.

[djparky]

@Starter: I totally agree with you. It seems that depending on who you listen to, Danica is either the second coming of Rick Mears or of 'King Hiro. IMO, she's neither.
"the worst resume of anyone who has hit the highest levels of the sport": What about Servia? 1 victory in 14 seasons of American open-wheel racing (Indy Lights, CART/ChampCar and IRL/IndyCar)
Meira? Nine seasons, not a single win. Yet, the pair of them are well-respected. Granted, there has never been this hype around them, but results-wise, Danica doesn't look that bad compared to them.

I don't think Servia and Meira spent as many years as DP did in a top team- also remember that Servia raced in CART when it was intensely competitive

[heliocastroneves#3]

I think Danica was the queen of making the least on-track passes....

[jarrambide]

I think Danica was the queen of making the least on-track passes....

No, that was Adrian Fernandez, the king of fuel conservation, he made a living out of having 1 or 2 less pit stops, I remember watching him pass 2 or 3 cars in one of his last races and thinking, "hmmm, the guy can pass cars, whou knew".

[Mark in Oshawa]

Servia's resume doesn't have many wins above Indy Lights, true, and he doesn't and hasn't been on a top team either. With that said, he has always been fast, and aggressive. Danica is only impressive when she is stomping down pit lane to give someone a piece of her mind for daring to share the same track with her.

It is too bad there isn't a stats database one could go to to have the complete and easy to access results of ever driver going back to their kart years. I suspect at one point Servia was winning somewhere....because I can tell you no one is paying to see him in a bikini...

[beachbum]

There is a big difference between a driver like Servia who is a regular threat to win, has a reputation for getting the most out of a car and can setup a car, and a driver like Danica best known for just running by themselves, rarely passing anyone in front of them, just staying out of trouble and being clueless about setup.

Drivers like Servia contribute to a teams success. Danica just rode the success of the team around her. Based on her behaviors and the few quotes from former teammates, she even "takes" from the teams success.

What I find particularly interesting is how her fanboys fall all over themselves trying to find justification for her presence in the sport. IMHO, if she wasn't "hot", she would be a footnote and never would have made it past the Toyota Celebrity race