Ladies have rough day at Indy 500

For just the second time in its 92 year history, three women started the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday Coming off Danica Patrick’s groundbreaking win at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan last month, never have more eyes been on women racing at motorsports top levels. 

Some thirty years after top fuel dragster diva Shirley Muldowney broke into the “old boys club” in the NHRA, women are still unfamiliar faces in most of auto racing’s premium divisions. While the NHRA is perhaps the best at promoting diversity, Ashley Force and Melanie Troxel both recently scored wins in NHRA Funny Car events.

NASCAR remains the only top auto racing series that has failed to put a women in a race car full time in their premium series -- the Sprint Cup.

Shawna Robinson is the last female driver in NASCAR to give running the Cup series a try.  She attempted four Cup races in 2001 in the No. 84 car; however, Robinson made just the race at Michigan, where she finished 36th. Her sponsor, Tropicana pulled out, and Robinson signed to drive 24 races for BAM Racing in 2002. Her best finish was 24th at Daytona -- she was released.  In 2003, she ran three races in the #49 Aaron's Chevrolet Silverado with an all-female pit crew. Her best finish was 18th at Texas Motor Speedway.

In 2005, Robinson drove in the Busch Series after being out of NASCAR for two years. She piloted the #23 Vassarette Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Keith Coleman Racing, but was released after six races.

Now, she is an interior designer.

Racers like Kristen Bumbera and Gabi DeCarlo hope to claw their way up through the lower levels of stock car racing and breakthrough NASCAR’s glass ceiling at the Cup level, but the idea of three women starting the Daytona 500 is years, if not a lifetime, away.

Perhaps that is why so much attention has been placed on Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno during the pre-race media blitz that surrounds the Indy 500. As much as Helio Castraneves appearance helped pump new life and interest into IndyCar -- so did Patrick’s win in Japan.  All of a sudden it seemed possible that a woman could win the most prestigious race in motorsports.

"It's something I've always wanted to do, it's a goal," Patrick said of winning the Indy 500. "It's really one of the few times that I've put a 'girl' into my vocabulary, like, 'Yes, it would be nice to be the first woman to do that, it would be great.'

"Other than that, you know, I'm just not any different as a driver. I don't feel any different. I'm not any more or less nervous. It doesn't really change that."

This, however, would not be Patrick’s year.

Patrick’s race ended, when in the final laps, Ryan Briscoe knocked her out when he slammed into her leaving the final pit stop of the race.

"You don't pull out from your pit box three lanes out. You have to wait 'til you blend in there,'' she said. "That's why they have a get-up-to-speed lane, which is the inside lane, and then, when you're at speed, you're at the outside lane.

"It's not the right thing to do that you just go all the way out to the wall. That's not right.''
After the wreck, Patrick attempted to confront Briscoe on pit road but was stopped by speedway security.

"I took my gloves off. I was ready to take it all off; my helmet and everything, because it's hard to talk through the helmet. "It's probably a better idea that I didn't make it all the way down there anyway because, well, as you guys know, I'm a little emotional.''

It was a bitter ending to a craptacular day for Patrick, who started fifth, stayed among the leaders most of the race, but ultimately was never in contention for the win.

"I don't know if we had enough speed to win the thing,'' Patrick said, who finished 22nd. "The guys worked so hard all month; we all worked hard all month and we all worked hard all day today just trying to come up with any way that we could move forward.

Her female counterparts were equally challenged. Sarah Fisher got collected after getting tangled up with Tony Kanaan. Fisher was in tears as she exited her race car.

"I think I've experienced every freaking emotion here at the Speedway," she said.

"I'm just happy that Tony [Kanaan] walked away," Fisher said. "Tony was racing real hard for the lead and got high and just spun right there in front of me. I think I got him in the intrusion panel, so it's a good thing they update these cars every year so he can walk away fine."

Fisher, who started 22nd, had trouble getting her engine fired on the parade lap.

Things didn't get much better from there. Under caution on lap 13, she inexplicably spun entering turn three. Safety crew members tried to push her car out of the grass, but she ended up needing a tow to pit road.

After her wreck with Kanaan, she finished 30th. 

"It was just a terrible day," she said. "It just wasn't our day. The guys worked so hard this month to put together such a good race car. It was great on the track. We just messed up the start, messed up the parade lap."

Because of the wreck, Fisher is unsure she will have enough money to race at Kentucky Speedway on August 9th.

"It's just amazing support that the fans have given us," Fisher said. "Between the checks that everybody have sent, I think we cleared nearly $30,000. They were in fact an associate sponsor."

Duno was the last car on the lead lap when she wrecked, bringing out the eighth caution of the race.

She wound up finishing 19th.

"For my second time at the Indianapolis 500, I am excited to have finished this classic race," said Duno. "Throughout the race, we were in good contention and made routine pit stops and tire changes. It was during Lap 168 that the No. 91 car (Buddy Lazier) essentially forced me to go on the apron. His tire made contact with my front wing and tires.

"I was able to control the spin, and no major damage was done to the car. The CITGO car was brought back to the garage, and I took off running through the pits to meet the team. The guys did a tremendous job to getting the car back out. Their efforts allowed us to gain two positions back on the track to finish 19th."

One could say it wasn’t a great year for the girls – but at least IndyCar had something NASCAR didn’t for their Memorial Day race, three women in the seat.

by Linda Przygodski
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

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In 2005, Robinson drove in the Busch Series after being out of NASCAR for two years. She piloted the #23 Vassarette Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Keith Coleman Racing, but was released after six races.

Now, she is an interior designer.

Racers like Kristen Bumbera and Gabi DeCarlo hope to claw their way up through the lower levels of stock car racing and breakthrough NASCAR’s glass ceiling at the Cup level, but the idea of three women starting the Daytona 500 is years, if not a lifetime, away.

Perhaps that is why so much attention has been placed on Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno during the pre-race media blitz that surrounds the Indy 500. As much as Helio Castraneves appearance helped pump new life and interest into IndyCar -- so did Patrick’s win in Japan.  All of a sudden it seemed possible that a woman could win the most prestigious race in motorsports.

"It's something I've always wanted to do, it's a goal," Patrick said of winning the Indy 500. "It's really one of the few times that I've put a 'girl' into my vocabulary, like, 'Yes, it would be nice to be the first woman to do that, it would be great.'

"Other than that, you know, I'm just not any different as a driver. I don't feel any different. I'm not any more or less nervous. It doesn't really change that."

This, however, would not be Patrick’s year.

Patrick’s race ended, when in the final laps, Ryan Briscoe knocked her out when he slammed into her leaving the final pit stop of the race.

"You don't pull out from your pit box three lanes out. You have to wait 'til you blend in there,'' she said. "That's why they have a get-up-to-speed lane, which is the inside lane, and then, when you're at speed, you're at the outside lane.

"It's not the right thing to do that you just go all the way out to the wall. That's not right.''
After the wreck, Patrick attempted to confront Briscoe on pit road but was stopped by speedway security.

"I took my gloves off. I was ready to take it all off; my helmet and everything, because it's hard to talk through the helmet. "It's probably a better idea that I didn't make it all the way down there anyway because, well, as you guys know, I'm a little emotional.''

It was a bitter ending to a craptacular day for Patrick, who started fifth, stayed among the leaders most of the race, but ultimately was never in contention for the win.

"I don't know if we had enough speed to win the thing,'' Patrick said, who finished 22nd. "The guys worked so hard all month; we all worked hard all month and we all worked hard all day today just trying to come up with any way that we could move forward.

Her female counterparts were equally challenged. Sarah Fisher got collected after getting tangled up with Tony Kanaan. Fisher was in tears as she exited her race car.

"I think I've experienced every freaking emotion here at the Speedway," she said.

"I'm just happy that Tony [Kanaan] walked away," Fisher said. "Tony was racing real hard for the lead and got high and just spun right there in front of me. I think I got him in the intrusion panel, so it's a good thing they update these cars every year so he can walk away fine."

Fisher, who started 22nd, had trouble getting her engine fired on the parade lap.

Things didn't get much better from there. Under caution on lap 13, she inexplicably spun entering turn three. Safety crew members tried to push her car out of the grass, but she ended up needing a tow to pit road.

After her wreck with Kanaan, she finished 30th. 

"It was just a terrible day," she said. "It just wasn't our day. The guys worked so hard this month to put together such a good race car. It was great on the track. We just messed up the start, messed up the parade lap."

Because of the wreck, Fisher is unsure she will have enough money to race at Kentucky Speedway on August 9th.

"It's just amazing support that the fans have given us," Fisher said. "Between the checks that everybody have sent, I think we cleared nearly $30,000. They were in fact an associate sponsor."

Duno was the last car on the lead lap when she wrecked, bringing out the eighth caution of the race.

She wound up finishing 19th.

"For my second time at the Indianapolis 500, I am excited to have finished this classic race," said Duno. "Throughout the race, we were in good contention and made routine pit stops and tire changes. It was during Lap 168 that the No. 91 car (Buddy Lazier) essentially forced me to go on the apron. His tire made contact with my front wing and tires.

"I was able to control the spin, and no major damage was done to the car. The CITGO car was brought back to the garage, and I took off running through the pits to meet the team. The guys did a tremendous job to getting the car back out. Their efforts allowed us to gain two positions back on the track to finish 19th."

One could say it wasn’t a great year for the girls – but at least IndyCar had something NASCAR didn’t for their Memorial Day race, three women in the seat.

by Linda Przygodski
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com

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