Danica Patrick into the wall.

The Game Room
1

I saw this video of Danica getting put into the wall this week:

The first version I saw of this I saw without commentary, and I was confused by what happens at about 2:30 from the car’s cockpit view.

Danica takes her hands off the wheel.

“What the fuck?” I thought. "You fight that car every last second. You steer that thing, and try to save that till you hit the wall, and then you keep trying.

I was reminded of some tapes I hear of airplane pilots right before they crash. They keep trying things, and they are still talking to each other and trying to save the plane until their voices get cut off by the crash.

They don’t talk their hands off the yokes and give up.

What kind of race car driver… what kind of human being throws their hands up in the air and gives up like that?

I was full of contempt.

When the front wheels hit the wall, it wrenches the steering wheel and can break both your wrists or rip your hands clean off.
Oh,
So, the reality of the situation is that spinning out of control at 193 mph, furiously trying to gain control of her car, being thrown around by g forces strong enough to send her blood sloshing through her body hard enough to rupture her veins and capillaries, while reducing her vision to two tiny tunnels… all this going on… A part of Danica Patrick’s brain is consummate enough to think…

“A split second before I slam into this wall at 193mph I need to take my hands off the wheel so that I will still have the use of them to guide what is left of the car if there is enough of it left to steer, and the impact does not turn me into strawberry jam like it did Dale Erhnhardt.”

And she does.

She holds them up like a surgeon. Calmly. Professionally. Spinning out of control, going into the wall at 193 mph.

A split second after impact she puts them back on the wheel and guides the car to a halt.

I’ve heard a lot of sexist comments about Danica and I’ve heard a lot of shit that she wouldn’t be where she was if she wasn’t willing to wear a bikini, that she gets far more attention than her talent deserves.

I don’t know about that shit.
But… that kind of mastery, that kind of skill, brings tears to my eyes.

Nice driving Danica. Good luck tomorrow.

2

Well, hell, if there’s anyone currently in NASCAR who gets more attention than their talent deserves, that person would be named Dale Earnhardt, Jr. And hey, I actually like the guy.

Patrick (or “the chick” as my brother so charmingly insists on calling her) is unquestionably a serious, focused and dedicated racer, and like any dedicated racer will do whatever it takes to get a competitive ride. If donning a bikini gives her a better chance of running top-line equipment on race day, I say go for it.

In her Indy career she solidly established herself as an upper middle-of-the-pack driver, and she should do at least that well once she goes full-time in Sprint Cup. She showed steady improvement her first season in the Nationwide series, after starting with essentially zero time in stock cars, and is already being talked up as in the hunt for that series’ 2012 championship.

Whatever happens in this year’s Daytona 500, however, will be pretty meaningless in regard to judging her long-term prospects. Win, 29th place, or stuffed into the wall on lap 50, flip a (3-sided) coin. That’s plate racing.

3

Moved (at considerably less than 192 mph) MPSIMS --> the Game Room.

4

I’ve read that some think her style is more suited for NASCAR than she was for Indy cars. We’ll see.

You’re absolutely correct in that whatever she does today is meaningless as far as her long-term prospects go. Last year’s winner, Trevor Bayne, is not even set for Nationwide races this year due to sponsorship problems.

NASCAR has, thankfully, eliminated the two car packs we saw last year, but judging by yesterday, everyone has forgotton how to drive at Daytona.

I hope it’s a good race; I’m looking forward to it.

5

Looks like her first Daytona 500 might take place on Tuesday.

I imagine pilots hold onto the yoke until the end because 2 broken wrists won’t matter when the plane slams the ground. I’ve always seen Indy and F1 drivers let go of the wheel. Stock car drivers usually don’t. Maybe because the tires are covered and can’t be shoved back as easily as an open wheel car? I know that when the tire of an ATV catches a stump and you’re holding onto the handlebars, your wrists will be sore.

6

I don’t know why you would assign credit to her for doing what every other driver of her caliber would do as well. She’s been racing since she was a little kid, up to the very highest levels of the sport, I’m sure she’s been involved in many crashes and learned all the lessons many times over.

It’s as if a woman became a baseball manager and made her way up from the rookie leagues to the majors. You wouldn’t give her credit with knowing how to execute a double switch, would you?

7

I’ve seen several articles complimenting her on this brilliant maneuver and her presence of thought to do so. I call bullshit. It’s week one of learning how to race professionally. And should you forget, it will only happen once.

At 190+mph, you may break your wrists as speculated. At 100 or so, you usually just break a thumb. Even if that doesn’t happen, your shoulders will be wrenched so violently that they’ll be sore for several days afterward. I would be very surprised to hear that all NASCAR drivers aren’t in the habit of doing exactly what Danica had done. Normally you just remove them from the wheel though, you don’t hold them up like a surgeon. There’s always a possibility that some steering control will remain afterward that could prevent you from moving into the path of an oncoming car.

The same move should be used on the streets as well. Not only will it lessen the chance for hand or shoulder injury, but it’s always wise to keep your arms from getting between your face and the airbag.

8

Every. Single. Driver. does this. Even crappy ones kicking around the regional circuits. Dial back the hyperbole.

9

Sorry, you jaded couch potato armchair experts. It’s still totally awe I pion to me.
Basically every male gymnast can do an iron cross. It still gives me shivers to see it.

10

Yeah, but do they have tits?

11

I heard the letting go of the wheel was an open wheel thing and she had done it instinctively from her years of open wheel. I don’t think NASCAR drivers do the same thing…

12

Nah, stock car drivers don’t, I think that’s what it been shown on tv so much lately. I’ve seen stock car drivers come back with bent wheels from holding on during wrecks before.

13

She already went to full lock countersteer to combat the spin. There’s nothing more she could have done with the steering than that, and it was obvious to her it wasn’t enough to recover.

14

I don’t usually cotton to Bear Grylls, but I was watching some show he was hosting about what to do in certain disastrous situations. The one featured on the show was “what do do when you lose your brakes.” It meant to cover the period of time after you were going slow enough to safely stop the car - that opportunity was passed up and now you’re starting to pick up real speed.

While serpentining and running into hedges and such (to scrub off speed), Bear emphasized that you should hold your hand with your thumbs on the outside of the wheel, instead of wrapped around the wheel (like most people do). Why? If the wheel gets wrenched violently to one side, you won’t break your thumbs.

That had never occurred to me. Good to know.

15

I spun 1 and 3/4 circles on the I-15 in 2005. (Starting from a speed of about 60mph.)

When the car does that, the steering wheels are still gripping the ground, and the steering wheel snaps out of your grip. I sprained my right wrist. (I am not a stunt or stock car driver, nor a body builder.) I don’t think when you’re spinning donuts like that, it’s possible to keep a controlling grip on the wheel.

The race announcers in the linked video clearly say she did the right thing. Are they just “kissin’ up” to Danica?

16

So I was at a SCCA race. One of the Formula Ford drivers had gone off course at a previous race, where there was no getting back on. He was describing what happened, and his narrative went something like this: “When I hit the small berm and went airborne, I took my hands off the wheel, crossed them over my chest and grabbed my shoulder harness. I then thought this is really going to hurt. When I hit I found out I was right.”
All of the other race drivers in the group nodded, and said yup, you did the right thing.
When you get a race car sideways, it is way different than a street car. Race cars are designed to go forward and use aerodynamics to hold the car down to the track. Get one sideways the aerodynamics don’t work and you are pretty much a passenger.

17

There’s still things you can do to influence where it’s going to end up though. I’ve seen some pretty miraculous saves, just watch Kyle Busch in the Bud Shootout from this year. When you’ve lost the steering and you’re headed for a wall, you can still stomp the gas pedal and try to spin the car out so that it might just loop instead of keeping on it’s path toward something hard.

18

I think in general you’ll rarely see the NASCAR announcers call out a driver for a dumb move, not just Danica, who happens to be the hot new property on the block. Most NASCAR crashes don’t have the long drive into the wall like Danica’s did, so you’ll rarely see drivers in NASCAR have the time to take their hands off the wheel.

19

They always point out what the cause of a wreck was without trying to make it sound like they’re placing blame. Sometimes though, they will villify someone for a particularly dastard incident. There was an immediate response from the announcers last year when Kyle Busch hooked Ron Hornaday under caution.

20

Welcome to Daytona, Danica.