Quote from JJ72 :

I don't think it applies to the case though, in racing you need talent to stand out, and talent isn't something everybody have (unlike a yellow shirt!). To able to stand out from a competition of 1000 people, is definitely harder than to stand out from a competition with only 3.

Maybe, but the competition extends very far out from the race track. Some would argue that winning isn't necessary at all. I wouldn't, though. Your ideas, your sponsorship proposals, your impressions on people is where most of the success of a motorsport career lies. That's where the originality needs to be. I was looking at this from an "I'm doing things differently" point of view rather than an "I'm faster than you" view.

I guess what I'm saying is, even if she's not a consistent race winner, if she's got the business chops to stay there, I think she deserves it.

Maybe that's the case in america, where you can live the life of a racing driver as some sort of (local) celebrity and become an "icon" for it........

Don't think it will fly in the rest of the world though.

Quote from JJ72 :

Don't think it will fly in the rest of the world though.

On the contrary, sucess in motor racing is more about business acumen than it is about talent.

As Martin Brundle says, the fastest driver in the world is probably some undescovered talent in Africa who never had the chance.

Talent has nothing to do with how far you go in motor racing. You think the drivers in F1 are the best 20 in the world? Contrary, they are a selection of about 15 talented drivers with business acumen, a few hangers on with business acumen, and Jenson Button.

You could extend the field to 50 cars and the average driving talent in the field would not be lowered.

Sorry, but that is not how it is... even in America. She is no Icon here, the majority of the people I talk to about her think that she is having a negative influence on her sport for the very reasons you mentioned. Not to mention the fact that she isnt a very good driver.

In her case it is true, winning isnt real high on her or her sponsors to do list. As long as they keep selling anti-freeze and web-hosting with her name on it, she'll continue to be a IRL driver. When people get sick of seeing her (lots already are) on tv, she will move on to something else. Anna Kournikova ring a bell?

I get what you are saying Becky, but ultimately motorsport is a field that demands performance and result, how to get there is of course a very major part of it, however once you get there, what can seperate the winners and also-rans will ultimately comes to their ability.

The fastest driver in world might be somewhere in amazon cutting down woods (that's actually Senna's quote ), but if not given the opportunity to actually drive a car, all these remains hypothetical. And lets just face it there's nothing such as a total level playing field of equal opportunity. However I do believe on the sharp end of motorracing, it does seperate the best from the rest.

A driver with "sucess in motor racing" will have to prove himself/herself by winning championship(s), people remembers the winner, not the very hard charging over achiever in a bad car.

To be a racing icon, you have to do more than winning 1 IRL race.

Who would say that Jenson Button has talent? He's leading the F1 drivers title despite another season of mediochre performances all because his car was quick out of the box.

He was not fast in karting either, but even then people said he would go all the way. He claimed never to have had much money, and indeed, he was not born to it - but he did raise it. He had business acumen and he has achieved success in motor sports from it.

That is what it takes to be sucessful in motorsport, talent is a factor only in that if you're as slow as Badoer you'll never get to drive an F1 car... Oh wait, he did. Well not for a top team anyway, oh wait, he did. OK, but the point is if you are slow you wont go winning titles, oh wait, Jenson is leading the F1 drivers title.

OK, the point is that talent is a factor - it's the one the fans savour and debate on internet forums the world over.

But what makes us talk about these drivers isn't how much skill they have, it is almost in it's entirety down to whether they can talk the talk.

Money is everything in motorsports. Heck in my last club championship I was losing .75 second down the mainstraight alone because I couldnt afford to do to my engines what all of the top teams where doing, money directly equals performance in motor sports. It is entirely about wealth.

Talent is just something the fans talk about, in Danica's case, it gives them something to be mad about - by questioning why she's even on the track when she apparently doesn't have any - although truth be told, she's just an average driver who gets a lot of hype because she has ... business acumen.

..."If horse racing is the sport of kings, then motor racing is the sport of businessmen"...

Quote from Becky Rose :

Money is everything in motorsports. Heck in my last club championship I was losing .75 second down the mainstraight alone because I couldnt afford to do to my engines what all of the top teams where doing, money directly equals performance in motor sports. It is entirely about wealth.

In the end it comes right down to that really. No one would be fast if they couldn't afford to drive. That's what's great about racing cars, cars are alien to us. We have to become familiar, no one is just born able to drive. Some people take to it more quickly than others, sure, but you still have to spend a lot of time learning how to do it. And that costs money.

Even in spec series you can be outspent. Outspent on time, experience. The guys with big budgets in spec club racing are out there every weekend doing laps, and they get quicker for it.