[thunderfoot]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Dario Franchitti couldn't make it and Scott Speed is struggling.

I, personally, think Sarah Fisher would have twice the chance of making it as would Danica and I wouldn't wager a lot of money on Sarah.

Sarah ran the western grand national division for about 3 years. She didnt do squat. No way can Danica handle these cars. She's not that talented.

[saltysenior]

Originally Posted by thunderfoot

Sarah ran the western grand national division for about 3 years. She didnt do squat. No way can Danica handle these cars. She's not that talented.

how talented do you have to be.....everybody says there is no racing involved nowadays.....

[thunderfoot]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

how talented do you have to be.....everybody says there is no racing involved nowadays.....

If it was that easy everybody would be doing it

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

how talented do you have to be.....everybody says there is no racing involved nowadays.....

Interesting point, salty. I'm going to have to ponder on that one...??? My first thought is that it will take stamina to drive in a parade for 400-500 miles, driving a car with less technical in-car assistance, that is over twice the weight of the vehicle she normally drives in.

As far as talent, I'd have to guess she's at least as talented as most Cup drivers. Where the talent factor might come in is her talent to adapt to drive around at an impressive pace, in traffic, not just play the back marker and just motor around, staying out of everyone's way.

But, you bring up a very good question.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

how talented do you have to be.....everybody says there is no racing involved nowadays.....

Like any professional job there is talent involved. The degree of talent should be the question. As much as I do not care for her she didn't make it to the top rung of the ladder on just her looks .... although some dwell on that more than her driving abilities. The important question to NASCAR fans is, does she have the ability to make the switch from one series to a completely different one ? I say no and I say it because better drivers than her have tried and failed. I also don't find her record in her current series (IRL) all that impressive.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by thunderfoot

Sarah ran the western grand national division for about 3 years. She didnt do squat. No way can Danica handle these cars. She's not that talented.

I think you need to produce some facts to substantiate your assertion, or ...

Below is part of some info from a previous post of mine in this thread (Danica Patrick to Nascar....Again?) which contains a short history of Sarah Fisher's NASCAR West Series career.

• Sarah Fisher ran her first race in the NASCAR West Series in the 10th race of the 13 race schedule, at Phoenix on October 3, 2004 (a battery failure ended her race on lap 104 of 150 .. she finished 21st of 28.)
• Sarah's accomplishments in the NASCAR West Series over the 13 races of her NASCAR West Series career include:
  • 4 top 10 finishes
  • Rookie of the Year (2005)
  • 12th in driver points (2005)
  • 11th place finish in the Toyota All-Star Showdown (2005)
  • Most popular driver in the series (2005)
• In 2006 Sarah returned to IndyCar because the NASCAR team couldn't/wouldn't put together a full-time program for her.
• A different look at her accomplishments in 2005:
  • 12 starts, 1640 of 1932 laps completed (84.9%), 7 laps led
  • Win: 0 ( 0.0%), Top 5: 0 ( 0.0%), Top 10: 4 ( 33.3%) , DNF: 3 (crash, rear-end, engine)
  • Average start: 12.8, Average finish: 14.0
  • Total Winnings: $32,346 (excluding bonuses)

I don't see how that record could be considered "She didnt do squat.", especially when these are her only races in a stock car. There's regulars in that series that didn't do as well as her!!

Maybe you have other facts to support your assertion .. or not. Either way, I look forward to your reply to this post.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

Like any professional job there is talent involved. The degree of talent should be the question. As much as I do not care for her she didn't make it to the top rung of the ladder on just her looks .... although some dwell on that more than her driving abilities. The important question to NASCAR fans is, does she have the ability to make the switch from one series to a completely different one ? I say no and I say it because better drivers than her have tried and failed. I also don't find her record in her current series (IRL) all that impressive.

...especially considering the equipment she's had compared to "the rest of the field."

[saltysenior]

i don't understand..................why is almost everybody against her driving in nascur........what harm could that possibly do compared to the interest it would generate.????

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

i don't understand..................why is almost everybody against her driving in nascar........what harm could that possibly do compared to the interest it would generate.????

For me, personally, we have enough fluff going on in NASCAR now. Why add to it? Look at some of the open wheelers that have tried to make the transition and have failed. Other than becoming a media darling, what will she be able to do in NASCAR ? Look at her record in IRL. She just isn't that good. If she was a he this conversation wouldn't be happening at all. Don't we have enough media personalities already ???

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

i don't understand..................why is almost everybody against her driving in nascur........what harm could that possibly do compared to the interest it would generate.????

Speaking for myself, I'm not against her trying to run stock cars. Plus, I'm sure that if she were to make the jump, she'd want good equipment and would have a desire to win.

What I am against is NA__AR exploiting her gender in order to put butts in the seats. There are at least two talented females coming up through the ranks but NA__AR is ambivalent about them because they don't have the fame that Danica does. I know; it's just good business. However, the way it has the potential to go down, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm solidly against mixing business with pleasure (sports).
Remember the circus the Indy 500 turned into her rookie year? (I don't blame Danica for that; that was strictly media) IF she should come to NA__AR that fiasco will look like a minor news item buried on page 12 of your local paper, in comparison.

[WestCoast]

Personally I would love to see her in NASCAR, the sooner the better.
Most here agree that the racing has become secondary over the last couple of years, so why not exploit the current "matinée characters".

- you have Jr. aka my name is Earnhardt, who has way too much money to be interested in racing.
- you have the crazy kid aka Baby Shrub, could be the best racer ever, with a mentality of a 5 year old.
- you have Smoke, the little team that could, and the new all around good guy, after being a temper tantrum head case in his prior life.
- you have MM the world's nicest 50 year old something, everybody's Uncle, nice guy...thank you, thank you.
- you have Flipper, who will no doubt flip out soon, it he doesn't get to flip over a win really really soon.

This is a perfect setting for a Babe racer.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Personally I would love to see her in NASCAR, the sooner the better.
Most here agree that the racing has become secondary over the last couple of years, so why not exploit the current "matinée characters".

- you have Jr. aka my name is Earnhardt, who has way too much money to be interested in racing.
- you have the crazy kid aka Baby Shrub, could be the best racer ever, with a mentality of a 5 year old.
- you have Smoke, the little team that could, and the new all around good guy, after being a temper tantrum head case in his prior life.
- you have MM the world's nicest 50 year old something, everybody's Uncle, nice guy...thank you, thank you.
- you have Flipper, who will no doubt flip out soon, it he doesn't get to flip over a win really really soon.

This is a perfect setting for a Babe racer.

I see your point.

Gee. Maybe Brian should try to emulate his grand father, Bill Sr. a little more, and not try and treat the sport like P.T. Barnum did his circus? All of your above descriptions would fit into one of Barnum & Bailey's side shows, if they were to have a NA__AR theme. I can just hear a barker spieling out what you've written except he'd replace your "You have..." with a simple "See..."

[NascarPoolsOnline]

Originally Posted by saltysenior

i don't understand..................why is almost everybody against her driving in nascur........what harm could that possibly do compared to the interest it would generate.????

Probably the same reason everybody was up in arms when Toyota joined the series, or when JPM came over.


I'm with you...why not give her a shot...2 or 3 year contract and see what she can do? We can all say she can or she can't do it, but until she's in a car, we wont really know. Besides, we already have one media/fan darling who under-performs. What's wrong with having another?

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by NascarPoolsOnline

Probably the same reason everybody was up in arms when Toyota joined the series, or when JPM came over.


I'm with you...why not give her a shot...2 or 3 year contract and see what she can do? We can all say she can or she can't do it, but until she's in a car, we wont really know. Besides, we already have one media/fan darling who under-performs. What's wrong with having another?

point well taken .. maybe she can take some of the heat off of Junior...

[NascarPoolsOnline]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

point well taken .. maybe she can take some of the heat off of Junior...

And she should put some more butts in the seats...it wouldn't be a terrible thing. At least the track owners wouldn't think so.