Normally, I'm not a "race car" fellow. I mean, it's just cars driving in a circle for several hours. That's boring, right? Until this year's Indianapolis 500, I'd have said one-hundred percent yes. However, I love events of pop cultural significance, so with all the buzz surrounding Danica Patrick, I actually decided to tune in to the entire race.
Now, the IndyCar hype machine was kicking pretty hardcore; Danica was on every show from PTI to Letterman. Dave's part owner of her race team, which added more to my curiosity. Dave's all about the win, so I figured she wouldn't be on the team if she didn't have some mad skills to back up her general hottness. Still, this race had the potential to be a let-down reminiscent of Ring Two. She almost won the pole, but that didn't guarantee that she wouldn't execute a rookie choke when the chips were down and the race was on. Yet, I watched despite all my Indy misgivings.
So, how'd she fair? Danica Patrick freaking ROCKED, that's how she faired. She started in and held 4th place for a good while, dipping into 3rd from time to time. Danica looked absolutely solid... until her car stalled at one of her pit stops and she dropped to 16th place. Still, she stayed dead calm and battled back to 8th. Then, after a wreck that required a restart because of potential oil on the the track, Danica Patrick deftly manuvered from 8th to 1st place, becoming the first woman to ever lead the Indy 500. Unfortunately, she ran low on fuel with just under 10 laps to go and ended up finishing in 4th. Still, the fact that she was able to recover from what seemed like a race ending setback with such grace and composure, despite the pressures of being a rookie AND being so high profile was quite remarkable. Rock on, Danica!
Danica aside, I can't believe how much I enjoyed the race. Seeing people driving at 220 MPH not 7" apart from one another is intense, period. It's like watching Luke pilot an X-wing, but it's real. So, I take back all the not so nice things I've ever said about IndyCar.
Posted by Mike at May 29, 2005 04:34 PM