Danica

[R. Pare]

Did he even touch her? If so it was very light.

Light, maybe relative to what could have been, but when you are already at max tractive capability, even a light tap will send the car up the banking.

Had the other car not been there, she probably would have saved it and just kept on going.

[jgrooms]

If you watched the race today you saw that Danica had one of the best drives of any driver out there. From going two wide around the carousel with Fellows to not hitting Papis during some extremely close racing her drive was impressive. Too bad that a former F1 world champ had to wank into her at the end.

[PiperFF]

She also showed class in her interview. JV

[John Merriman]

Danica came up through road racing and she really showed her stuff at Road America in a terrific race. She deserves a lot of credit for her performance and surely gained respect. She ran very competitively - fast, smooth and close with Fellows, Villenueve, Papis, Busch and McDowell. Fourth place was hers until Jacques punted her off. Granted it was a light tap but still, he moved her out of the way with intent. In his interview, Jacques was a nutcase. All you had to do was watch the replay to see how "inaccurate" ( un-true? ) his view of it was. Her interview was really remarkable - a class act and no whinging either !!

[rickb99]

She did a GOOD JOB today too!! Lead 20 laps of the Nationwide race on Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and had a very GOOD SHOT at winning the race until..... Some IDIOT spectator threw a shoe on the track and she hit it dead on at high speed!! Did some damage to major parts in the back of the car and she had to pit several times for repairs but she completed the race.

Allgaier won it but to do it he had to PUNT Jacques Villeneuve on the final lap of a
G-W-C finish. To say Villeneuve wasn't happy is a major understatement.

[Revs2-12k]

Spectators throwing debris on the track.

Here is a link to the Video.

http://deadspin.com/5935965/somebody...he-was-leading

Includes colorful language on the radio, but who can blame her.

[Steve Demeter]

Tony Stewart said it best when shown the clip in the pre race for Michigan and asked for his reaction to the shoe "someone has no class".

[Offcamber1]

Krushchev?

[JRMarchand]

that's messed up

[Daniel Thompson]

The shoe caused the damage to her car?? I thought she had a broken rear axle? From a sneaker?

[RussMcB]

During the telecast someone surmised it was caused by an incident during a previous track session (car bottomed out), not from the shoe.

Danica was pretty impressive for quite awhile, holding onto the lead.

[Dennis Valet]

Seemed a little suspect to me that a shoe could damage the suspension on these cars given the beatings they take

[Purple Frog]

She did great and I would have loved to see her win.
But, somehow I ain't buying a shoe taking out one of those cars. They are more tank-like than a SRF.

[Rick Kirchner]

Maybe a power steering pump line?

[Top]

Maybe there was already some damage and it was just the final "shoe".

[Mark Filip]

Why is everyone so surprised a shoe could cause damage? Stand still let someone throw a shoe at you. How fast was the car going? It could have gotten stuck in the steering linkage, even a small part of the shoe could have got stuck. So many people want to see her fail but she can drive better than a lot of racers.

[Brian]

I think it was a truck arm or a track rod break - you could clearly see the rear end moving side to side about 4" in some turns. What I was impressed with is she drove it that way, in the lead, for a fair number of laps and maintained pace, while saying on the radio "it's slamming from side to side..."

They said they had to replace a U-bolt on a bracket on the telecast.

Brian

[Matt King]

Why is everyone so surprised a shoe could cause damage? Stand still let someone throw a shoe at you. How fast was the car going? It could have gotten stuck in the steering linkage, even a small part of the shoe could have got stuck. So many people want to see her fail but she can drive better than a lot of racers.

It's not Danica bashing to be skeptical that the shoe, as outrageous as it was that someone tossed it on the track, was the actual cause of her problem. It's not surprising that a shoe could cause some damage, but it is surprising that it could have caused the damage that was described, which appeared to be related to the rear suspension. To break a cooler line, or damage a splitter or other "soft" part, would be expected, but these cars are built like tanks.

Ask George Bush about what a shoe can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSHNRNi91wQ

[Mark Filip]

It's not Danica bashing to be skeptical that the shoe, as outrageous as it was that someone tossed it on the track, was the actual cause of her problem. It's not surprising that a shoe could cause some damage, but it is surprising that it could have caused the damage that was described, which appeared to be related to the rear suspension. To break a cooler line, or damage a splitter or other "soft" part, would be expected, but these cars are built like tanks.

Ask George Bush about what a shoe can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSHNRNi91wQ

If anyone is surprised that a shoe could be thrown on track at a NASTYCAR event is evening silly. 95% of NASCAR fans are so paralyzed from drinking beer by 9am anything could happen. Wouldn't faze me a bit if someone laid on the track.

[Matt King]

If anyone is surprised that a shoe could be thrown on track at a NASTYCAR event is evening silly. 95% of NASCAR fans are so paralyzed from drinking beer by 9am anything could happen. Wouldn't faze me a bit if someone laid on the track.

People are idiots, which should come as a surprise to no one.

[Daryl DeArman]

I saw a video of a wedged spacer (not wedge as in weight jacking) falling out of the rear of her car. A spacer that is clamped on the axle to set the pinion angle. Apparently that shoe knocked the wedged spacer out which in turn allowed the u-bolt holding it to lose tension. Then the axle was free to beat the crap out of everything in the vicinity until the u-bolt was tightened during a pit stop. By that time the damage was done.

[formulasuper]

Seems like the wedge would have been more secure than what a shoe could knock out.

[iamuwere]

I think a shoe is a pretty substantial thing to hit on at 70 mph. I think it would destroy a wing or a-arm on a formula car. I have had less break things before. (A turtle at Waterford comes to mind).

[formulasuper]

I think a shoe is a pretty substantial thing to hit on at 70 mph. I think it would destroy a wing or a-arm on a formula car. I have had less break things before. (A turtle at Waterford comes to mind).

A turtle is basically a rock. A shoe not so much, unless it was one of those Dutch wooden shoes. They could be deadly!

[starkejt]

I always thought that if we were going to argue Turtles v. Shoes, I would be the one to bring it up. Oh well.

[TimH]

Seems like the wedge would have been more secure than what a shoe could knock out.

Should ain't would. New item for the checklist..

[TimH]

Then the axle was free to beat the crap out of everything in the vicinity until the u-bolt was tightened during a pit stop. By that time the damage was done.

I wonder if it would have gone better if they brought her in as soon as she noticed the problem.

[Daryl DeArman]

They might have thought she was just complaining....crying wolf so to speak....until they saw the axle going all sigoogly-cockwise on the tv monitors.

[rickb99]

Immediately after she hit the shoe at WELL OVER 120 MPH (it went under the car and shot out the back about 8 feet in the air) they had video of a wedge coming off the rear then additional video clearly showing another 'tie bar' hanging down on the left. Furthermore, it was clear from cockpit shot that something had gone amiss with the cars steering (be it Track Bar or steering linkage) because she was sawing the wheel in the brake zones to keep it lined up.

They had the car in the pits twice before the axle damage eventually took her in for the big fix.

I once saw a GT1 Camero hit a 'tiny rock' sticking up less then 2.5 inches off the racing surface that you wouldn't think would cause any issues. At the next corner the GT1 took a MASSIVE roll over. Yes the rock had become lodged in his steering linkage.

Little things (even high top sneekers) can do strange things when hit at 120 MPH PLUS.

[Mike Devins]

I think a shoe is a pretty substantial thing to hit on at 70 mph. I think it would destroy a wing or a-arm on a formula car. I have had less break things before. (A turtle at Waterford comes to mind).

having hit a turtle at Waterford Hills I can tell you they are only a rock at the instant that you hit them after that they are a large hunk of meat with little hard pieces mixed in.

BTW it took the front off of my DSR and caused big damage.

[Offcamber1]

having hit a turtle at Waterford Hills I can tell you they are only a rock at the instant that you hit them after that they are a large hunk of meat with little hard pieces mixed in.

BTW it took the front off of my DSR and caused big damage.

That the turtle was not wearing shoes.

[John Merriman]

The commentators reported quite specifically that she had had a problem earlier in the last practice session or a warm-up. She came in and told the crew something wasn't right in the back end and that she had gone over a high curb. I can't imagine that a first-rate crew would not investigate every single component but it seems they missed some of the damage which then caused ultimate failure. Speaking of "first-rate", she was really showing her road course talent yet again. Oh, and one other thing...Algaier didn't punt Jacques off. Watching the re-runs carefully, JV clearly slowed way down in that turn and the bump was unavoidable.

[butch deer]

Some of you may remember Justin Algaier's dad "Gator" was the Hoosier Tire guy at lots of Cendiv Nationals in the 1980's.

[rickb99]

...Algaier didn't punt Jacques off. Watching the re-runs carefully, JV clearly slowed way down in that turn and the bump was unavoidable.

Regardless, he ran in to HIM. If Algaier had his brakes locked up and then 'slid' in to Villeneuve maybe I'd be a little 'lighter' on him.

[butch deer]

Regardless, he ran in to HIM. If Algaier had his brakes locked up and then 'slid' in to Villeneuve maybe I'd be a little 'lighter' on him.

Clearly the game is played a little different in NASCAR than the SCCA. If this was a regional the Stewards would need would need a heavy duty paper shreder because they couldn't possibly tear up that many licences by hand.