Wednesday, July 13, 2005
AUTO RACING PACKAGE: IRL rookie Danica Patrick pleased with progress
The Associated Press
Some people are disappointed that Danica Patrick hasn't yet won a race, but the IRL IndyCar Series rookie isn't one of them.
``I'd have to give myself a pretty darn good grade so far,'' the 23-year-old Patrick said. ``I think I've adapted well to the situations. I feel comfortable in traffic more and more all the time.
``The only times I feel uncomfortable is when the car is off. That's normal. Everybody's going to feel like that.''
Going into Saturday night's race at Nashville Speedway - the ninth race of the season - Patrick is a respectable 10th in the points.
Her two fourth-place finishes - including one in the May 29 Indianapolis 500 - and four top-10 finishes already have eclipsed the results of several rookies who went on to win rookie of the year honors.
Among her accomplishments:
- She has led the most laps of any rookie since Tomas Scheckter in 2002.
- At Kansas on July 2, Patrick led IndyCar qualifying, joining Sarah Fisher as the only women to win poles in the IRL and becoming the first rookie to win a pole since Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Vitor Meira did it in October 2002.
- Patrick's season is on par with that of 2003's top rookie, Dan Wheldon, the current series points leader who had a breakout season in 2004, including his first three victories and a runner-up finish to champion Tony Kanaan. Wheldon's first win came in his 19th start.
Three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, who serves as a driver coach and pace car driver for the IRL, said Patrick has all the tools needed to be a winning driver.
``She has excellent hand-eye coordination. She proved that at Indy when she saved the car a couple times in dangerous situations,'' Rutherford said. ``She has that look in her eyes. That's the thing that jumps out at you. It's that little extra spark; that passion for racing that you look for in a winner.''
Winning, though, has proven to be tough for rookies in the IndyCar Series, especially lately. Just three true rookies have won in their maiden season in the series, and two of the wins, Buzz Calkins' win at Walt Disney World in 1996 and Jim Guthrie's win at Phoenix in 1997, were claimed during the series' infancy. The last rookie to win a race was Scheckter at Michigan Speedway in July 2002.
Patrick isn't worried about statistics, though. She's all business.
``We've worked well as a team,'' she said. ``I think that my driving is becoming much more precise and much more calculated. I feel like I'm maturing pretty well as a driver.
``I think, when the car is right, I can do a pretty good job,'' Patrick added. ``I think I'm doing a good job. I think if I wasn't, people would be telling me.''
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YOUNGER GUNS: NASCAR's Roush Racing is setting up a driver development program that will concentrate on young minority drivers.
Under the guidance of Roush chief diversity officer Sam Belnavis, Jack Roush's team, which has five entries in Nextel Cup and also races in the Busch and Craftsman Truck series, will run youngsters in the Hooters Cup series, Legends and late model stocks.
Already signed are Jason Simmons, 17, of Philadelphia; Mark Davis, 15, of Mitchellville, Md., and Kevin Pollard, 14, of Jamestown, N.Y. Belnavis said at least one more youngster will be signed before the program begins in 2006.
``We're calling it our `Young Stunnaz' program,'' Belnavis said Sunday at Chicagoland. ``It's a way to identify talented young drivers and move them into the pipeline to the top levels of the sport.''
---
WORKING HARD: Bruton Smith, president of Speedway Motorsports Inc., the company that owns several racetracks including Atlanta Motor Speedway, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the tornado-battered track outside Atlanta would be ``as ready as possible'' for the Cup race scheduled Oct. 30.
A tornado estimated at a half-mile wide swept through the speedway last week, leaving an estimated $40 million of damage in its wake.
``We have close to 300 people out there working and eight or 10 construction companies that all have lots of experience and have worked with us before,'' said Smith, whose company also owns and operates tracks in Charlotte, Las Vegas, Texas, Bristol, Tenn., and Sonoma, Calif.
``It's not a war, but it's certainly a battle,'' Smith added. ``It's just something we have to do and we're going to get it done.''
Smith said there is ``absolutely no truth'' to the rumor circulating Sunday in the Chicagoland garage area that he wanted to swap weekends with Texas Motor Speedway, which has a race scheduled Nov. 6, in order to buy a little more time for repairs to the track in Hampton, Ga.
``That would be playing games with our fans and we don't want to do that,'' Smith said. ``People plan vacations and make hotel reservations and buy tickets for a certain weekend and we're not going to change that.''
Source
Some people are disappointed that Danica Patrick hasn't yet won a race, but the IRL IndyCar Series rookie isn't one of them.
``I'd have to give myself a pretty darn good grade so far,'' the 23-year-old Patrick said. ``I think I've adapted well to the situations. I feel comfortable in traffic more and more all the time.
``The only times I feel uncomfortable is when the car is off. That's normal. Everybody's going to feel like that.''
Going into Saturday night's race at Nashville Speedway - the ninth race of the season - Patrick is a respectable 10th in the points.
Her two fourth-place finishes - including one in the May 29 Indianapolis 500 - and four top-10 finishes already have eclipsed the results of several rookies who went on to win rookie of the year honors.
Among her accomplishments:
- She has led the most laps of any rookie since Tomas Scheckter in 2002.
- At Kansas on July 2, Patrick led IndyCar qualifying, joining Sarah Fisher as the only women to win poles in the IRL and becoming the first rookie to win a pole since Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Vitor Meira did it in October 2002.
- Patrick's season is on par with that of 2003's top rookie, Dan Wheldon, the current series points leader who had a breakout season in 2004, including his first three victories and a runner-up finish to champion Tony Kanaan. Wheldon's first win came in his 19th start.
Three-time Indy 500 winner Johnny Rutherford, who serves as a driver coach and pace car driver for the IRL, said Patrick has all the tools needed to be a winning driver.
``She has excellent hand-eye coordination. She proved that at Indy when she saved the car a couple times in dangerous situations,'' Rutherford said. ``She has that look in her eyes. That's the thing that jumps out at you. It's that little extra spark; that passion for racing that you look for in a winner.''
Winning, though, has proven to be tough for rookies in the IndyCar Series, especially lately. Just three true rookies have won in their maiden season in the series, and two of the wins, Buzz Calkins' win at Walt Disney World in 1996 and Jim Guthrie's win at Phoenix in 1997, were claimed during the series' infancy. The last rookie to win a race was Scheckter at Michigan Speedway in July 2002.
Patrick isn't worried about statistics, though. She's all business.
``We've worked well as a team,'' she said. ``I think that my driving is becoming much more precise and much more calculated. I feel like I'm maturing pretty well as a driver.
``I think, when the car is right, I can do a pretty good job,'' Patrick added. ``I think I'm doing a good job. I think if I wasn't, people would be telling me.''
---
YOUNGER GUNS: NASCAR's Roush Racing is setting up a driver development program that will concentrate on young minority drivers.
Under the guidance of Roush chief diversity officer Sam Belnavis, Jack Roush's team, which has five entries in Nextel Cup and also races in the Busch and Craftsman Truck series, will run youngsters in the Hooters Cup series, Legends and late model stocks.
Already signed are Jason Simmons, 17, of Philadelphia; Mark Davis, 15, of Mitchellville, Md., and Kevin Pollard, 14, of Jamestown, N.Y. Belnavis said at least one more youngster will be signed before the program begins in 2006.
``We're calling it our `Young Stunnaz' program,'' Belnavis said Sunday at Chicagoland. ``It's a way to identify talented young drivers and move them into the pipeline to the top levels of the sport.''
---
WORKING HARD: Bruton Smith, president of Speedway Motorsports Inc., the company that owns several racetracks including Atlanta Motor Speedway, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that the tornado-battered track outside Atlanta would be ``as ready as possible'' for the Cup race scheduled Oct. 30.
A tornado estimated at a half-mile wide swept through the speedway last week, leaving an estimated $40 million of damage in its wake.
``We have close to 300 people out there working and eight or 10 construction companies that all have lots of experience and have worked with us before,'' said Smith, whose company also owns and operates tracks in Charlotte, Las Vegas, Texas, Bristol, Tenn., and Sonoma, Calif.
``It's not a war, but it's certainly a battle,'' Smith added. ``It's just something we have to do and we're going to get it done.''
Smith said there is ``absolutely no truth'' to the rumor circulating Sunday in the Chicagoland garage area that he wanted to swap weekends with Texas Motor Speedway, which has a race scheduled Nov. 6, in order to buy a little more time for repairs to the track in Hampton, Ga.
``That would be playing games with our fans and we don't want to do that,'' Smith said. ``People plan vacations and make hotel reservations and buy tickets for a certain weekend and we're not going to change that.''
Source
# posted by Scott Fish @ 4:55 PM 
