The fix is on!!! Again.

[Stoptheinsanity]

Please do not tell me that I am the only one that finds it far to coincedental that Matsuura and Danica are leading at Motegi? Come on Matsuura hasn't been able to get out of his own way (let alone anyone else) all season. And now he is fastest? Japanese Driver, Japanese Motor, Japanese Track, Japanese Fans. Humm? And for Danica, just as she has come off of 2 dismal rounds, back to Honda's backyard, she and her AGR teammates jump to the top of the timesheets, ahead of the Penskes and TCGR? It must be everything that AGR has been learning running that factory backed Acura that is making them so fast at Motegi huh?

[openwheeler]

<sigh> where to begin

Matsuura has been very fast for the last couple years - results, no, but fast, yes

Michigan '04 for example - HE QUALIFIED 2nd !!!

Kansas last year, he was TOP 5 on the grid


if Penske and Ganassi struggle at a track, then you will see AGR cars do very well as they are doing at Motegi here in the early going - you might also see Panther and other teams step up


it's the same thing as Team Australia capitalizing when Bourdais and PT are struggling


I'd also like to make you aware that Danica has 3 poles (about 10&#37 ;) already, and she was QUICKEST AT INDY at one point

[pdalbey]

Good grief. Danica has always run well at Motegi. She qualified second two years ago, led 15 or 20 laps, and eventually finished 4th. This is why Danica just can't win... Like I said elsewhere, if it was Sarah Fisher who topped the charts, none of this crap would end up on web boards.

[openwheeler]

AGR is dialed in for this one, reading the driver quotes and looking at the timesheets - only Franchitti is having some trouble and he said it was great in the first session but they went out on a limb and made some changes for the 2nd session "and went backwards"

go AGR!

[weeflyonthewall]

How much lighter is she than the rest of the field.

[FerrrariF1]

Good grief. Danica has always run well at Motegi. She qualified second two years ago, led 15 or 20 laps, and eventually finished 4th. This is why Danica just can't win... Like I said elsewhere, if it was Sarah Fisher who topped the charts, none of this crap would end up on web boards.

sarah also doesn't have a 35 lb weight advantage over the field nor is she overpaid for her record which I must remind you is ZERO wins but she does have the field "uncovered" in R rated men's mags....Danica Patrick is the Anna Kornakova of auto racing

the IRL is the only major series that doesn't weight the car and driver together to form a minimum weight thus on ovals she has a major weight advantage 35+ lbs less equals faster speed

a fact that seems to be forgotten

[harvick#1]

It must be everything that AGR has been learning running that factory backed Acura that is making them so fast at Motegi huh?

yep so Penske better bring out his Porsche engineers from the ALMS. they seemed to crush the weekend at St. Petes with a 1-2-3 finish.

[ZzZzZz]

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzz.............

[NoFender]

How much lighter is she than the rest of the field.

I don't think she was that much lighter than Jimmy Kite. ;)

[Mark in Oshawa]

Danica always runs well at this track, and it may be because it is very smooth and gradual. Tough physical tracks will wear her out more and work against her, but here, her light weight helps and she is a good oval driver compared to her skills on a road course. We often forget that.

As for this menace that is known as Matusura, he may be fast now, but lets let the race pan out shall we? To parapharse what was once said of the "Masters", the phone book is filled with people who were fast in practice and qualifying.....

[ZzZzZz]

She's a better road racer than Figge or Dalziel.

[eliostar]

I'm sure come race day both Danica and Matsura will be back to their usual self.

[Jag_Warrior]

She's a better road racer than Figge or Dalziel.

Dalziel has a number of road racing victories to his credit... half a dozen or so maybe? Even Figge has one professional level victory that I know of. Danica Patrick has won how many professional races, road racing or oval?

BTW, if I was Anna Kournikova, I'd sue someone if I was being compared to Danica Patrick. Anna's success on the tennis court never matched the hype she received for knowing EXACTLY where the cameras were when she bent over. But she at least WON more than a few matches. I think to be considered a better road racer than someone else, you'd have to do something that they have not done, namely, win a race.

[Komahawk]

Oh, another anti-Danica thread. I wonder if this will ever stop...

[Jag_Warrior]

Oh, another anti-Danica thread. I wonder if this will ever stop...

All she has to do is win a race. Just one race. Is that asking so much? How hard could that be? :D

[harvick#1]

Oh, another anti-Danica thread. I wonder if this will ever stop...

tell her too focus on Racing or concentrate on Modeling, pick one or the other. its that easy. or there will be anti-danica threads everywhere still

[openwheeler]

the more the merrier!

ps. congrats to the winner last nite!

[Jag_Warrior]

Really? Mario D, over in the other series, won a race and he gets dumped on by somebody almost every time his name comes up. I suspect it won't end for Danica either. On the other hand, she can drink champagne with me anytime. ;)


Just don't drink with her in public. One of those Dateline NBC crews might do a jump-out on you: OK Mister, just what do you think you're doing with that 12 year old girl?!

Sorry, couldn't help mahsef. Bad Jag_Warrior. Baaad Jag_Warrior! :D

[indycool]

Phillippe won a race in CC last year. Where's he now?

[Quetch]

She's a better road racer than Figge or Dalziel.

Sorry, but the facts say otherwise. I'm convinced Ryan Dalziel is better than Danica.

2004 Toyota Atlantic final points (road, oval)

1 Jon Fogarty 327 (293, 34)
2 Ryan Dalziel 309 (298, 11)
3 Danica Patrick 269 (246, 23)
4 Andrew Ranger 257 (231, 26)
5 Ronnie Bremer 251 (224, 27)
6 Bryan Sellers 227 (206, 21)
7 Alex Figge 201 (192, 9)

2003 Toyota Atlantic final points (road, oval)

1 A.J. Allmendinger 201 (187, 14)
2 Ryan Dalziel 175 (154, 21)
3 Michael Valiante 161 (156, 5)
4 Jonathan Macri 145 (133, 12)
5 Aaron Justus 123 (112, 11)
6 Danica Patrick 109 (99, 10)
7 Joey Hand 108 (101, 7)
8 Luis Diaz 88 (85, 3)
9 Alex Figge 87 (78, 9)

[O&amp;A Virus]

^^^^

I'd take most of those guys over Danica (and Legge) any day of week. Okay, maybe not Figge, but definitely Hand, Ranger and Valiante.

[Jag_Warrior]

Phillippe won a race in CC last year. Where's he now?

Rumor has it, sitting somewhere warm with a cool haircut and a hot girl.

Too much about AOWR now has to do with how much money one brings to the table, rather than the quantity and quality of skills.

[O&amp;A Virus]

R cool haircut



Thats debatable.

[DavePI2]

well we all should have heard today the statements of what we have all known about another racing series being fixed. Obviously IRL is not or a certain lady would have won a long time ago.

David

[Hoss Ghoul]

It is impossible to fix a race, there are too many variables.

However, every sanctioning series plays with the rules or cautions to effect the outcome. Rev limits, debris cautions, staggered starts, etc.

[DavePI2]

Jimmy Spencer mentioned the Nascar morning call 6 years ago so nascar had to hire him to shut him up. Now it is a big name speaking out so it is getting more attention. I was at the brickyard last year and it was fixed. Even hardcore fans sitting there knew it. IRl , Champ, ALMS are all clean, Nascar can't say that and it is one reason there ratings are starting to drop. Open wheel race will be back and one of the reasons is the integrity of it's product as opposed to nascar.

David

[Marbles]

As much as some people feel it is foolish to think the fix could be in I think it's naive to think that ANY series is above such chicanery. Not if they feel it wouldn't be beneficial to their organization. If a government can lie to it's people then then I don't think it's a huge stretch for it to be too diabolical for a race organization to give the wink and the nod to a particular competitor on any given weekend. Sometimes it just makes good business sense.

Does NASCAR have a few too many moments? Does Ferrari get treated the same as everyone else with regards to FIA? Did Renault get "specials" from Michelin... etc. Who governs the governors?

Of course it would be impossible to fix a race absolutely, given the huge amount of variables involved, from wrecks to mechanical failure, but it certainly isn't impossible give\allow someone an unsporting advantage... even once in a while.

To be clear, I'm not addressing any one series or any specific event and certainly not Motegi. I'm just speaking about racing in general. Is it unthinkable to think such a thing?

Personally, I think Champ Car should give everybody but Bourdais the nod come Sunday. That way it would make things more interesting and we wouldn't be any wiser. :)