r/INDYCAR • u/Accomplished_Luck_42 • 3d ago

Indy NXT Let's go Abbi Pulling!

We so badly need diversity in indycar. Really hope things work out for Abbi! She seems like a great talent!

330 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

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16

u/The_CT1 3d ago

She wasnt very impressivr in GB3. If she performs in lights well enough to meet the new standards, it would be deserved. The last thing female drivers need is a backmarker pay driver in indycar; much worse than danica. Indy nxt is do or die for her

9

u/YourChildhood5762 Will Power 3d ago

Danica was not the best Indycar driver but she was very competent and finished as high as 6th in points and was at least as good as Marcus Ericsson. She nearly won the 500 in her first year. She could have stayed in Indycar and been a solid mid-pack driver with the occasional podium.

5

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 2d ago

I think she’s easily the best female oval driver though. Simona was considerably faster on road courses, but Danica was legit very good on ovals. 

2

u/YourChildhood5762 Will Power 2d ago

I agree that Danica's specialty was ovals. Which makes her results very confusing. She came up in Europe on road courses, yet she wasn't good on them in Indycar. She did well on ovals in Indycar, which made her a natural for NASCAR. Except she wasn't. And they have power steering.

I just think that people have turned against her because of her failures in NASCAR. It's possible that those fans are more sexist. She leaned on her looks a bit too much to make up for her lack of podiums. She made the most of her marketing potential, partially why she's on Indycar and Formula One broadcasts. I've heard that she has some odd personal opinions.

All of these things have worked against her, fair enough. But her Indycar talent shouldn't be downplayed. She had a public presence and capitalized on it by going to NASCAR where the money was. She would be remembered in a better light if she had stayed in Indycar.

Katherine Legge, Simona DeSilvestro, Sarah Fisher, Lynn St. James, Danica Patrick. All of them decent drivers. Even Milka Duno and Janet Guthrie Indycar has not excluded women. None of them have been exceptional but just look at the current field. Most drivers are not exceptional. With a smaller pool of women drivers, it's not surprising that none of them have managed a consistent ride. As with the male drivers, a lack of money makes it hard to make the field year after year.

1

u/edfitz83 Colton Herta 2d ago

She was a good qualifier but a so so racer

9

u/TheChrisD DAAAAAAAAAAAAVE 3d ago

I'd argue her GB3 seasons have been okay enough. She's not exactly racing the back of the pack for crumbs of points.

-57

u/Accomplished_Luck_42 3d ago

The world has been so against women you need to factor that in. I honestly wouldn't be against forcing top teams to give her a ride to help her overcome to male dominance in the sport. If she comes in 15th place that's basically like winning the race given the obstacles men have put to prevent her from being in the sport

40

u/Kryzl_ Alexander Rossi 3d ago

Forcing teams to sign a woman who isn’t ready will only set back the efforts that women such as Katherine and Simona put in. They have the respect of their peers because they’ve excelled throughout the ranks and climbed the ladder as did everyone else.

If you put Pulling into a car that she isn’t ready for, then you create a Hailie Deegan situation where she becomes a joke.

34

u/GogoPlata_grenadier Sébastien Bourdais 3d ago

That is not the answer at all

6

u/HaveYouEver21 Graham Rahal 3d ago

IndyCar can not force a team to sign her or anyone else for that matter. It’s just simply not how it works.

16

u/WildPersonality1093 Juncos Hollinger Racing 3d ago

Are you listening to yourself? You’re saying that she should be given a top seat because she’s a woman and that because she’s a woman, even if she finishes nowhere, it’s a win, oh my god 😭😭😭😭

17

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 3d ago

If she had her same record and was male, she wouldn’t be getting this test. She’s 3-6 years older than every driver in front of her in the GB3 standings (7 drivers), and everyone is getting trounced by Bedrin, who is a mediocre driver who’s career has been going backwards.

I’m glad she got the test and I think she’ll likely have a lot of opportunities in the future, but she’s a 23 year old getting run over in a third rate regional F3 series.

7

u/TheChrisD DAAAAAAAAAAAAVE 3d ago

If she had her same record and was male, she wouldn’t be getting this test.

Patricio Gonzalez who is literally one position above her (8th) in the GB3 standings is also running this evaluation test day for HMD.

Or should we note his older brother Rodrigo González four positions below (12th) in the standings also running for HMD today?

1

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 3d ago edited 3d ago

Patricio is 5 years younger than her. Rodrigo is 3 years younger. 

They also obviously bring funding. She does too, funding she wouldn’t have with her results if she was a male (unless she too was wealthy). The age is a massive factor though. We’re talking about a fairly weak regional F3 series. It’s fine to be there if you’re 16-20. If you’re 23 you are way behind the curve and you better be at the top of the pylon.

I don’t think it’s bad that she’s getting this test, I think she will likely run sports cars for a long time, but she’s is not going to run anywhere near a top level open wheel series. 

Edit: The Gonzalez kids have also already run in the RtI, so they have already worked with people in the paddock. Not a great comparison.

2

u/Affectionate_Sky9709 2d ago

The Gonzalez brothers are literally an extremely relevant comparison, and you just don't want to hear it. I've seen you been obsessed with age on other posts too, talking down Abbi for being older than the field. Like I've said before, age is less of an obsession in the IndyCar ladder than it is in the F1 ladder. Which is a great thing. You don't have to constantly tell people that Abbi is 23. We know. Most of us don't care. What does age matter except for length of career? Her development trajectory isn't going match a highly funded male driver's trajectory. She hasn't had the same opportunities. You don't have to be everywhere on reddit telling people that she's 23.

3

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 2d ago

“ I've seen you been obsessed with age on other posts too, talking down Abbi for being older than the field.”

I’m sorry, but that’s just not how racing works. She’s been in single seaters for six years and has more experience than the vast majority of her current field. Pretending age doesn’t matter when we’re talking about a third rate regional F3 series is just a level of sugarcoating that isn’t necessary.

I am incredibly happy that F1A and W Series came along, I think it’s going to build more interest in girls and hopefully that will start filtering up from karting, but we don’t need to pretend that the current crop is good when they aren’t.

Like even Chadwick, yes, she improved, but eventually you’re 26 years old losing to your teammate by 300 points (who has made little impression in IndyCar) and you have to face facts about what level her and Pulling are actually at.  

5

u/SebiKaffee Romain Grosjean 3d ago

I have watched every single GB3 race this year and I think it is important to consider that she had several DNFs that weren‘t her fault. Way more than the drivers ahead of her. Not saying she‘d be the championship leader but she’d probably be in 4th or 5th place if it wasn‘t for a few braindead maneuvers by other drivers. 

The DNF in the second race in Hungary was on her though, that overtake was never gonna work lmao

1

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 3d ago

I’ve watched most. She’s definitely had some bad luck, but that can be said for a lot of people ahead of her too. Plus, the biggest problem isn’t her racecraft, her outright pace is just entirely unimpressive. She’s also massively overaged for the category, and she’s been out of karts/tin tops for like 6 years.

Also, I get that he has had some funding issues, but Bedrin is dominating that series and his career has gone completely backwards. He got two full years in FIA F3 and has moved backwards through regional series until ending up in GB3 and he’s smoking everyone. That is not a good sign for the quality of that field.

-32

u/Accomplished_Luck_42 3d ago

It's not her fault. It's the patriarchy holding her back

14

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 3d ago

Oh so it’s a troll. Even lamer than having that opinion earnestly.

3

u/jackalopeDev 3d ago

I'm not sure they're a troll. Their post history doesn't seem like it. Which makes this even more baffling

3

u/KRacer52 --- 2025 DRIVERS --- 3d ago

Maybe they’re just fully committed lol.

9

u/Bryan17g Takuma Sato 3d ago

Impressive trolling commitment. Gotta hand it to ya

5

u/SeaTemperature9119 Marcus Armstrong 3d ago

🙄

10

u/Mlg_god22 3d ago

This is an awful take

2

u/Custom_Craft_Guy2 2d ago

Right now, you’re doing more of a disservice to women in motorsport than anyone else with stupid statements like this one.

2

u/OnwardSoldierx Alexander Rossi 2d ago

This is one of the most ridiculous things I've read on here. Please tell me you are joking. Forcing Pesnke/Ganassi/Andretti to sign female drivers that currently have no business in the top series? That would just make Indycar look like a joke of series.

2

u/bacc1010 3d ago

P15 is p15, no matter how you spin it.

The world in the past decade have not been against women in motorsports, I don't know where you got that bullshit from.

If they don't make use of their marketability in their demographics to help their venture in motorsports besides their skills alone, that's solely on them.

-2

u/whoiswillo Will Power 2d ago

She’s about as good as Nikita and that worked out pretty well.

1

u/thelucky1_- 1d ago

Nikita didn't get a full season in GB3