Danica Patrick is making her second road course run at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. She recalls running this course, back in 2003 during the Atlantic series, and remembers the layout, size and corners.
A Wisconsin native, Danica is running into some familiar faces, mostly friends of her dad, T.J. Asked what she relishes about coming home? Danica joked, “Who doesn’t love cheese curds?”.
She said her parents brought their motor home, so they will be cooking out and it gives her a comfortable feeling.
She re-counted her experience in Indy Car, the 2011 season was one of more road courses. Which may in turn help her in Nascar, giving her more experience behind her when approaching road courses.
Remembering, the road course in Montreal, where she had some struggles, most notably brake issues, which was due to a leak in the brake line. Also, there was the memorable, cooling problem, to counteract that issue, she drove with a large ice pack on her chest. Danica, notorious for her workout regimen, overheated at one point and thought she may pass out. She persevered and ended up finishing 24th. The numbers can be deceiving, at one point she was 14th with 4 laps to go and than had mechanical issues.
Asked about Tony Eury Jr. comment’s about people racing against her extra hard. She is aware Tony has been around long enough, to know whether contact is incidental or on purpose. She say’s with improvements on the track comes a new group of people she’s racing against. For her it’s a matter of earning their respect, she still is currently 11th in total points standings.
Coming off a disappointing weekend at Michigan, where she spun out 3 times. Patrick’s explanation was, we made changes and went too far loose. Looking at the brighter side, Patrick said her pace was good at the end of the day. She also feels her qualifying has improved. Her main focus right now is, pace and learning, the results will come later she maintains.
A true race car driver, even after the 3rd spin, she didn’t back down, or just sit at the back of the pack, she truly was racing like she was still in it. Whether or not the contact that was made with her was incidental or on purpose remains a mystery. Given some time, Patrick will remember and be able to distinguish and I’m sure give it back. You can tune into the Road America race tomorrow, June 23rd at 3:oo pm Eastern on Espn.
Images courtesy of NascarMedia.
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les says
Danica will be fine. She isn’t afraid to race hard with the pack. She definitely has talent. & had the car to win or place in top 5. She’s getting there each race. Respect needs to be earned so it will all balance out soon.