Danica Patrick

A sample of opinions from the media center at the Indianaplolis Motor Speedway regarding Danica Patrick’s prospects in Sunday’s 90th running of the Indy 500.\r\n\r\nJim Pedley, Kansas City Star

“I do think she can win it. She’s getting stronger as the week progresses. She was good in practice Friday. I think she could hook the win at the end of the race. It’s going to be a weird day. It’s going to be hot and it will be a green track.”

Mike Harris, Associated Press

“I think she has a serious shot at a Top Ten. If she’s lucky, she might end up with a Top Five. I don’t think she can win. If all the stars and the planets align, she might have a chance.”

Nancy Knapp Schilke, motorsport.com

“Danica drives with her head. She’ll be consistent and stay in the Top Ten and then at the end she’ll go for it. She doesn’t ever expect anything to be given to her.”

Tim Tuttle, Road & Track

“Her prospects are mediocre. She needs to have a perfect race — no blown pit stops, no mistakes on the track and some attrition by other teams. A Top Ten would be a good day. She’s really up against it with the Panoz chassis.”

Elton Alexander, Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Her chances are better than most would giver her. At some point I think she’ll be in the lead because that’s how the Rahal team plays its strategy, just like last year. Last year she inherited an opportunity to win. But at some point this year they’ll have to run fast to get the win.”

Mike Vega, Boston Globe

“Her chances are not as good as last year based on the chassis set-up. The weather is a big variable. The race could come to her just like it did to Al Unser Jr. in 1992. Danica will be there ready to strike, but Sam Hornish is going to be tough to beat.”

John Sturbin, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

“I think she’s going to be hard-pressed to duplicate anything she did last year. I don’t think her car is capable of running up front. The chassis has been a dog here all month despite the best efforts of Rahal Letterman Racing. I don’t even think she’ll have a Top Ten. The casual fans will be disappointed, but it won’t bother her racing fans.”

Fred Nation, Executive Vice President, Communications, Indianapolis Motor Speedway

“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the best track for Danica Patrick to win a race in my opinion. She’s demonstrated her ability here. The long straightaways and the length of the race are to her advantage. Even if it’s a demanding race it’s not as physically draining as some road course and some shorter ovals. She really has demonstrated here that she knows the line to get around this track very quickly and how to run in the tight traffic we have in parts of the race. Most importantly she has shown she has luck here and that’s part of what it takes to win. One of the many traditions at Indy is that it’s hard to come back two years in a row after a good rookie start. Her speed is down, but it’s consistent with her teammates, who are darn good drivers.”

Holly Cain, Seattle Post Intelligencer

“I don’t know if they have the right combination with the chassis. I don’t think they’ll win it. But I think she’ll be up top and stands a chance to win with a few breaks. She’ll have a good Top Ten or maybe a Top Five. But there may be too many good cars.”

Larry Woody, Nashville Tennessean

“I think anything out of the Top Five would be a downer. I expect her to be in the Top Five at the end and a contender for the win. She doesn’t want to be considered a fluke. She took a lot of pride in what she accomplished last year and doesn’t want some fat, bald sportswriter to be able to say it was a fluke.”

Angelique Chengelis, Detroit News

“I actually think she’s going to struggle. I like the depth of the field with Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. back in it again. The Penske guys have too much for everybody. I think Danica will be more in the middle of the pack. That’s not gender-based. It’s based on the car.”

Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

“It’s going to be really difficult to match what she did last year. Going the distance and finishing in the Top Ten is the best she can do.”

Bill Center, San Diego Union

“I don’t think they are near as good as last year. I don’t hear anybody saying she can win, because she’s not the fastest like she was last year, whether it be the Panoz or the fact everybody has the Honda engine.”

Tom Archdeacon, Dayton Daily News

“I don’t think she’ll do as well as last year. But she’s got a lot more experience. She’s got more of an edge to her and she’s not taking crap from anybody, whether it’s Richard Petty or anybody else. Her equipment is not as good this year, but it wouldn’t surprise me if she was a contender. She doesn’t cower in front of the king.”

Al Tays, Palm Beach Post

“I think her fan following will stay intact. They are believers. The only way she can win is if things work out with a pit strategy so that’s she’s in the right place at the right time like last year.”

Steve Hummer, The Atlanta-Journal-Constitution

“Its the first time in her career that Danica has been accused of having a bad chassis. She will not win unless she car-jacks a better ride.”

Denise Melilli, Crain’s Cleveland Business

“I think she’ll acquit herself. I don’t think she’ll win. If she has a good solid car like she said today (Friday), she’ll acquit herself. She won’t have the stellar race like last year, but she’ll stay at the front of the field and stay up there with the big guys.”

Dean McNulty, Tonronto Sun

“Danica doesn’t have to apologize to anyone let alone Richard Petty, who hasn’t won a race since Reagan’s first term. I think she’ll do well. She’s a lock for the Top Ten.”

Anne Proffit, Race Engine Technology Magazine

“I think she’ll run in the top 15 most of the day. And maybe in the Top Ten. I think she has the car smarts and won’t screw up like last year. She’s better at re-starts, pit stops and has better car control than she did last year. She knows what the car can do a lot better than she used to. There’s no substitute for experience.”

Lewis Franck, Reuters

“It’s a crap shoot due to the weather. Anything’s possible. It’s a complete bizarro-superman world when it comes to the chassis. We may have one of those races where the wrong chassis may be the right one. It would not surprise me if she won, a Top Ten for sure.”

Chuck Givler, Easton Express Times, Newhouse Publications

“I think she’s under more pressure this year to do well. She’s heard the comments that she blew it last year. She had a lot of attention but didn’t win a race. I predict she won’t do as well as last year. The field is stronger, everybody has the Honda engine. Luck is so involved and things may not go quite the way they did last year.”

Hiko Amano, Racing On (Tokyo)

“Considering the fact the Panoz is not doing well, it’s going to be difficult to equal the performance of last year even if she is a much better driver.”

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Long known for fickle changes in weather because it sits on an open plain, Indianapolis is about to undergo a radical change in the conditions that will affect the 90th running of the Indy 500. It will be hot and humid during Sunday’s race, radically different from the cool, damp weather during practice and qualifying earlier in the month of May.

That’s good news for Rahal Letterman Racing and for Danica Patrick. Unable to give chase to the fastest teams owned by Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi and Michael Andretti, Rahal Letterman Racing had to hope changing conditions or race circumstances would bring its team back into the frame. With a hot track sloppy with oil, tire rubber and humidity anticipated, all teams will have to re-think their cars’ suspensions and aerodynamic settings for Sunday. Some will guess right, others will not and that opens a new window of opportunity for Patrick.

Patrick was cautious about predicting that hot weather may bring better options after qualifying tenth last week. “Let’s hope its’ not something else we’re up against this month,” she said on Thursday. The team’s speed deficit results from a desultory Panoz chassis, one so discouraging that Rahal Letterman has already received new Dallaras at its shops in Ohio and will switch chassis next month prior to the Indy Racing League event in Texas. Not enough time was available to make the change at Indy, where it won with the Panoz in 2004 with Buddy Rice at the wheel. Last year, Vitor Meira (second) and Patrick (fourth) showed well aboard the Panoz chassis.

This year has been far more difficult in the run-up to the race versus the fast speeds (including Rice’s pole) in the previous months of May in 2004 and 2005. Clearly, a new underwing design allowed by IRL officials for 2005 continues to hamper the Panoz chassis, which has a small window for its maximum performance due to balance issues when teams adjust the aerodynamics. While Dallara has proved faster and better to adjust on the big superspeedway, the Panoz has not performed as well and has less information for its engineers due to only one team running its cars.

The aerodynamic problem also makes it difficult for drivers to control the Panoz if it gets out of kilter, i.e. it breaks loose quickly if it loses traction. (One reason why rookie driver Jeff Simmons has had four crashes since joining the team as a replacement for the fatally injured Paul Dana and why Buddy Rice crashed once again this year at Indy during practice.)

Relaxed and engaging during Thursday’s media meetings, Patrick talked about her approach for Sunday’s race. “Success will be for me to get the most out of the race car and the most out of myself,” she said. Patience, she added, will be her best ally.

“The most important thing to do is be patient and don’t do anything stupid on the first lap or in the opening laps or even in the first 100 laps. The first 250 miles means you’re still only half way.”

The strategy? Stay with the leaders at Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. If that’s not possible? “We might try something a little different if we’re off,” said Patrick. That means radical chassis adjustments on pit stops, or an alternate pit strategy for track position and perhaps another fuel mileage gambit like last year.

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The going has been tough for Danica at Indy, according to Dave Anderson of The New York Times.

“Things are not going well at the speedway. …Her publicist has given her a factoid to use: The average Indy-car driver wins for the first time on the 33rd try. Patrick pointed out in an interview last week that her 33rd race would not come until next season. “People should just keep it in perspective,” she said. “I don’t think I’m going to lose fans if I don’t live up to expectations.”

GoUpstate.com: Enormous expectations for Patrick

But by all means stay tuned, says Tony Fabrizio: “Nothing about Patrick’s 2006 season suggests she can’t be a factor at Indy. She qualified third at Homestead but didn’t race because Rahal Letterman withdrew its cars in respect of [fatally injured Paul] Dana. She finished sixth at St. Pete, which was her best effort on a street or road course. She finished eighth at Motegi, Japan, after starting near the back because qualifying was rained out.”

IndyStar.com: Tracking Indy’s status

It’s a good chance many will be watching for how it turns out. That may help sustain the upward trend of TV viewers started by Patrick’s performance last year, as charted by Phillip B. Wilson of the Indianapolis Star. The Indy 500 bottomed in 2000 according to this quintdrennial (or every five years) chart. This one is fairly interesting when comparing the good ol’ days at Indy (as open wheel race fans seem to view them) versus the good ol’ Kentucky Derby and the now omnipresent Super Bowl. Then there’s that NASCAR thing going on as well.

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Whatever happened to Danica Mania?

After she qualified tenth at Indy, Danica Patrick rated one paragraph in one of the paragons of motor racing coverage, USA Today. This would be the same paper that had Barbaro on the front page, the same horse that was also the headliner in the sports section’s regular media column. Meanwhile, Preakness winner Bernardini was the major story on the “racing” page, i.e. both horse and motor types.

This is the life when one lives in what Sports Illustrated has dubbed the “celebrity industrial complex.” You get replaced by a horse that wins the Kentucky Derby and then breaks a leg at the start of the Preakness. This happens if you haven’t threatened to win anything lately, which in Patrick’s case means winning the pole at Chicago last September and leading the first lap.

The general fan enthusiasm, led by the adolescent girls publishers are wooing with various books on Danica, wanes when there’s no improvement in scores, i.e. better than fourth at Indy last year. Then there’s the group that never took a shine to a woman doing well at Indy, the group that points out that Danica hasn’t won anything yet.(As usual, the stance by this writer is that Patrick will win, likely on a schedule similar to other up-and-coming drivers.)

There’s an old attitude in racing that “if a woman can do it, it must not be very difficult, or even worth doing.” It was the fear of getting tarnished with this brush stroke that established so many barriers for Janet Guthrie among a segment of the racing population. When Danica improved on Janet’s barrier breaking by taking the lead at Indy in the late stages, the same less than rational response set in among some diehard racing fans.

So for Patrick, it’s time to settle in for the long haul. The Mania won’t return until she wins a race, if then. The approval from a majority of racing fans won’t happen until she wins a race. And finally, for some a victory will only prove the Indy Racing League is for sissies. The flip side of this latter perception that the current IRL cars must be easy to drive at 228 mph per lap at Indy, even if two-time race winner Helio Castroneves of the vaunted Penske Racing team says he turns purple from holding his breath in qualifying.

There’s no rule that says the “celebrity industrial complex” and racing fans have to be rational. So what do you do if you’re in charge at the IRL, which by now must recognize there needs to be another way forward with the waxing of Patrick’s coattails into a slippery slope.

Something needs to be done. In another sampling on another segment in the media spectrum, while traveling across the Midwest en route to Indy there was not a single mention of the impending Indy 500 qualifying (admittedly postponed a week by rain) on the radio. Check that. The ABC News network, the same broadcast company that has the rights to broadcast the Indy 500, mentioned the impending qualifying at the tail end of its report on the Preakness and the NBA playoffs, plus Major League baseball. All this in America’s breadbasket and the regional home of the Indy 500.

All the airwaves were awash, however, in the latest American sports fad of horse racing. This follows on the coattails of the gambling craze that has swept America before the Sept. 11 attacks and has accelerated since then. The saga of Barbaro, and his now famous surgeon Dr. Dean Richardson, will do little to decrease the interest in the sport of kings. (One irony here: Tony Hulman bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway after the track had gone to seed during World War II and revived it in part to give Indiana something to brag about versus the Kentucky Derby.)
Parimutual wagering, needless to say, is not ever going to be possible for motor racing in general and the IRL specifically. So the latter, which continues to look wimpy on many fronts versus NASCAR, needs to press forward with something other than a former rock band front man’s idea of a promotion theme. (The same one used by the YMCA — which apparently had it first.)

In place of the rather inocuous “I am Indy” campaign, the IRL’s owner and founder, Tony George, has to count his losses since founding the new series ten years ago — which now includes losing Danica Mania. Then, George needs to broker a deal with rival Champ Car that creates a merger — a topic already covered in this space previously and countless other locations across the electronic and print universe.

I hestitate to say “unification” since this would be a business deal more than anything else, hence a merger. Along these lines, George has to accept that the owners of Champ Car, bought out of bankruptcy two years ago, will come out ahead on the business deal. They have fewer losses than George due to a shorter term of investment and will gain as much as George going forward in any equitably drawn deal. In the long run, this is better than falling further behind NASCAR and possibly, ye gads, a sport where the participants actually use horsepower. There’s one message that will work going forward, which justifies the cost of a merger: “We are Indy.”

I do not hesitate to point out such a merger would bring Champ Car driver Katherine Legge to the Indy 500…

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As suspected, Danica Patrick was concentrating on race set-up during the first week of practice, which led to a solid third row starting position on the first day of qualifying. On Wednesday, Patrick was quickest of all drivers as most of the 22 qualified drivers continued to work on race set-up. She lapped the famed 2.5-mile oval in 40.6891 seconds. Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon was second fastest with a lap of 220.556 mph while Team Penske’s Sam Hornish Jr. was third.

Patrick’s Andretti Green Racing teammates Marco Andretti and Dario Franchitti rounded out the top five.

Chart of the fastest laps on days when a cash bonus is paid:

Date      Driver                Speed

May 9    Dan Wheldon    226.391 mph

May 10   Scott Dixon     226.473 mph

May 11   Scott Dixon     227.167 mph

May 16   Danica Patrick 221.189 mph

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http://motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=253101

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/irl/2007-05-16-indy-practice_N.htm

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Is Danica Patrick just a celebrated figment of the media’s imagination?

Because Patrick gets special treatment from the media, which is satisfying a demand by viewers and readers interested in her story, Danica’s detractors ask constantly, ‘What has Danica done? She’s never won a race.’

The Indanapolis Motor Speedway publishes a list of drivers who have led laps in the Indy 500. Relatively, it’s a short list. Patrick’s name is on it.

The Speedway also has a list of drivers who have set the fastest lap of the month at Indy. Given only 89 events prior to this year, it’s an even shorter list. Patrick’s name is on it.

(Teammate Kenny Brack edged Danica’s previously fastest qualifying lap when he qualified during the second weekend, but Danica retained the fastest lap of the month over-all.)

The number of drivers who have won multiple poles during any IRL or Champ Car season is relatively short. An IRL rookie, Patrick won three poles last year.

The list of “rookies of the year” in Champ Cars or the IRL is also short, since this promotional idea is a latter-day imitation of baseball’s rookie award. Against F3000 veteran Tomas Enge and Ryan Briscoe, the Australian teen sensation who had been signed to a test contract by Toyota’s F-1 team, Patrick came out ahead. She won the rookie title by a considerable margin as these other lads crashed out constantly.

The Speedway’s own Indy 500 Rookie of the Year began in 1952 (five years after the National League’s first rookie award was won by Jackie Robinson.) Versus five others in 2005, Patrick won Indy’s rookie award as well after leading the race three times for 19 laps.

And, finally, it bears repeating from our earlier posting, Patrick is the highest finishing American to ever compete in the prestigious Formula Ford Festival in England, where she finished second to Anthony Davidson. Because that so infuriated so many in the U.S. and elsewhere who believe racing is reserved for men, the myth arose that Danny Sullivan had done at least as well as Patrick, an inacuracy repeated in the media regularly as gospel. Not so.

OK. No race victories in the IRL. Yet. Can’t wait to hear the excuses then.

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Top Ten reasons, while waiting out rain delays, not to look for a dominant performance from Rahal Letterman Racing and Danica Patrick in qualifying for the 90th Indy 500:

10) “This year all the Honda engines are the same. I think that gives us a real good chance,” says Tim Cindric of Penske Racing about his team’s opportunity to win the pole. That about sums up practice thus far. Unlike last year when Rahal Letterman was one of the few front-line teams with Honda power, this year everybody’s got it.

9) The Panoz chassis is not necessarily a dud, but has yet to prove itself this year.

Last year, Buddy Rice tore ligaments in his neck with a practice crash while trying to hustle the Panoz chassis into competitive shape. This year, the team is trying to take it step-by-step. Alas, Rice’s car again stepped out on him and crashed, this time bruising knees.

7) The Ethanol sponsorship deal comes with a price. The team needs the money, but in place of the experienced Vitor Meira (who finished second last year), Rahal Letterman has a rank rookie who took over for the fatally injured Paul Dana.

6) Danica does not need to prove herself. Last year, being the fastest on several occasions was necessary to get the point across about not being just another pretty face.

5) The weather. Due to the step-by-step approach with the Panoz chassis, the sessions shortened by rain earlier in the week and Friday’s rain have impacted the Rahal Letterman team as much, if not more, than any other.

4) The new “one engine” rule has further cut down on practice time prior to qualifying for all teams, but impacts the Panoz runners’ need to dial in a car with a narrow performance window.

3) Last year’s power advantage and Rice’s injury, plus the dramatic return of the sidelined Kenny Brack in place of Rice may have also hampered chassis development at that time while those struggling on power such as Penske and Ganassi were forced to concentrate on their chassis last year. That has paid big benefits for them this year versus Rahal Letterman and Andretti Green Racing, last year’s winners.

2) As far as qualifying goes, for all of the above reasons Rahal Letterman will be concentrating on getting their cars into the race.

1) It’s better to be lucky than good. (See race prediction in the first post.)

Bonus play: There’s no other woman driver for Danica to beat.

Today’s Triva Question — Who set the fastest lap in the month of May last year, when was it set, what was the speed and what was this driver’s speed secret? (Three of four will suffice for the prize — an autographed copy of America’s Hottest Racer from the author.)

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\r\nTop Ten reasons why Danica Patrick will win the Indy 500:

1. Patrick is ready to win her first IndyCar race after 35 career starts and her best track remains the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Supposedly, the average number of IndyCar races a driver runs before the first victory is 33. In any case, Danica’s due. The number of drivers who have won their first IndyCar race at Indianapolis are few in number, but include the likes of Troy Ruttman and Graham Hill.

2. Patrick set the fastest lap of the month at Indy two years ago while driving for Rahal Letterman Racing. That resulted from driving talent and the Panoz-Honda combination, not any weight advantage. Her teammate that year at Rahal Letterman, Vitor Meira, barely outweighed her and had the same equipment plus far more experience… .

3. How many other drivers can say they have taken the lead in Turn 1 on a re-start within 11 laps of the checkers? The guy Patrick passed — eventual 2005 winner Dan Wheldon — surely didn’t cut her any slack.

4. There’s something to the old racing adage about losing a race before learning how to win it. In the case of Danica, a fuel mileage gamble kept her in the 2005 race and also took her out of it before the finish. Patrick knows what it takes to be in position to win, i.e. how to take the lead on a re-start when the race is on the line.

5. It takes luck to win at Indy and Patrick’s luck generally runs well at the Brickyard. She survived a pit stop snafu and a multi-car wreck she started herself under yellow in 2005 and was still in the running. If the critics say she was lucky, who’s to argue that any Indy 500 winner needs some luck? As for incentive, think of the millions Danica will make if she scores at the Brickyard.

6. The guy who won last year, Sam Hornish, spent most of his life pursuing a victory in the Indy 500 and finally got it with the right team last year, Penske Racing. Former karting champion Patrick, who would tell anyone she met as a 12-year-old that she was going to win the 500, enters at Indy with a good team for the third straight year. Her new team, Andretti Green Racing, has posted a first in 2005, plus a second and third last year.

7. For those cynical types who might think Patrick was added to AGR to boost the team’s over-all budget with her Motorola and Honda sponsorship, it’s worthwhile to note that team principal Kim Green charts her race strategy. He’s not in that role to finish second.

8. Last year, Patrick suffered all month with the Panoz chassis. The car was poorly balanced and just not fast enough when the IRL forced Panoz to change a suspect undertray that aided straightaway speeds in 2004 and 2005. After struggling all month last year to coax speed from a bad chassis, this year Patrick returns with a competitive Dallara machine. In such cases, the lap times and confidence usually improve considerably. (See the Penske and Ganassi teams during the 2006 season when they moved from underpowered Toyota V-8’s to Honda engines.)

9. OK, OK. Patrick has registered two pit snafus in her first four races with AGR, taking teammate Tony Kanaan out of contention at Motegi and crashing in Homestead at the pit entrance. Such issues often occur with a change in teams. After four races and a month of May at Indy, these problems should be ironed out.

10. If Danica doesn’t win this year, there’s always next year and the years after. She won’t run out of sponsorship because of her performance, not her gender or good looks. Judging by her finish of 8th with a desultory chassis last year, when she was one of 10 drivers to finish on the lead lap, Patrick won’t run out of teams that believe she can make history at Indy.

Trivia question (winner receives copy of America’s Hottest Racer.) On what day did Patrick set her fastest lap of the month in May of 2005?

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I happened to be in Washington, D.C. this past weekend en route to the NASCAR race in Richmond when Danica came through the nation’s capitol to promote her book, Crossing The Line. In addition to media stops, she held a book signing and lived up to her promise, as quoted by Liz Clarke in Thursday’s editions of The Washington Post, to promote the sport of Indy car racing by her geniality with fans. (A friend of a friend took his daughter to the book signing, hence the inside info.)

During the NASCAR race weekend in Richmond, I saw Nate Ryan, an outstanding motorsports writer for USA Today. Unprompted, he told me he had asked Danica if she had read my book — the unauthorized one! Danica deferred somewhat and did not answer directly, said Nate. Evidently, she cleverly clouded the issue by pointing out some other books in the marketplace without naming any of them. (You don’t get this far along in motor racing without learning how to put the competition in the weeds!)

My point of view: I saw Danica in the pits prior to the Daytona 24-hour — where I encountered her in a conversation with Calvin Fish (the TV commentator/driving instructor and answer to the last trivia question). Danica and I had a friendly handshake (not the legendary bone crusher) and a pleasant conversation about the race at hand, where she was to share a Crawford-Pontiac with Rusty Wallace and Jan Lammers. I took this response to mean she thought America’’s Hottest Racer was OK.

During the race, I encountered Danica’s agent and her biggest cheerleader, who also happens to be her father T.J., a former racer himself. Her father and I had held a lengthy phone conversation prior to my writing America’s Hottest Racer when I first told him about the book. (He offered no inside info at that time, because of the deal underway for Crossing The Line.)

At Daytona, T.J. smiled when I offered my hand. When I asked him about America’’s Hottest Racer, he said, “I buy four every time I go to the book store.” I honestly don’t remember which of the chain stores he mentioned (Barnes & Noble or Borders), but evidently the clerks ordered the book in sets of four and each time the shelves were re-stocked at the store nearest the Roscoe, Illinois home where Danica grew up, T.J. was there to buy the entire lot.

OK. Assuming TJ’s not trying to just get them off the shelves, America’s Hottest Racer must be accurate in addition to it’s unauthorized status.

Today’s Trivia — Name Danica’s two teammates during her Toyota Atlantic years and this hard-to-google piece of info — who was scheduled to co-drive with Danica aboard a BMW M3 in an ill-fated American Le Mans Series deal that preceded her signing with Team Rahal?

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And yes, this blog has a timeline.

As the month of May progresses, we will look at the progression of Danica Patrick’s career for enlightening scenarios leading up to this year’s Indy 500 as well as current events.

One of the more striking pieces of information is influenced by the Internet age. The blog to the last post became a bit forum-like due to an ongoing mystery, one more often reinforced rather than resolved by Googling.

From the beginning, the author of “America’s Hottest Racer” had trouble locating information about where Danny Sullivan finished in the Formula Ford Festival during the future Indy 500 winner’s formative years. The Festival itself is a source of some fascination, given the participation of a lot of hot young prospects over the years, such as the 1998 winner Jensen Button. In the case of Patrick, there was the inevitable comparison to other Americans. Many have written that she matched Sullivan’s second place finish.

Leaving aside the issue of motive for a moment, the common thread of thought on the issue once Danica became a high profile single-seater driver (i.e. after signing with Bobby Rahal) always centered on Sullivan. But the author could never find any definitive evidence of even a podium finish by “Sully,” as he is affectionately known. The only real information involved a vintage Formula Ford on sale, by a car owner who claimed it carried Sullivan to fourth place in the Formula Ford Festival. (Had he been second, surely this would have been mentioned!)

Colleagues at Autosport Magazine — the King James version of motor racing’s weekly history for six decades — declined to help out the author due to the shambles of the archives and the usual press for time by staffers. Happily, this week the problem was resolved by the discovery of a forum where one ardent soul listed the podiums for the three Festivals run at Snetterton, the first home of the event which moved to the Indy circuit at Brands Hatch in 1976. The cited source? Autosport.

The podiums in 1972, 1973 and 1974, which were double-checked by other readers and had one correction submitted in the forum that was acknowledged by the original list maker, did not include Sullivan. (As an aside, the motive for the listings was a definitive list of podiums during Snetterton’s run of Festivals — not any question about an American named Sullivan.)

There are two conclusions. Just as Danica had nary an offer after a brilliant second place to Anthony Davidson in the 2000 Festival at Brands, her accomplishment was still running into headwinds five years later. America surely had some guy who had done at least as well as that girl Patrick. This became a knee-jerk reaction among the male-dominated “racers who know things.” Well, despite stories all over Google-dom that Sullivan finished second in either 1972 or 1974 (there’s even one story claiming 1978!), no such record exits in the printed pages of Autosport magazine, which assiduously covered the Festivals in those years.

The second conclusion is more important. Last year, Patrick demonstrated the same ability that led to her runner-up spot in the Festival in 2000 during her rookie season in the Indy Racing League. In 2005, she usually kept her wits about her, she didn’t get in over her head on the track, she demonstrated speed in qualifying and an ability to improve her racecraft over the course of a season. She won the rookie of the year versus talented drivers Tomas Enge and Ryan Briscoe — also driving for front-line teams — as a result. It is the same smooth progression that enabled Patrick to crown her formative years with an excellent result in the Formula Ford Festival, which remains a hallmark for future results.

That’s one of many reasons why our inaugural post states Patrick will win the Indy 500 one day, even if we didn’t pick her this year. As we all now know, a high finish in the Festival is not a prerequisite for winning the Indy 500, where “Sully” eventually took home the big prize driving for Roger Penske in the immortal “spin and win” episode. But it’s a strong indication. In any event, Patrick has the high water mark that other future American racing stars will shoot for should they have the ability, financing and courage to run Formula Fords in Britain’s great Festival. Needless to say, when it comes to American drivers and the best finish, it’s Danica’s record and no one else’s.

Today’s Trivia Question — Who was the first instructor for Danica Patrick in Barber Dodge and Toyota Atlantics after she signed with Team Rahal? Hint: this information has been on TV more often than on the Internet.

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