Indy 500

Job Whel-don

Dan Wheldon was the winner of the 89th Indianapolis 500, the only driver to ever win after starting 15th, Wheldon, the current leader of the IRL Points Standing, swaped the lead 6 different times with Danica Patrick and Vitor Meira over the final 50 laps. Danica, who led 19 laps, overtake Dan Wheldon on a restart with 10 laps to go, and pulled away from Wheldon by half a second, until Wheldon ran her down and took the lead for good on lap 194 of 200. “I made a hell of a point for anybody, are you kidding me?” Danica responded to a question about what she has done for females in auto racing.
Then Patrick, driver of the No. 16 Rahal Letterman Racing Argent Pioneer Panoz/Honda/Firestone, talked about how lousy it was back in 16th place where she found herself after stalling her car during her second pit stop. And she said she learned so much during the race. She never even referred to what her race success achieved in proving a woman can race with some of world’s best male racers without being intimidated.
A second reporter rephrased the question about the historical significance of her Indy performance that was seen worldwide on television.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m just racing. I don’t know.
“It sounds so goober stupid, but I just don’t think about it. I just don’t think about it. I don’t know why. I didn’t even think that all the media stuff going on was that – I wasn’t getting overwhelmed. I was getting overwhelmed with the lack of time I had for myself, but all the coverage? I was your story.” Danica said about her run Sunday, but the day belong to the Brit, Dan Wheldon. "But the race itself, I've got to say, is certainly since I've been doing it, was the most competitive. I think it just shows you the direction the series is going with the amount of leaders and the amount of leaders from different teams. Although, you know, it was good to see Andretti Green Racing running one-two-three at one point." "But the race was just difficult because there were so many good cars out there. And the depth of talent was amazing. I thought starting 16th I'd be able to come through perhaps a little quicker than I did. So that soon brought me back down to earth. It was, because people were so close.
But it's just such a proud moment. It's the proudest moment of my life, and I'm sure it will be, to win my first Indianapolis 500. So it was fantastic."
http://indy500.com/news/

Danica Shows What She Can Do

After qualifying for the 500 in the fourth position, she ended up leaving were she started after finishing fourth, but it wasnt a piece of cake. Danica, stalled the car on her second pit stop of the day, sending her back to the 16th position. And she said she learned so much during the race. She never even referred to what her race success achieved in proving a woman can race with some of world’s best male racers without being intimidated. On lap 57, after pitting off sequence, Danica became the first female to ever lead the Indy 500. Then after pitting 100 laps later, Danica was 8th, but under caution, Danica spun the car and took out Tomas Enge and Tomas Scheckter. Danica brought the car into the pits for a new front wing, and got back out onto the track and retook the lead with only 28 laps to go, only to loose the lead 16 laps later to Wheldon during pit stops. On the next restart on lap 189. Danica got by Wheldon to retake the lead, but on lap 194, Danica's fuel was running and low and she had to let off the to save gas, which gave Wheldon the lead and the win. Danica got passed on lap 198 by Vitor Meira and Bryan Herta. The caution came out on lap 199, which gave Danica the fourth spot.