Dixon on Danica: ‘She’s a menace’ on the track
Patrick was one of the drivers to be lapped by Dixon during his run to victory in the Rexall Edmonton Indy on Saturday, but the Kiwi points leader was clearly unhappy as he struggled to find a way past the Motorola car with title rival Helio Castroneves hot on his heels.
"I don't even know Danica's situation in the race, but to have me sit behind her for three or four laps was kind of bizarre," he said after the checkered flag, "I don't know what she was thinking. I don't know if she thought she was racing me for the lead or something. But that's the way it goes."
06/25/08 Danica Patrick doesn't know why Indianapolis 500 winner Scott Dixon called her "a menace" after last weekend's IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway, and the sport's chief steward, Brian Barnhart, said today that he saw nothing unsportsmanlike about her driving.
But Barnhart warned that Patrick's reputation as a driver is at stake when competitors complain.
"What I think is happening is that guys are getting a little frustrated (with her)," Barnhart said. "She needs to be a little careful that if things aren't going so well (with her car) she needs to treat her fellow competitors with respect and if she doesn't that will probably come back to cost her."
Patrick, a fourth-year series driver who finished two positions behind Dixon in sixth at Iowa, said she was surprised by the remark of the series points leader.
"I would hope that I've earned the respect of the drivers; it's something I've worked hard for," she said. "I've always made sure that when I've been in a situation that's not ideal that I cut slack around me and made sure that I did that because it would come back (to me).
"I've always tried to play fair."
But Patrick, who drives for Andretti Green Racing, admitted that she doesn't care what the Ganassi Racing driver thinks. "I have the respect of my teammates and that, to be honest, is the only thing important to me," she said. IndyStar.com
06/22/08 IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon called Danica Patrick “a menace" on the track and questioned her decisions behind the wheel following the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway.
“She’s lucky that’s all she got man," Dixon said when asked about what he perceived was a near brush with trouble by Patrick during the race. “She’s a menace man."
Another driver voiced similar concerns about Andretti Green Racing’s Patrick, one of the biggest names and faces in the sport who won her first Indy Racing League championship in Japan earlier this season.
Ed Carpenter, of Vision Racing, hit the wall in Turn 2 of Lap 39 to create the race’s first yellow flag.
“I just started working with my car, working towards the front but Danica was doing her normal supreme block job," Carpenter said. “She is the new Scott Sharp of the series as far as I am concerned. That is two races in a row."
“I don’t know," Dixon told The Des Moines Register shortly after the race. “It might just be me, but it’s tough when you get drivers that don’t stay where they should be." Desmoinesregister.com