Danica Patrick Takes Pole at Daytona

Really a challenge to write headlines about this that don't sound dirty



Danica in one of her racing racy outfits
Danica Patrick is making history as the first woman to take the pole position at this coming weekend's Daytona 500 race.

She became the first woman to win the pole position for the Daytona 500 — and a Sprint Cup event — on Sunday when the rookie posted a lap of 196.434 mph.

"Pride. I'm proud of all the hard work that goes into making a pole car," Patrick said. "I'm happy for them (the team). It was a fast Chevy. ... If you're anywhere but the front row, it's hard to see on race day. ... This just speaks volumes about Stewart-Haas Racing. I thought we were going to be 1-2-3 for a while."

The previous best starting position for a female in the Daytona 500 was 18th by Janet Guthrie.

Danica is quoted as saying,

“I was brought up to be the fastest driver, not the fastest girl.”

Go get 'em Danica!

Update: Danica finished 8th at Daytona, the highest finish for a woman at the Daytona 500.

Fire Melts Steel

Back during the 9/11 controversy, one Hollywood twit scoffed at the idea that fire could melt steel. I thought of that when I saw the live video from the Daytona 500, where burning jet fuel ate through steel. Even though fire crews were there in a matter of seconds, the extreme heat did this kind of damage.



Imagine a similar jet fuel fire with no suppressing foam, no water to douse it, eating away at the structural integrity of the WTC.

I don't know if actual evidence can persuade the conspiracy theorists, but as Mulder and Scully said, The Truth is out there.

For reference, here is a picture of the jet dryer truck with it's steel metal boxes intact.


Update: It was pointed out by a commenter that this plating was aluminum instead of steel. When I first saw the video and the stills of what appeared to me to be chrome plated steel, I took this to be an example of "fire melting steel". I contacted a manufacturer of similar trucks who told me they indeed use aluminum over steel. I drew my conclusions based on observation and my experience with diamond plate steel in the past. I made an honest mistake based on not unreasonable assumptions.

I thank 2Hotel9 for pointing out the error. And I laugh at the weak minded liberals, whose glee over my making a simple mistake caused them paroxysms of schadenfreude, based, no doubt, on their inability to best me in honest intellectual debate.


Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Fire at Daytona 500

With 40 laps left on the Daytona 500, a fiery crash suspended the race.


"Relax! It's just the Chevy Volt pace car!"

No word yet if the race is over. Depends on the condition of the track.

A car spun out of control and hit a safety truck, towing a jet engine used to blow debris off the track. Carrying about 200 gallons of jet fuel, miraculously, the truck did not explode and both the driver of the car and the driver of the truck escaped with minimal injuries.

The fire was extinguished rather quickly. The debris has been removed from the track and box after box of Tide laundry detergent was brought out to remove the jet fuel from the pavement.
The track is being washed down and they hope to resume the race in half an hour.

Funniest tweet:

"Hello jet engine on a truck. My name is Juan Pablo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

8:21 PM PST Drivers are being sent back to their cars in anticipation of restarting the race.
8:58 Race is back underway under yellow...


Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.