An altercation between the two admittedly attractive female drivers in the IndyCar Series has all the makings for a sensational headline, and in this case Danica Patrick and Milka Duno backed it up by tangling in the pits last Saturday after a practice session for the Honda Indy 200. Patrick, as she has done twice before, walked all the way to her competitor's pit stall to address a grievance. She simply asked Dreyer & Reinbold Racing's driver, who looked like she just stepped out of a salon, if she had seen her on the track. Apparently Patrick was miffed that Milka wasn't letting faster cars like her No. 7 Motorola Dallara Honda pass during practice. Milka was having none of it and twice threw a towel at Patrick while telling her to "go away". Such is a pretty normal day in the IndyCar Series with Danica Patrick on the prowl. For the record, neither lady performed particularly well in the actual race on Sunday, with Milka finishing 23rd out of 26 and Danica placing 12th. Check out video of these brunettes battling after the jump. Thanks for the tip, Art!
Yesterday we reported that Danica Patrick would test with the Honda F1 team at the end of the season. That report was a false start: Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry said there was no arrangement for Danica to test, and that she and the team have had no contact. However, Fry did say that if she wanted to test, they "would be more than happy to speak to her about it." The original source for the Danica-will-be-testing article was an Austrian newspaper interview with the same Nick Fry, which even included a time frame for the test. Something was apparently lost in translation... Thanks for the tip, NIBAL!
Danica Patrick, who races for the Honda-powered Andretti-Green IRL team, has spoken of wanting to make the jump to the world's premier form of motorsport, Formula 1. Later this year, according to Honda F1 CEO Nick Fry, the team is going to give her that chance. Danica will be put into Honda's Earth Dreams F1 car in November, probably at the Barcelona or Jerez tracks in Spain, for a full-scale test. Said Fry, "We will put her into our car after the season at the latest and see how quick she is."
The recent record of IndyCar drivers succeeding on the other side of the pond is mixed. It's still too early to tell with Sebastian Bourdais at Toro Rosso, though he appears to be handling things well enough. Jacques Villeneuve did well, but Michael Andretti did not. Scott Dixon, the 2003 IRL champ and 2008 Indy 500 winner tested with Williams-BMW in 2004, but didn't get a seat. Danica's already won a place in U.S. racing history. We'll find out in November if she's fast enough to do it in Europe, as well.
[Source: Eurosport, Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty]
Click above for high-res gallery of the 2008 Indy 500
New Zealand's Scott Dixon led the field at this year's 92nd Indianapolis 500 going into turn 1 of Lap 1 and, after surviving 200 laps of open wheel mayhem at the Brickyard, crossed the finish line first, 1.75 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Vitor Meira. Unfortunately, no one on the Autoblog team witnessed the win, the allure of barbecues and time spent with family this past Memorial Day weekend being too strong to resist. Perhaps that says something about the popularity of open-wheel racing in the U.S., though we suspect the 250,000 in attendance and larger television audience of the Indy 500 this year would disagree.
While Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing took the win, all eyes were still on Danica Patrick to see if she could pull out the first win for a woman at the Brickyard coming off her victory in Japan last month. Unfortunately, a win for Danica was not meant to be, as her left-rear tire was tagged by Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe coming out of the pits. The contact spun out Patrick and did mortal damage to her rear axle. She was more than a bit miffed (wouldn't you?) and began a determined walk down pit row towards Briscoe's pit box, but a track security officer stopped her and prevented what could've been the race's biggest spectacle.
So the IndyCar Series' most famous race is in the bag, and it was the first since the IRL and Champ Car series reunited. Things are looking up for open-wheel racing in the U.S. despite our own disinterest, and the 92nd running of this year's Indianapolis 500 sounds like it was enjoyable to watch. Maybe we'll sit down for it next year.
If like us you didn't catch the race on TV, check out SpeedTV's recap video after the jump.
We are soooo glad Danica Patrick hearts Autoblog, because during practice at Indy yesterday, she struck a pit crew member of a competing team. Dale Coyne Racing's Charles Buckman, the chief mechanic for Mario Moraes, suffered a concussion as well as scalp and facial cuts after being hit and then sailing over Danica's car in pit row.
According to several trackside eyewitnesses, the incident was completely not Danica's fault. Apparently, Indy's pit area was busier and more congested than usual due to a weather delay, and Buckman took one step too many to the right just as Danica was pitting. He was taken to Methodist Hospital and is expected to recover fully from his injuries. For his part, Buckman says he doesn't remember many details about the incident.
People at the track said Danica and her teammates were visibly shaken by the accident. Marco Andretti saw the accident happen, and told Sports Illustrated, "It's a dangerous situation; a crowded pit lane, a lot going on. You don't like to see that kind of thing but it's not Danica's fault. Stuff happens. Racing is dangerous. We're very concerned and hopefully it will turn out good." Thanks for the tip, Joe!
Everybody's favorite racing driver has been getting a lot of attention since claiming her "maiden" victory in the IRL race at Motegi in Japan two weeks ago. Now officials are considering giving Danica Patrick a shot at test driving a Formula One car.
Patrick has had a checkered past with F1 prospects. She was initially offered a chance to demonstrate an F1 car at Indy in 2005, but declined saying it was just for show. Around the same time, she was shocked by Bernie Ecclestone, who compared her to a kitchen appliance. Since her Motegi win, however, the international motorsport community has been abuzz about the prospect. Honda, which supplies the engine in Danica's IndyCar (and everyone else's, for that matter) says it will seriously consider giving Patrick a shot at testing for its F1 team. While some debate whether a woman has the physical strength to drive an F1 car, Patrick says she wants to focus on contending for the IRL championship before she considers a possible step up to Formula One.
[Source: Autosport, Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty]
Click above for high-res gallery from this weekend's LBGP
American open-wheel racing just had a pretty big weekend, in case you missed it. While one era was beginning in Japan, another was ending at America's Monte Carlo. With reunification finally about to commence, the last Champ Car (nee CART) race ever was held at the street course in downtown Long Beach. While we've already told you the outcome, we also wanted to share some more photos. Although the race should be back on the schedule for '09, this weekend's race was truly the end of an era.
After 25 years of Champ Cars and their predecessors, next year's race will bring us a series that has a female driver who is an honest-to-goodness winner. And not only is she a winner (and a part-time swimsuit model), but she is pretty hardy too. After winning the race at Motegi, she and unfortunate runner-up Helio "Dancing with the Stars" Castroneves hopped on a plane and made it back to LAX and the LBGP by the time things wrapped up on Sunday afternoon.
Click above to view high-res gallery from Indy Japan 300
The third race of the IRL season and last event before the on set of the merger was history in the making. The Indy Japan 300 was a difficult race to get off the ground though, as rainy conditions cancelled qualifying and caused postponement of the race start.
Twin Ring Motegi will now forever be the site where the first female driver won an Indy Car event. Danica Patrick sealed the deal after passing Helio Castroneves with 2 laps to go in the 200 lap race. The historical event was made possible through excellent planning and strategy on the part of the Andretti Green team. Danica sat in fourth with 4 laps to go, but fuel starvation forced Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan into the pits. Fuel level was also an issue with Castroneves, he was in conservation mode in the final laps. Thanks to the efforts of her crew, Patrick had enough fuel to maintain speed throughout the race and take her first, and hopefully not last, win in the big leagues.
The new rule at the Indy Racing League (IRL) says the minimum weight for cars will now include the driver. That's good news for Ed Carpenter. At 165 pounds, he's the heaviest driver in the series (if anyone can call that "heavy"). On the other hand, it appears to penalize Danica Patrick -- the petite driver, the lightest in the series, can barely tip the scale over 100 pounds. The IRL insists the new rule isn't targeting Danica. Nevertheless, she's not very happy.
The weight difference is more significant than many think. In fact, it has been estimated that a 65-pound weight difference could mean as much as a 1-mph advantage during a race. To even the field, the new rule will divide the drivers into three categories. The heavy group get weight cut, while the lightest group will get ballast added - to the vehicle's chassis, not the driver's derrière. We don't want to affect Danica's swimsuit modeling career, do we?
[Source: Inside Line, Photo by Darrell Ingham/Getty]
Most drivers love to see themselves in Sports Illustrated. It means they did something important like win the Indy 500. Danica Patrick appears in the most recent issue, but it's not for winning a race. Rather, her hot bod has landed the IndyCar driver in the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. We're not sure how many shots of her appear in the actual issue, but the magazine's website has posted 44 images of her climbing out of a driving suit wearing a teency weency bikini, an image that will no doubt be conjured by many men when they see her race next.
Danica is a polarizing figure in motorsports because she doesn't shy away from her sexuality, and if anything uses it to her advantage. She's the first female in motorsports to not only be talented on the track, but also shrewd in business and able to capitalize on her money-making image. We'd all be kidding ourselves to think that Junior sells his expensive t-shirts to female fans just because he's a great driver, so it's hard to fault Danica for capitalizing on her looks, as well. On the other hand, it's also more difficult to take her seriously as a driver when she's topless.
The weight difference is more significant than many think. In fact, it has been estimated that a 65-pound weight difference could mean as much as a 1-mph advantage during a race. To even the field, the new rule will divide the drivers into three categories. The heavy group get weight cut, while the lightest group will get ballast added - to the vehicle's chassis, not the driver's derrière. We don't want to affect 
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