Posted at 5:15 a.m., Friday, June 8, 2007
Danica vs. Dan stirs auto racing debate
By Sarah Rothschild
McClatchy Newspapers
Danica vs. Dan: Round 2.
Less than a week after Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon's on-track incident and post-race confrontation at the Milwaukee Mile, the Indy Racing League is capitalizing on the feuding stars, and so are race promoters, entering tomorrow's Bombardier Learjet 550k at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
The IRL did not punish Patrick for her pit road shove of Wheldon, and the conflict continued to brew. Wheldon, who was terse during their heated exchange after the race, took verbal jabs this week at the winless Andretti Green driver, calling her unprofessional and a "spoiled brat." Other drivers chimed in too.
"I'm putting my money on Danica in this fight between her and Wheldon," Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter said.
On Lap 88 on Sunday, Patrick tried to pass Wheldon, but he dropped to the inside, cutting her off. The right front wing of Patrick's car touched the left rear wheel of Wheldon's car, causing her to spin out. Their contact resulted in damage to the suspension of Patrick's car, which cost her time in the pits and took her out of contention to win.
An angered Patrick, who finished eighth, became more incensed by Wheldon's apparent lack of interest in discussing the incident.
"I told him, 'I don't know why you're being like this, but if you don't think I'm going to remember, you're crazy,' " she said after the race.
Wheldon, who finished third, countered: "She's probably feeling the pressure of not winning races when her (Andretti Green) teammates are. She's messing with the wrong person if she wants to get feisty."
Wheldon claimed that Patrick tried to take advantage of her gender with her pit road outburst.
"She blames everybody for everything right now because she's under pressure," Wheldon said on ESPN's Pardon the Interruption on Tuesday.
Patrick, who has become testy about her failure to win a race in 36 starts and has become adept at deflecting questions, shrugged off the controversy before an autograph session at Texas Motor Speedway and insisted she owed no apology to Wheldon.
Wheldon, on the other hand, said he is open to discussing the incident further with Patrick and surmised she feels "silly about the situation." He conceded that the publicity of the scuffle reflects the "sad state of affairs" of the IRL.
