Column: Danica can hang with the boys

Next time someone wants to dismiss Danica Patrick, or diss her as IRL's pretty face, they'd best do it at arm's length. With one shove last weekend, Patrick let everyone know she's not to be taken lightly _ on or off the track.

Good for her. She may not yet have that elusive first win, but her results, the company she keeps and her fiery attitude are proof she belongs as much as the next guy.

"There's no question in my mind that she can do the job," said Dario Franchitti, winner of the Indianapolis 500 and Patrick's teammate at Andretti Green Racing. "It's just a question of everything coming together for her."

When a woman ventures into what's traditionally a male-dominated sport, she's usually treated as a novelty or a mascot. The fact that she's actually an athlete too often is overlooked.

And if that woman happens to be attractive, forget any chance of being taken seriously.

Patrick can't help that she's pretty any more than sparring partner Dan Wheldon can. There's no question, either, that her looks have helped fuel her popularity and her bank account. She's got powerhouse sponsors such as Motorola, Coca-Cola and Hostess, and her merchandise outsells that of any other driver. Even people who don't know what IRL stands for know Danica.

But don't mistake her for marketing department fluff. She is the real deal. She's a driver who just happens to be a woman, not a woman driver, and she refuses to be accepted as anything less.

Patrick proved she could drive when she was a rookie. Five races into her career, she was leading the Indy 500 down the stretch. Low fuel forced her to drop back, and she wound up fourth. Since then, she's won three poles and had top-10 finishes in 19 of her 36 races, including all three starts at Indy.

When she left Rahal Letterman Racing last season, she signed with Andretti Green. Yes, that Andretti. Michael Andretti knows as much about racing as anyone, and his team has two championships and two Indy 500 wins in the four-plus years since it joined the IRL. No way he risks his reputation _ not to mention his team's considerable resources _ on somebody who has little chance of being anything more than a circus act.

Which is why Patrick was so irate last weekend in Milwaukee.

After starting second to last, she'd done some impressive driving to work her way up to fourth and was battling Wheldon and Franchitti for position. But as she went low to pass Wheldon, their cars touched and Patrick's spun into the infield grass. She was able to save it, but it took her crew precious time to repair the bent suspension and cost her any chance of winning. She finished eighth.

"On the track you have a good gauge as far as what you know normally happens inside the cockpit, and what doesn't normally happen," Patrick said. "That was a situation where I felt like it was something that shouldn't have happened for sure, that's why I was so mad."

So she confronted Wheldon. Approaching him on pit road after the race, she grabbed his arm and vented. Then, when it was clear he wasn't listening, she gave him a little push and walked away.

"This is our job, and we do perform our job as if nobody's really looking," Patrick said. "I mean, we don't think about people watching us in the stands, and, `Oh, this move ought to be cool.' We're just going off of our instincts."

The tiff got plenty of attention _ anyone even know who won the Milwaukee race? (didn't think so) _ and it was still going when they arrived at the Texas Motor Speedway, with Wheldon saying Patrick had acted like a "spoiled brat."

Folks at the Texas Motor Speedway were quick to jump on the buzz, billing Saturday night's race as "The Rumble at the Speedway," a second round between "The Phoenix Firebird" and "The Battlin' Brit." It's smart PR for a series still struggling for attention at races that don't have Indianapolis in their names.

But the reality is, Patrick did exactly what other guys have been doing for years.

A.J. Foyt once slapped Arie Luyendyk in the back of the head and wrestled him to the ground _ in Victory Lane, no less. Somebody's always squabbling in NASCAR. How would you like to have been at the Busch family gathering after Kurt and Kyle took each other out at last month's All-Star race?

Patrick and Wheldon since have smoothed things over, getting a little help from IRL president Brian Barnhart.

"The most important thing in all of this is that we don't go out on the track and take it out on each other and cause a problem and get somebody hurt," she said. "At the speeds we go, two- and three-wide with concrete walls outside of us, people do get hurt. I wanted to make sure that wasn't something that was going to happen, and I wanted to make sure the air was clear between the two of us."

Don't take that as an apology, though. Patrick has nothing to be sorry for _ on the track or off.

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AP Sports Writer Stephen Hawkins contributed to this report from Fort Worth, Texas.

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Nancy Armour is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to her at [e-mail]