Open Wheel Racing Always Has the Hotest Babes

I worked for a team at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona race this year, and she was driving for a team that was two spots down from us in the garage. She is very petite, and looks just as good in person as in pictures. However, it was cold most of the time, so she always had a coat on. :mad:

I had always heard that she was pretty unpleasant to be around, but she was always smiling and seemed to be very accommodating to all the fans that wanted her autograph.

She was part of an impressive driving lineup - Andy Wallace and Casey Mears were her team mates. I literally bumped into Mr. Mears, and like Danica, he is also short - probably around 5' 5".

The picture below shows Danica hiding behind a tire cart drinking a cup of coffee (it looks like she is smoking, doesn't it?).

I'll stop dropping names now.
 
Well Mike, I was tempted to do the Milka thing. Now that's a woman!

But I KNEW exactly what this thread was about before even opening it. The Danica insanity over those pictures hit the Apexspeed Forum earlier in the week. Frankly, Danica is getting boring in terms of appreciating racing and looking at her plastered every where.

However, there is another. If she could just get the financial backing she'd out run Danica every time. You probably missed her when she ran the Formula Atlantic Pro Series races in Portland a number of years ago. She had some troubles. But if you were watching her driving skills, MAN has she got them! Nobody was going through the 5, 6, 7, 8 faster then she was or as close to 10/10ths racing ALL the way through the event.

People also have to be REAL careful when stating Danica's credits. Danica IS NOT the first woman to win a professional open wheel race in the USA. This woman is with her Atlantic win in Long Beach (her first race in them)! Just like Milka, she's got the looks but she's a race car driver and not a walking advertisment.

She had a short, underfunded run in CART but couldn't keep the backing going. No CITGO dollars behind her like Milka.

Remember her?
 
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Katherine Legge? Isn't she driving in DTM now, those fake race cars with fenders?

Danica was very pleasant at the Champ Car race at Laguna Seca a few years back when me and the wife had an opportunity to share a lunch table with her and Bobby Rahal. And she is quite petite, but has a handshake that will make you wince.
 
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Katherine Legge? Isn't she driving in DTM now, those fake race cars with fenders?

Danica was very pleasant at the Champ Car race at Laguna Seca a few years back when me and the wife had an opportunity to share a lunch table with her and Bobby Rahal. And she is quite petite, but has a handshake that will make you wince.

She might be petite but your a giant! :p
 
You're right Rick, Katherine is the real deal, whether she's running fenders or not! She was awesome in the Atlantics, but as usual there are more oportunities for her in Europe, and the DTM series is a great place to showcase talent since they are definitely F1 caliber cars with fenders.
Remember that violent crash she had at Road America a couple of years back? Hard to believe she walked away from that mess, but I don't think she was really hurt at all.
I can't see Patrick running F1 like the new USF1 team is suggesting, but it would be a great short term marketing angle to hype the team.
 
Yes, very nasty crash and sadly, not at all her fault. Pretty hard to control almost any winged open wheel car when the rear wing flies off!

I'm not even sure who funded Legge's CART ride. But they sorta 'threw' her in the machine and said ' go fast right now or it's over '. They didn't give her the time to develop in the car with proper testing and practice. Coyne is a pay as you go operation.

Legge and Sarah Fisher (another really good underfunded woman driver) have both had F1 tests and both turned in respectable performances. Somebody just needs to throw some $$$$ at them. And yes Legge is a factory Audi driver in DTM. Certainly not an easy ride to capture!

I give Danica credit for her skills. But she wouldn't be where she is if Rahal hadn't sunk millions in to developing her as a driver. I think Rahal even paid for Danica's 'chest reduction" to lower the CG in her car.

Two short stories:
I have a friend in Virginia that used to run a 6 car semi-pro open wheel pay to drive team in the Formula Renault series. Rahal wanted Danica to test for it as she was coming up. He didn't think they should have to pay for the test becuase, after all, he was Bobby Rahal. lol.... NO free test was given. NOR at the time did the owner feel Danica had developed her road racing skills to the point of qualifying for a ride!

A Grand-Am Prototype team wanted to test Milka Duno at VIR. They expected her to show up with the usual entourage of coach's, press people and photog's. Nope she drove in alone in a rental car, put on her gear and ran the test, discussed the results and drove away.

Considerable difference in approach to our sport.
 
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Katherine Legge was sponsored by Kevin Kalkoven himself. While that worked fine in Atlantics and ChampCar, that all ended with unification. I think she's the best female driver to come along in a long time and it's too bad that she's running in DTM (in a two year-old Audi, which seems to have become SOP for starting people out).

Milka is a rich hack. Yes, she's greatly improved over years past, but she still doesn't have the skills to really make it work.
 
Katherine Legge ... [is] the best female driver to come along in a long time and it's too bad that she's running in DTM (in a two year-old Audi, which seems to have become SOP for starting people out). ...

Steve, she's been "upgraded" this year to a one-year old Audi with the Abt team IIRC.

While I loved her in Champ Car (and stood outside Medical at Road America after 'that crash' to see her walk and talk and shake her hand...) I think any driver would take factory support. Audi seem to like her just fine and due to off-season shuffling the open seat at Abt became available - and Audi pointed them to Kat'.

As was mentioned above, Sarah Fisher gets my nod too - she is absolutely the real deal.

I don't begrudge Danica, I just don't like the hype surrounding her.
 
Right. Now that Katherine's in her second year, she gets last year's model. Again, this seems to have become SOP with most "unknown" drivers. As you say, and given the sponsorship situation in the unified IRL, going to DTM with factory backing was definitely a smart move on her part. I just wish she could've found a way to stay over here, in OW or sports cars.
 
There is also a young Brazilian gal in Indy Lights who is quite good. Her name is Ana Beatriz, although her real Brazilain name is Bia Figueiredo. Confusing, but she won the 08' Nashville race to become of course the only female to ever win in that series.
She has solid crendentials in karting, Formula Renault and F3 down there before migrating north. Too bad they don't televise much of that series. Oh wait, they don't televise much real racing anymore, I forgot. Back to Pinks I guess - not.
 
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