Thank you Kyle Petty

[Matt Albee]

The playing field is going to be a bit uneven for Danica in NASCAR, just the way it was in the Indy cars. No driver, at least no male driver is going to help Danica win a race. There are some who help her during a race, though not many. But they have no intention of being the driver who helped Danica to victory, thereby becoming a driver Danica beat to the line. So good finishes are gonna be a little harder to come by for her.

[steadysteve]

Dani-cant

yeah, its her rookie season,with probably a top car and she hasnt showed much.Kyle may have gotten where he was at,thanks to his dad,but he did win a few races.The thing is Johanna Long gets the most out of her equipment with a team with no sponsorships,yet consistantly finishes in the top 20 if not higher.

I just see Danica going back to Indy car one day,where she has only one win at that.

[BVS40FL]

Kyle admitted it.

He said he was a journeyman driver at best. And he didn't know what made the difference between a good driver and a great driver. He said if he did know , then he would have been a great driver. I do agree with him on his judge of talent though. He's been in the middle of it ALL HIS LIFE. He's seen all the "great drivers". And he's seen the "just don't have its".
He also entered the last race of the 1992 season with Bill Elliot,Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Harry Gant and himself all mathematically in the race for the title. And he smoked , and I do mean smoked, the field a Rockingham several times .

[Matt Albee]

He said he was a journeyman driver at best. And he didn't know what made the difference between a good driver and a great driver. He said if he did know , then he would have been a great driver. I do agree with him on his judge of talent though. He's been in the middle of it ALL HIS LIFE. He's seen all the "great drivers". And he's seen the "just don't have its".
He also entered the last race of the 1992 season with Bill Elliot,Davey Allison, Alan Kulwicki, Harry Gant and himself all mathematically in the race for the title. And he smoked , and I do mean smoked, the field a Rockingham several times .

You know, you're probably the only person on Earth that cares what Kyle Petty says. Actually, there's probably a few more today after Kyle said Jimmie should stop whining about re-starts and just learn how to do them correctly.
Kyle was indeed the man to beat at the Rock for awhile. Let's give Danica the same time as Kyle had and see where she stacks up.

[Matt Albee]

yeah, its her rookie season,with probably a top car and she hasnt showed much.Kyle may have gotten where he was at,thanks to his dad,but he did win a few races.The thing is Johanna Long gets the most out of her equipment with a team with no sponsorships,yet consistantly finishes in the top 20 if not higher.

I just see Danica going back to Indy car one day,where she has only one win at that.

Imagine that, one win in an Indy car. How many thousands of Indy car drivers over the years would love to be able to say that.
Johanna has one of the best cars in the field when she races, always has. She does a good job with it.

[zerofor]

No Matt,more importantly,

Imagine that, one win in an Indy car. How many thousands of Indy car drivers over the years would love to be able to say that.
Johanna has one of the best cars in the field when she races, always has. She does a good job with it.

Danica has only one win more than ANY of US having this conversation.In Kyles
defense (although he was only a fair driver over the span of his career)he won his first superspeedway race ever,an ARCA race at Daytona,and for several years he was right in the mix in points all year and was competitive..He also made big jumps.Correct me if im wrong,did Kyle run anything in between his few races in Arca and Winston Cup?For that matter did he run many,(if any )local late model races around Randleman before his first Arca start?Most of his time was spent just as dad before him,being a part of his dads crew.Kyle was also pretty good at Watgins glen and Sonoma,and i believe his last top 10 was on a road course.Adam was the future of Richards legacy.Kyle was too much like Dale jr.He lost his focus because his dads last name afforded them both to party,play and lead a rockstar existence once they got to the top.

[Jimmy McKinley]

Imagine that, one win in an Indy car. How many thousands of Indy car drivers over the years would love to be able to say that.

She LUCKED into that win at Japan on fuel mileage - which, by the way, was called by her crew chief, not her herself. She *wanted* to pit thinking they'd run out of fuel, but her crew chief talked her into backing off the throttle and saving fuel. Many of the front runners - 10 or 12 of 'em, if I'm not mistaken - had to pit for fuel inside of 5 laps to go.

Johanna has one of the best cars in the field when she races, always has. She does a good job with it.

Uhh, no. She's in second- or third-rate equipment at best (Roush, Hendrick, Childress, JR Motorsports are all top-rate stuff, all with connections to Sprint Cup teams; then you have the "Nationwide-only" teams like Beuscher, the team that Leffler was driving for, etc.). But, she consistently runs up front - inside of the top ten or fifteen - all day long, unless, of course, she gets caught up in someone else's mess. Put Johanna in the equipment that Danica has (running with JR Motorsports when she was in Nationwide), and I *betcha* Jo would get a few more wins and top fives than Danican't.

[Matt Albee]

I wonder how you go about lucking into a fuel mileage win. You'd think the crew chief would have to plan it out, the driver would have to save fuel while going fast enough to win. I admit, i don't think i can recall ever seeing a race won on a fuel mileage gamble. So we need to give the win to her crew chief instead of Danica? Okay, if that makes it easier to deal with a female winning, be my guest.
I think if you'll look into it, you'll find that most ARCA teams get their cars and engines from Cup teams. So Johanna is always in competitive cars.
Though I hesitate to drag reality into the He Man Woman Haters Club, the drivers and followers of ARCA, not to mention SLM racing, say exactly the same things about Johanna. She hasn't won, she's in that car because of her daddy, there's a lot more deserving guys who should have that ride, there's racers who've spent 20 years trying to make it and she just gets handed an ARCA ride, etc. Hey, I don't have to tell you guys, you're the ones who invented these arguments.
I happen to think Johanna does a pretty good job in a race car. But I know how Roush, Penske, Hendrick, Childress, scoop up every young driver who comes along into a driver development program, i'd have to ask why they haven't signed her.

[Matt Albee]

Danica has only one win more than ANY of US having this conversation.In Kyles
defense (although he was only a fair driver over the span of his career)he won his first superspeedway race ever,an ARCA race at Daytona,and for several years he was right in the mix in points all year and was competitive..He also made big jumps.Correct me if im wrong,did Kyle run anything in between his few races in Arca and Winston Cup?For that matter did he run many,(if any )local late model races around Randleman before his first Arca start?Most of his time was spent just as dad before him,being a part of his dads crew.Kyle was also pretty good at Watgins glen and Sonoma,and i believe his last top 10 was on a road course.Adam was the future of Richards legacy.Kyle was too much like Dale jr.He lost his focus because his dads last name afforded them both to party,play and lead a rockstar existence once they got to the top.

One Indy car win plus some very good finishes at the Indy 500 and other tracks. A pertinent question would be, how many of us having this conversation would be capable of winning an Indy car race? I think we all know the answer to that one.

[Frasson118]

Matt... Johanna is in the Nationwide series, not ARCA. The cars, and budgets, are totally different. And don't kid yourself into thinking that the Cup owners are snatching up all the drivers that show some talent. A lot of it has to do with what the driver can bring to the program. Although I like Paul Menard, he didn't get a Yates ride first, then a Childress ride, based on talent.... he got those because his Dad can pay any tab needed to keep Paul out there.

I read somewhere that John Menard is worth more than Penske & Hendricks COMBINED. That's a LOT of dough he's worth...

And I always wondered why Charlie Menard didn't go the same direction as Paul. He was pretty good, even winning a Speedfest race at USA against the best in the Super Late Model business.

[dd38]

I remember back in the day (early 80's) at Speed World, they had a few "Cup" stars come out to the track one night (I believe there were 4 or 5) and they were going to have a match race among them. They asked me if I could "loan" them my car. I thought WOW a Cup Super Star driving my car! Hell Yea! Out of the bunch was Kenny Schrader I hoped would drive mine. But I asked them who they wanted to drive mine? They said Kyle Petty. Suddenly my excitement disappeared. I then asked them if he wrecks it who is going to pay to fix it? They said no one. "Just think you had a Cup Star drive your car and you can brag about it to all your friends" is what they said while I possibly stand there in front of my wadded up car telling friends that. Kyle at that time had No Short Track experience. He went right from Pit Crew help to ARCA and along the way wadded up quits a few cars. My car all the sudden had a problem come up with it and could not run the match race. It ironically got fixed for my feature race(which I can brag about because I did Win). But they had already left. Now Danica, that's another story. At least she has a back ground before she came to "Cup".

[Matt Albee]

Matt... Johanna is in the Nationwide series, not ARCA. The cars, and budgets, are totally different. And don't kid yourself into thinking that the Cup owners are snatching up all the drivers that show some talent. A lot of it has to do with what the driver can bring to the program. Although I like Paul Menard, he didn't get a Yates ride first, then a Childress ride, based on talent.... he got those because his Dad can pay any tab needed to keep Paul out there.

I read somewhere that John Menard is worth more than Penske & Hendricks COMBINED. That's a LOT of dough he's worth...

And I always wondered why Charlie Menard didn't go the same direction as Paul. He was pretty good, even winning a Speedfest race at USA against the best in the Super Late Model business.

I knew Nationwide but typed ARCA. It's going to be one of those days.
Any real race fan over the age of 40 still lives in the fantasy world of drivers moving up the ladder based on driving ability. That hasn't really been the case for decades. And in the current climate of NASCAR, if a driver can't bring serious money to the table they likely aren't going to get a ride no matter how much talent they have. Good example, the James Finch team. Finch has lot's and lot's of money, yet he can't afford to run the team out of his own pocket. I've read it takes something like 30 million a year to be a top 20 team in Cup. I can't blame teams for hiring drivers partly on the basis of how much sponsor money they can bring along. I wish it weren't like that, but with very few exceptions, getting a ride on talent alone is no longer possible at the top levels.
Yes, I do believe the Cup teams are scooping up all the viable young drivers. Go back through the driver development announcements over the past 10 years and you'll see a list of almost every driver that's shown anything like talent. Some I've never heard of. A lot got dumped, a few got a chance.

[zerofor]

Not ME! !!!!!!!!!!!

One Indy car win plus some very good finishes at the Indy 500 and other tracks. A pertinent question would be, how many of us having this conversation would be capable of winning an Indy car race? I think we all know the answer to that one.

You wouldnt catch my old fat butt in an open wheel car!First off you would have to grease me up with crisco to get me in one.lol (not to mention getting me back out)No thank you, i want a couple doors and a roof,and more importantly no protruding wheels if im in it.Unfortunately for her all those things slow her down a lot.

[Matt Albee]

Uh oh, more bad news for Danica haters. I was reading some interesting stats this morning.
Turns out only 13 drivers in history have led under green at both the Indy 500 and the Daytona 500. Of that group, only 6 have led at least 5 laps under green at both races.
A. J. Foyt
Mario Andretti
Robby Gordon
Tony Stewart
Juan Pablo Montoya
Danica Patrick

That's a pretty impressive list to be on.

[Bobby Diehl]

Not going anywhere.

You can say what you what she's there are not many can say that just forty three on any given weekend..... Those cars are a challenge for the best drivers. Kyle was good in his day. Not the best, but there were tough competition then as well.