Only Danica can add punch to Indy 500
In a valiant, last-ditch effort to breathe life into the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick dropped her gloves and marched angrily down pit road on a collision course toward Ryan Briscoe.
This was drama, something that was in short supply Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Scott Dixon's dominant, yellow-flag-slowed victory generated the kind of buzz and excitement usually reserved for second-place finishers in a regional bowling tournament. So far, IndyCar unity is overrated.
Sunday's race needed a blast of hostility, and Danica Patrick wanted to provide it.
She picked the right target. Briscoe deserved a good smack. With 29 laps to go and the leaders exiting the pits, he jumped lanes and clipped the only IndyCar driver who matters as she accelerated to re-enter the race and close out a potential top-five finish.
"It was pretty obvious what happened," Patrick fumed. "You just don't come out of your pit box and swing three lanes out. That's why there is a speed lane and a get-up-to-speed lane. I was at speed."
With helmet on and gloves off, she stomped toward Briscoe's car at proper speed, too. Unfortunately, Charles Burns, head of security for the IRL, made the same mistake as Briscoe, cutting Patrick off and redirecting her before she could make the Indy 500 America's No. 1 news story.
Stupid!
Who was she going to hurt? And how was Ryan Briscoe going to hurt her? Nothing was going to happen, other than a highlight moment that would drive discussion and interest in open-wheel racing for a couple of weeks. More at the Austin American-Statesman