So? What does rahal do now????

[mac miller]

It has been well publicized, by her, her hypesters, her mommy and daddy, and, of course, TV guys "toddandscott", that almost all of danica's problems have been caused by bad handling cars at the start of every race, bad pit stops and "other drivers" blocking ,chopping, leaning, running too close and, just generally, messing with her on the track.

So???? does rahal step up next year and provide her with a better engineer, who can get the car set up properly, and a better pit crew, so she doesn't wind up running her whole race back with the mid pack "squirrels"?????????

Come on , bob, give this girl what she needs to fulfill her cosmic destiny!
Honda has blessed her with the "A list" engines just like the ones they give to Dan, Tony and Dario. Now all you need to do is surround her with the quality of people she needs to keep up with the frontrunners!!!!

................... unless, of course, her hypsters, her mommy and daddy and "toddandscott" are wrong and bad cars, bad pit stops and "other drivers" are not her real problems??????????? Maybe she is really just an overhyped, mid pack driver in a great car????

[SJFast]

[crispy]

................... unless, of course, her hypsters, her mommy and daddy and "toddandscott" are wrong and bad cars, bad pit stops and "other drivers" are not her real problems??????????? Maybe she is really just an overhyped, average driver in a great car????

Just like Rice...

I've got an idea, let's get rid of the real racer on the team so our "stars" don't look so bad...

[Brantoc]

I got a better idea.. Lets NOT go with a qualifying setup on raceday.
The whole team has had cars real loose on raceday. Except California, every race the team has needed 1-1.5 turns on the wing before they started to pass anyone.

Remember Texas? Danica and Buddy got a full turn first stop, and second stop Danica got another full turn.. Thats nuts!

[Jim Wilke]

Mac, I'd buy your premise if she was getting blitzed by her teammates but in just about every race, they've been behind her.

[rrrr]

Dunno about Rahal but mac should be writing jokes for Letterman.....

That there is some funny stuff....

[LorenzoBandini]

I've got an idea, let's get rid of the real racer on the team so our "stars" don't look so bad...

You mean "the bridesmaid"? Give me a break.

[JSR]

I've got an idea, let's get rid of the real racer on the team so our "stars" don't look so bad...

So Buddy isn't a real racer?

[Cygni]

Mac, I'd buy your premise if she was getting blitzed by her teammates but in just about every race, they've been behind her.

Actually, Meira beat Danica in every race he finished on power except for Joliet where meira finished 7th to Danicas 6th. 11/12 times he beat her. He also had 4 podiums, while Danica had none.

Rice, had 7 DNF's and missed 1 race due to injury, leaving only 9 races to compare with. In these, he beat Danica at Kentucky, California, Phoenix, St Pete, and Sears. At Richmond and Kansas, he was 1 spot behind Danica. Only at Pikes Peak and Chicagoland was Buddy measurably behind... 3 spots at Pikes and 7 at Chicagoland. However, Rice end the season with a pair of podiums for his effort.

Danica didnt have any podiums, and beat either of her teammates while they were running a combined total of 5 times out of the 21 combined opportunities she had. She proved she was very quick in qualifying, her light weight ultimatly helping more in a qual situation, but regardless of her weight she managed to consistantly be a top qualifyer, with 9 starts in the top 5. However, she clearly has been unable to find that speed on the track during green flag conditions. Its likely an experience issue, and she likely needed another season in Atlantics to really be able to handle the cars and meet the increadible hype loaded on her.

She will do better next year, im sure.

[Indyknut]

She never seemed to get any better. Many of those tracks are quite similar and yet she never showed any fortitude to run with the guys at the front even when she had a fast car. Her MO seems to be, stick to the bottom and drive backwards till she's comfortable and then bring the car home. She gains positions by others falling out ahead of her and only gets back towards the front if Rahal tries some off the wall pit strategy. I'll be surprised if she does much more next season.

[don7031]

Just going by results, the expansion to a three car effort was counterproductive. On the surface it appeared that they were running three cars on a two car budget. If that was and remains the case it would be wise to retract to a two car team. I expect that Rice will be the odd man out. This leads to another question altogether. With car count becoming a major issue will the teams be able to extort additional financing out of the IRL in the same manner they did to CART in 03?

[LouCopits]

Well, if I were Rahal

I would drop Rice, keep Danica for the publicity value, and put all my resources behind Vitor

[jkentner15]

Drop Rice? Are you kidding me?? How can you drop a 500 champion of a year ago who was contending for the championship. Rahal obviously can't support 3 cars and that was a result of poor finishes this year. He obviously put all the marbles into Danica's stable. Buddy had quite a few DNF's that weren't his fault.

[Barstow Kid]

Drop Rice? Are you kidding me?? How can you drop a 500 champion of a year ago who was contending for the championship. Rahal obviously can't support 3 cars and that was a result of poor finishes this year. He obviously put all the marbles into Danica's stable. Buddy had quite a few DNF's that weren't his fault.

Buddy's Borg wasn't a Juan Pablo Montoya Special. Let's face it. It doesn't rain, there's a good chance Tony Kanaan's snout is on the Silver. He didn't get the championship because he messed up. Recall Pikes Peak for instance?

So let's not suggest because he drank milk he's the second coming of AJ Foyt.

That being said, Buddy is a fine shoe and stout gasser of the pedal. Pure race car driver. Big talent. Bad year. Some tough luck.

If he's my shoe, no way I release him. Buddy wins again. And wins big like he did at Kansas over Meira. There's Rahal's real shoes there. Both are talents on the upswing.

Honestly, Danica did underperform in the #16. Even for a rookie. With a Honda bullet, there is no way she should have been back there trying to pass Jacques for what, 8th or something, at Fontana lap after lap after lap. If it's Jacque in the #16 the pass is executed and a challenge is mounted for the flag.

No, Danica proved a lot at Fontana. And not much of it is positive.

I give her a C on the track. An A-plus off of it. Maybe she can meet the two as a solid B" to B-plus shoe int he IRL. That's about all I see right now. Maybe she'll surprise.

No, you hang onto the slightly overrated Buddy and the slightly underated Vitor somehow and turn them loose for race wins. They both can find the flag first.

[Chris Paff]

how can you say that Kanaan had anything for Rice?? Rice went from 15th to first after stalling in the pits.. He passed Wheldon and Kanaan on track before the yellow came out.. he had the dominate car.. if the rain would have held off Rice would have ran away with the race.. everyone admited that was invovled.. Kanaan, Wheldon, Letterman, Rahal, Andretti.. i was there and just watched it on dvd..