I've been so busy with work as of late that I missed out on Danica racing at Bristol this past St. Patrick's Day weekend. D'oh! But ESPN has a good article about the race and how she did:
Danica Finishes Frustration-Free 19th
I guess I'll make up for it by seeing her at Fontana, CA this weekend. Woohoo!! DanicaStalk 2012 is in full swing!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Danica finishes 12th for the Sam's Town 300 in Vegas.
After starting 12th, Danica finishes 12th for the Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway yesterday. I was there to watch, listen and root her on. Early in the race, Danica was complaining the car was loose and bumpy going through turn 1 and into turn 2. She dropped back to the mid-pack through the first 50 laps into the race. Then she turned it on after the first round of pit stops. Halfway through the race, Danica loses a mirror that covered the left side of the car and had to rely on her spotter. It is known that Danica always had issues with restarts, even during her time driving in Indycar. But the broken mirror didn't help that situation, especially on restarts where she had to start on the outside lane. Still, halfway through the race, she was one of the fastest cars out there and got up to the 6th position.
After a caution came out with about 35 laps to go, the decision was made to have her pit to cover fuel mileage in case of a green-white checker finish. She was 10th. Due to a bad restart and the broken mirror, she fell back a few spots to 15th, but at the end started to get real fast and pass cars. There weren't enough laps left to catch the the top ten and finished 12th.
At the end of the race, Danica said over the radio she was "kinda pissed off" she didn't finish in the top 10 and that she thanked the team for great pit stops. She also promised crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr., she would work on her restarts and learn to communicate better on what the car's technical needs should be. It was a very good effort by all this weekend and a positive move forward for the team since the tough start this season.
As for my experience this weekend, it was a bit interesting. Yeah, I got to meet Danica...again. And yeah, I enjoyed the Neon Garage, made new friends, drank a lot of beer, and ate really crappy food. Heck, I even got heckled a bit for being a fan of Danica (since I was wearing the #7 GoDaddy team pit crew shirt). But one observation had me really vexed. For a sport / series that is NASCAR to boast on how loyal their fans are (and they most certainly are), it surprises me how little of the actual race these same fans seem to watch when they are at the track. I was glued to my spot with beer in hand the entire race, listening to both the stadium speakers and the rented headset to listen to Danica's race communications. A lot of people asked me how did Danica do. Some even had to ask me who won. Really?! Weren't you there, too?!
I know there are stereotypes when it comes to NASCAR fans. And it is unfortunate, some of these stereotypes are true. But it's good to see NASCAR is making strides to not only evolve as a sport, but help their fan base try and evolve with them and create all new fans. It took a while for the "good ol' boys" of the South to accept drivers from other regions of the country as equals. It's going to take a while for old fans to accept a Danica Patrick, a Juan Pablo Montoya, or a Marcos Ambrose until they start winning races and championships like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who at the start of their careers, were hated for being California boys. With all this said, I leave you with a joke a supposed "hardcore NASCAR fan" told me yesterday: "How many Mexicans does it take to blow up a jet dryer? Juan." Really?!
After a caution came out with about 35 laps to go, the decision was made to have her pit to cover fuel mileage in case of a green-white checker finish. She was 10th. Due to a bad restart and the broken mirror, she fell back a few spots to 15th, but at the end started to get real fast and pass cars. There weren't enough laps left to catch the the top ten and finished 12th.
At the end of the race, Danica said over the radio she was "kinda pissed off" she didn't finish in the top 10 and that she thanked the team for great pit stops. She also promised crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr., she would work on her restarts and learn to communicate better on what the car's technical needs should be. It was a very good effort by all this weekend and a positive move forward for the team since the tough start this season.
As for my experience this weekend, it was a bit interesting. Yeah, I got to meet Danica...again. And yeah, I enjoyed the Neon Garage, made new friends, drank a lot of beer, and ate really crappy food. Heck, I even got heckled a bit for being a fan of Danica (since I was wearing the #7 GoDaddy team pit crew shirt). But one observation had me really vexed. For a sport / series that is NASCAR to boast on how loyal their fans are (and they most certainly are), it surprises me how little of the actual race these same fans seem to watch when they are at the track. I was glued to my spot with beer in hand the entire race, listening to both the stadium speakers and the rented headset to listen to Danica's race communications. A lot of people asked me how did Danica do. Some even had to ask me who won. Really?! Weren't you there, too?!
I know there are stereotypes when it comes to NASCAR fans. And it is unfortunate, some of these stereotypes are true. But it's good to see NASCAR is making strides to not only evolve as a sport, but help their fan base try and evolve with them and create all new fans. It took a while for the "good ol' boys" of the South to accept drivers from other regions of the country as equals. It's going to take a while for old fans to accept a Danica Patrick, a Juan Pablo Montoya, or a Marcos Ambrose until they start winning races and championships like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who at the start of their careers, were hated for being California boys. With all this said, I leave you with a joke a supposed "hardcore NASCAR fan" told me yesterday: "How many Mexicans does it take to blow up a jet dryer? Juan." Really?!
Friday, March 9, 2012
DanicaStalk 2012 is on!
Was a long and interesting day today that started at 7AM at the Palms Hotel and Casino where I needed to get a wristband to guarantee a meeting / autograph with Danica. Good thing I decided to get there fairly early, and not due to anticipating long lines for the wristbands, because there weren't any lines! Nope...got to meet The GoDaddy #7 team having a quick breakfast in the casino! They were gracious enough to let me take a photo of them before they headed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the day's practice sessions. Speaking of, Danica had an "OK" day where they had to find speed during practice. She finished with the 7th fastest time.
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| JR Motorsports #7 GoDaddy Team: Tony Eury, Jr. and company. |
Most of the day, I spent up in the Neon Garage area getting sunburned, watching hot girls rollerblade in circles, Vegas showgirls taking photos with NASCAR fans, watching some really good cover bands, and drinking a whole lot of beer. One of the "rollerblade girls" stepped up to me and we had some really fascinating conversation. Seriously...no joke! We exchanged numbers and hopefully we'll continue having more constructive talks tomorrow.
Anywho, it finally came to "mission time" and meet up with Danica at the Palms Casino. Fortunately, I was one of the lucky 250 people guaranteed to meet her and JR Motorsports teammate, Cole Whitt. I have enough photos and autographed stuff of hers (again, seriously, no joke!) but there was one thing I had that I always wanted to have her sign: a little girl's jersey of her first Indycar team, Rahal Letterman. When I presented it to her, she recognized the "old school" nature of it and smiled. Then I asked her to address it to "DanicaFanboy". She asked, "That's you?!". I laughed and said, "Yup, DanicaFanboy.com, that's me." She asked me what message I wanted on it as everybody behind me was wondering why she was taking so long to autograph my little jersey. I said, "How about: 'See you tomorrow'?" She said no, and wrote this:
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| Yes, Danica, you'll be seeing me many more times! |
Yup, she knows...
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Danica finishes 21st at Phoenix.
After starting 30th for the Bashas' Supermarket 300 at Phoenix International Raceway, Danica finishes 21st. Not a bad showing but everybody knows PIR is not one of Danica's favorite tracks even though she is an Arizona resident. Danica fell 3 laps down due to Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin setting a blistering pace. It was a good race to watch especially toward the last 30 laps due to all of the pit strategies to get passed Kevin Harvick and his very fast car. It worked perfectly for Elliot Sadler's team taking the win.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Gotta love Fox News!
An idiot sports anchor from a San Diego Fox News station got suspended for insinuating that Danica is a "b-word". In a commentary about how Danica seems to be described throughout her racing and advertising career, apparently Ross Shimabuku interpreted Danica as being arrogant, when actually, Danica was trying to convey a valid point. I'd like to ask Mr. Shimabuku, how would it feel if every time he was mentioned, it was always as "Asian sports anchor, Ross Shimabuku...". Tell me, Mr. Shimabuku, is it relevant as a sports reporter that your Asian? Nope. Then why do you media idiots keep bringing up what Danica has to do for her main sponsor. Does that have any relevance to what she does on the track? Nope. But yes, she does sexy commercials for Super Bowl Sunday. Why? So she can race every weekend. It's not your fault, or mine, that we're of Asian descent, Mr. Shimabuku...as it's not Danica's fault that she is very attractive and is using it as a means to an end. But it is most certainly the fault of the general media's ignorance to describe Danica as only "the sexy girl who races cars on the weekends".
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