Danica Patrick's Indycar: horsepower advantage?

Joined
Mar 30, 2020
Messages
528
Location
Houston, Texas
Although she was clueless towards basic race engineering I admired Danica Patrick for her fearless driving in her early years but figured out soon she may have been helped by her height. (she lost that blind courage after her teammate died in a practice session and moved on to NASCAR).

Back in that time the Indy Racing League used naturally aspirated engined and two chassis, the Dallara and G-Force/Panoz. The second had a triangular airbox intake as opposed to the oval on the Dallara.

It is my guess at 200+ mph her height at 5' 2" sat her so low in the car her helmet didn't obstruct or disturb airflow into the sealed airbox.

What do you think?

2018_I500_Danica05_1_1600x800.jpg
 
In the racing series I've been a part of, without diving down the rabbit hole into minutiae, a drivers/riders size absolutely makes a difference.
 
If she had that much of an advantage due to her petite size she would have won more oval races, no?

I think people need to let go of the fact that a girl beat all the boys for once. It was a well-deserved team effort. It was simply (and finally) her turn. That's it.
 
Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
If she had that much of an advantage due to her petite size she would have won more oval races, no?



Physical stature is not the only factor.

I've met her, and I liked her. I'm in no way being critical of her.
 
Her size and weight absolutely made a difference. It doesn't matter whether or not the sanctioning body takes driver weight into account when weighing a vehicle. A smaller driver will have a lower center of gravity. Also a light driver allows the use of more balance which can help have a lower center of gravity also.
 
Originally Posted by 02SE
Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
If she had that much of an advantage due to her petite size she would have won more oval races, no?

Physical stature is not the only factor.

I've met her, and I liked her. I'm in no way being critical of her.

I was replying to the OP, not you.
 
Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
Originally Posted by 02SE
Originally Posted by Bottom_Feeder
If she had that much of an advantage due to her petite size she would have won more oval races, no?

Physical stature is not the only factor.

I've met her, and I liked her. I'm in no way being critical of her.

I was replying to the OP, not you.


That's fine. I was replying to your comment when I said physical stature is not the only factor. The car, the team, and her ability are all important factors.

My statement that I've met her and liked her, and wasn't being critical of her, was more of a general comment.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Her size and weight absolutely made a difference. It doesn't matter whether or not the sanctioning body takes driver weight into account when weighing a vehicle. A smaller driver will have a lower center of gravity. Also a light driver allows the use of more balance which can help have a lower center of gravity also.


Centre of mass will also tend to be a bit lower for a female vs. a male of the same height. We're only talking a few centimetres, but since we're splitting hairs...
 
I always thought her lack of male upper body strength was why she hit the wall so many times as well in nascar races.........
those who dared race along side her were truly Fearless.
 
Fact is she ismore skilled than most and certainly better skilled than all on this and other boards that have slammed her. If nobody has noticed ,the trend for many decades is for smaller and smaller drivers. Even where weight rules are in effect the smaller driver allows you to place the weight more advantageously. I attend many races of differing series, and if they turn, invariably the winning drivers are smaller people nowadays. No more Jimmy Spencer's I'm afraid.
 
Originally Posted by fsdork
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
Her size and weight absolutely made a difference. It doesn't matter whether or not the sanctioning body takes driver weight into account when weighing a vehicle. A smaller driver will have a lower center of gravity. Also a light driver allows the use of more balance which can help have a lower center of gravity also.


Centre of mass will also tend to be a bit lower for a female vs. a male of the same height. We're only talking a few centimetres, but since we're splitting hairs...


A friend of mine co-owns a NASCAR Cup team. He said that before NASCAR went to a spec pit gun, they were spending 6 figures a year on custom pit guns and they are a mid pack 2 car team usually.

Joe Gibbs Racing had the best ones in the field and you could hear the difference. The teams figured out that instead of nitrogen they were running the guns on helium. All for a half second or so faster pit stop.
 
Originally Posted by vw7674
I always thought her lack of male upper body strength was why she hit the wall so many times as well in nascar races.........
those who dared race along side her were truly Fearless.


If anything it would have been more of a disadvantage in IndyCar. The Cup cars have power steering, and when you look at the company who supplies most of the teams, Turn One, you can customize the level of assist. Now there were a few races where her power steering did go out and she couldn't really cope, where Ryan Newman barely noticed.
 
Originally Posted by sloinker
Fact is she ismore skilled than most and certainly better skilled than all on this and other boards that have slammed her. If nobody has noticed ,the trend for many decades is for smaller and smaller drivers. Even where weight rules are in effect the smaller driver allows you to place the weight more advantageously. I attend many races of differing series, and if they turn, invariably the winning drivers are smaller people nowadays. No more Jimmy Spencer's I'm afraid.


I fully agree about her skill. And yes, we won't be seeing the Tony Stewart types in IndyCar or NASCAR much longer.
 
Danica drives better than i could imagine ever driving. I am more impressed with Airline pilots though. They go much faster much longer .
 
I will never forget the 2005 Indy 500, what a drama filled month and race.

On pole day it was cloudy and windy with temps in the 60's. Danica pulled out of her pit box as her dad streamed tears. On her first qualifying lap the rear tires broke loose in Turn 1 but instead of chopping the throttle in fear (a recipe for snap oversteering tank slapper and a crash) she counter-steered and caught the slide in full throttle. I LEPT off my chair in astonishment! Danica went on to post 3 fast laps and qualified 4th.

During the race she sliced through traffic like AJ Foot back in the day, got caught accelerating in an accordian restart (Dan Weldon caused that), spun, had her front wing damaged, but pitted for repairs and later TOOK THE LEAD!

Finished 4th as her tires and fuel were going away in the final laps. It was really something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VL64zStTRM

Screenshot_2020-04-07-17-43-10-813.jpg
 
Last edited:
Back
Top