Quote:
Originally Posted by m21sniper
Meh, to me it's about winning. I wouldn't call any driver who has never won, or who has only won once, "successful."
Win a title or at least a handful of races, and it's another story. I really don't care, the sport is totally irrelevant to me. I'm just tossing out my $.02
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What do you drive at the track? Me, I've raced most of my life since age 14. Never had any money, no backing, no interested parents, yet I ran. I only have about 3 trophies for over 30 years of racing, so I guess I'm a total failure in your eyes.
I don't care, I had the fun, paid the entry fees to support the costs, met a hell of a lot of great folks and some racing stars of the future. In fact, I finished in the later half of the field most of the time. I never cheated, but that's fairly prevalent in the front row. Do I feel like the also ran that you think I am? Absolutely not. I was 5 MPH off the pace at Willow in a laydown kart every lap. That means I only did turn 9 at 90 when the leaders could do 95. I only went down the back straight at 101 when they could do 106.
I'm happy with that, frankly, as opposed to never having raced. No one watched me, only the leaders. Do I give a crap? Nope.
Danica is in the big leagues where some of the younger ones I raced against lasted a couple of seasons. Alex Barron, Ritchie Hearn and PJ Jones are three I can think of off hand. Danica has better stats than all 3 in open wheel. She's already a champion in my eyes.
Did you know that when the IRL broke off that they redefined "close" racing? The CART drivers on the ovals never ran like the IRL does. I suppose it's the cars that allow for this, but they have put on one hell of a show in the last few years. The Champ car guys are going to get their heads handed to them, at least at first, and Danica will be one of the ones leading the charge.