Indianapolis 500 Deal Is Set, Formal Unveiling To Come

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Indianapolis 500 Deal Is Set, Formal Unveiling To Come

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By Brant James | Published: Feb 12, 2018

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Danica Patrick’s arrangement to finish her racing career at the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil this May is complete, she told IndyCar.com on Sunday.

Patrick, 35, revealed in November that she is retiring from full-time racing after competing for seven Verizon IndyCar Series seasons – winning her only race in 2008 – and the past five full seasons for Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR’s top series. In that emotional press conference at Homestead-Miami Speedway three months ago, Patrick outlined a plan to race in the marquee events for both NASCAR and INDYCAR, dubbing her participation in the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 the “Danica Double.”

A public announcement of which team will field her entry in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in May is not imminent, she said.

“No, I just needed to make sure it (the deal) was done,” she said. “The rest I don’t really care about.”

Patrick became a national media force in 2005 when she started and finished fourth as an Indy 500 rookie – at the time a record for a woman driver – for Rahal Letterman Racing, leading 19 laps – another first. She finished third in 2009 but has not competed in the event since 2011.

Although Patrick’s “Double” venture has been aided by a reunion with long-time sponsor GoDaddy, her business team did not secure and announce until January a Daytona 500 ride. Unable to land with a top-tier team, she qualified 28th-fastest on Sunday for Premium Motorsports, which has one top-five and five top-10s in 1,015 starts in NASCAR’s top three series combined.

The announcement for her Indianapolis 500 ride will, she said, “be a bit of a bigger deal.”

“Obviously, the start of this (NASCAR) season didn’t happen any different than last season did, where I showed up and I hadn’t been in the car since Homestead (the 2017 season finale). It’s no different than that,” she said.

“But Indy is obviously totally different. We’ll do something a little more substantial for the announcement and the unveil.”

Patrick doesn’t hesitate when considering which of her final two races she would rather win.

“Yeah, it would be Indy,” she said. “There’s nothing against Daytona, but just from being a young little girl, I had always wanted to win the Indy 500. It’s not to say that Daytona is not an enormous deal.

“But I have to go with what feels like the most important in my heart and I came from open-wheel racing, I wanted to win the Indy 500 from being a go-kart driver when I was a kid and came close a few times. It’s kind of what started it all for me, so there’s just a lot more history there.”

:arrow: http://www.indycar.com/News/2018/02/02- ... l-in-place
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Re: Indianapolis 500 Deal Is Set, Formal Unveiling To Come

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Danica Patrick To Race Final Indy 500 With Ed Carpenter Racing

By: David Malsher, US Editor
Co-author: Jim Utter, NASCAR Editor


Danica Patrick, the first woman to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500, has apparently let slip that the sign-off to her racing career will be at the wheel of an Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet at Indy.

Speaking to media members at the Daytona 500 Media Day, when quizzed on her Indy 500 prospects Patrick responded, "Actually I didn't have time to meet up with Ed and the people that ... Oh, did I say that out loud? I've never done that in my career."

She then walked away, apparently annoyed with herself.

Representatives from Chip Ganassi Racing, Schmidt Peterson Motorsport, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing all confirmed to Motorsport.com yesterday that they would not be running Patrick in the 500, and all indications suggested she would run a third ECR car.

Carpenter, a two-time Indy 500 pole-winner and the only fulltime owner/driver in the IndyCar Series will thus enter three cars for the 102nd running of the Memorial Day Weekend classic – for himself, Spencer Pigot and Patrick.

The deal – which was rumored to be made official at an unveiling in the IMS Hall of Fame Museum next month – means that Patrick’s final two races will be at the wheel of a Chevrolet-badged vehicle. She will compete at the Daytona 500 in a Premium Motorsport Camaro.

:arrow: https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news ... g-1005078/

:arrow: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/m ... 339233002/

:arrow: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/m ... 329881002/
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Re: Indianapolis 500 Deal Is Set, Formal Unveiling To Come

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Danica Patrick's car number for the Indianapolis 500 will be No. 13 (Ed Carpenter Racing).

Danica Patrick will test at Indy on March 29 as part of a Chevrolet test.

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Re: Indianapolis 500 Deal Is Set, Formal Unveiling To Come

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Reality Of Patrick's Indy Return Draws Near With Unveiling Of Car

By Mark Robinson | Published: Mar 28, 2018

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It’s getting real for Danica Patrick.

Sponsor GoDaddy unveiled this morning on social media platforms the No. 13 Chevrolet that Patrick will drive in the 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil in May, in what she has announced will be the last competitive race of her groundbreaking career. It will bring the first woman to lead the crown jewel of Indy car racing full circle to conclude her racing at the venue that launched her stardom.

Patrick and the Ed Carpenter Racing entry emblazoned with the GoDaddy logo shared center stage Monday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a photo/video shoot ahead of today’s launch. The bright green car is reminiscent of the one she is most remembered for during a seven-year Verizon IndyCar Series career from 2005-11 before she ventured to stock cars.

Gazing at the car, decked in her matching green firesuit, Patrick sensed the authenticity of the moment.

“It’s pretty damn real, it’s completely real,” said Patrick, who turned 36 on March 25. “Yeah, I’m excited. It scares me a little bit to look at how small that rear wing is, but hey, I’m sure there’s (downforce) grip somewhere – more grip than I’m used to.”

Patrick hasn’t been in an Indy car since the close of the 2011 season. She’d hoped to be on the 2.5-mile oval for two days this week during veteran refresher and manufacturer testing, but those sessions were postponed by inclement Indianapolis weather that included snow on Saturday and rain this week. Testing has been rescheduled for April 30-May 2.

Those days fall less than a month from race day on May 27, and Patrick is fine with that. She believes the rescheduled testing will yield more relevant data than one in late March would have – “more accurate everything, from the car, to the people, to the setup, you name it,” she said. “Weather, everything will be more similar and it’s closer to the time (of the race). It’s good with me.”

Until then, the veteran of 116 Verizon IndyCar Series starts – and the only woman to win a major open-wheel race with her 2008 victory at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi – is using the time to become better acquainted with her new team.

“Everybody’s been great,” said Patrick, who will have team owner Ed Carpenter and third-year driver Spencer Pigot as teammates. “Everybody’s been good to work with and fun and easy and working hard and getting the right people involved. Giving us a shot to finish the way I started.”

Track time, however, must wait a month. And don’t look for Patrick to spend any time in a racing simulator looking to sharpen her skills. She doesn’t believe in their effectiveness, citing the time she tried a setup from a simulator session before a NASCAR weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, only to run near the back of the pack in practice. When her team changed to a setup from a driver who hadn’t been in the simulator, “it was like top 10 the next day.”

“So since then, I’ve never used a simulator,” Patrick added. “I don’t think it’s very realistic. … I think it’s counter-productive or just not productive at all.”

When she does test on May 1-2, Patrick has a simple checklist to complete, including “developing a good little rapport with the team and getting excited and having fun.” She has, however, never driven the Dallara IR-12 chassis or the twin-turbocharged, V-6 engines now in use.

“For me, it’s just getting a feel for the tendencies of the car in general,” Patrick concluded. “Even if I was getting back in the exact same Indy car that I drove the last time I was in one, I’d still want to know that after being gone so long.

“Just knowing what does a little bit of front wing do, what does a little right rear spring do, what does a stiffer front sway bar feel like. Just little things to change ‘em up and see what the tendencies tend to be with the car. Things that will be go-tos maybe when we get going for real.”

The IMS testing from April 30-May 2 will be open free to the public, with viewing available at the IMS Museum parking lot, Turn 2 viewing mounds and the South Terrace grandstands.

Practice for the 102nd running begins Tuesday, May 15, with qualifying set for Saturday and Sunday, May 19-20. “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” airs live at 11 a.m. ET Sunday, May 27 on ABC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.

Tickets for all month of May activities at IMS, including the fifth annual INDYCAR Grand Prix on May 12, are available at IMS.com.

:arrow: https://www.indycar.com/News/2018/03/03 ... car-unveil
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Re: Indianapolis 500 Deal Is Set, Formal Unveiling To Come

Post by alenigma »

Golly! Is she bowlegged or what?
Let the Next Generation Emerge! :s_bomb
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