I've been a critic of hers as well as the media's for their coverage of her, now I'm ready to put it to rest- Danica Patrick is officially worthy of press and motor racing respect. She has now won a race.
The event begs the question- if a race is run half a world away, does anyone really care? Usually not, but it was different this weekend.
It's truly a shame that this historic event happened in Japan while most Indy Car fans were sleeping, but it's still a big deal. I don't think it deserves an asterisk despite the Champ Car scheduling conflict- she beat the best oval racers in the world to earn a trophy eerily similar to the Borg Warner. Her pit crew and team did their job- they made tough decisions to put her in the position to win...and she brought the victory home.
What a great season it's been for Indy Car...and now, as we head into the month of May with the greatest race in the world coming up quickly, the timing couldn't be better. Danica finished second a few years back and earned some respect from fans at Indy...It'd be great for the sport to see her contend yet again at the brickyard. I would also like to see Rahal, Power and Co. get up to speed on the big oval for the strength of the field and the series. We shall see as practice commences on 16th street on the West side of Indianapolis in a short while.
Let's go racing.