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Danica Patrick already had left all those comparisons to Anna Kournikova in the dust. Now she's more liable to be likened to that ornery ol' cuss, A.J. Foyt.
Patrick didn't win Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Didn't even come close, really. But she certainly managed to remain the center of attention after a pit road accident left her strutting menacingly toward a rival driver's pit stall.
"It's probably a better idea that I didn't make it all the way down there anyway," Patrick said. "Because, well, as you guys know, I'm a little emotional."
After a late-race run-in with Ryan Briscoe on pit road, Patrick climbed out of her car and seemed to be on her way to a confrontation with Briscoe's pit crew. Patrick's gloves literally had come off by the time track security managed to talk her out of it.
Scott Dixon went on to win, but Patrick's outburst instantly became the most memorable moment from Sunday's race — and the latest chapter in a cult of personality that is developing around the IndyCar series' hottest commodity.
Patrick was the story of the month at Indy after becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race last month, earning her a wave of mainstream media exposure in the weeks leading up to the biggest race of the season.
To many, Patrick's win in Japan was proof enough that she wasn't a racing version of Kournikova, the Russian tennis player known for having a pretty face and no singles game.
A win at Indy, however, might catapult Patrick into a marketing and media stratosphere currently enjoyed by the likes of Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning. And it could help IndyCar gain back some of the fans it lost to NASCAR during an ugly schism in open-wheel racing that lasted more than a decade and wasn't resolved until earlier this year.
Alas, Patrick, her fans, and the corporate interests counting on her stardom will have to wait until next year.
Things weren't going well for Patrick on Sunday, even before the crash.
"I just didn't feel fast. I didn't have a lot of speed," Patrick said. "We were making the best of it. I really, really had to be on my toes through the corners."
Patrick spent much of the afternoon giving her own crew members an earful, complaining about her car over the radio. At one point, she protested loudly: "I am SLOW! I am DAMN SLOW!"
Still, Patrick was running in the top 10 when she came into the pits with 29 laps to go. She was driving down the pit lane when Briscoe swerved out of his pit and touched wheels with Patrick, snapping her rear suspension and ending her race.
Now it remains to be seen whether Patrick and Briscoe will work out their differences heading into next Sunday's race in Milwaukee.
"If he doesn't come to me within a certain amount of time, rest assured I'll talk to him about it," Patrick said.
Briscoe was convinced Patrick had plenty of room to move over and didn't seem apologetic.
"I'm not here to get in fights and rumbles," Briscoe said. "We can sort it out nice and quietly, but I'm sure as soon as she sees the replay she'll understand that she's out of line."
The Patrick-Briscoe dustup was one of several incidents in a crash-filled race. The other juicy confrontation involved Tony Kanaan, who blamed teammate Marco Andretti after he went from leading the race to crashing out of it just past halfway.
But Dixon managed to stay away from all the mayhem and take the checkered flag.
He joked he almost crashed while celebrating on the cool-down lap.
"I was definitely yelling a lot on the radio and punching my fist in the air," Dixon said. "I think I took out nearly three cars on the cool-down lap that were trying to go around me because I was going so slow."
Dixon, a likable but soft-spoken driver from New Zealand, doesn't deliver the mainstream sizzle that a win by Patrick would have. But it certainly was deserved after Dixon qualified on the pole and was consistently fast in practice all month.
"It's nice to see the fastest car win," said Meira, who finished 1.75 seconds behind, driving for the one-car, low-budget Panther Racing team.
Dixon has been fast since the start of the IndyCar season, winning the first race of the year at Homestead-Miami Speedway and leading laps in two of the other three races heading into Indy — including the Japan race Patrick won after Dixon and other leaders had to pit for fuel late in the race.
"I think the team has been unstoppable, almost, over the first five races," Dixon said. "It's nice to be aggressive, nice to have the confidence level and even better to come away with a win like this."
Team owner Chip Ganassi said Dixon's quiet demeanor shouldn't be mistaken for a lack of passion about racing.
"That quietness, people confuse that with (not) caring about things," Ganassi said. "You know, it's a relief to know that really wasn't what it was — it was a quiet confidence that sort of is his trademark. That's a powerful tool."
Source: AP