NOTEBOOK: PATRICK SETTLES FOR EIGHTH.Byline: Staff and Wire Services INDIANAPOLIS -- Danica Patrick Danica Sue Patrick (born March 25, 1982 in Beloit, Wisconsin) is an American auto racing driver competing in the IndyCar Series. She is from an Irish-American family and was raised in Roscoe, Illinois. was downright testy tes·ty adj. tes·ti·er, tes·ti·est Irritated, impatient, or exasperated; peevish: a testy cab driver; a testy refusal to help. when she climbed out of her car. She drove a nearly flawless race Sunday, only to finish four spots worse than her electrifying e·lec·tri·fy tr.v. e·lec·tri·fied, e·lec·tri·fy·ing, e·lec·tri·fies 1. To produce electric charge on or in (a conductor). 2. a. debut at the Indianapolis 500 a year ago. ``She was soooo upset,'' said her father, T.J. Patrick. During the long walk back to the garage, Danica had some time to reflect on her performance and put a little perspective on things. She didn't win the race. But, considering she had a speed-deprived machine and couldn't catch a break in the pits, eighth place looked pretty good. ``I can see the optimistic side of things,'' Patrick said. ``I drove a clean race today. I didn't make any mistakes. The team didn't make any mistakes. From last year to this year was a huge improvement.'' Patrick finished fourth in 2005 as an Indy rookie -- the best showing ever for a woman at the Brickyard. This time, Patrick and her two Rahal Letterman teammates were hampered by a Panoz chassis that clearly didn't produce as much speed as the Dallara model used by most of the top teams. She was the only racer to crack the top15 in a Panoz. --Early exit: Jeff Bucknum Jeff Bucknum (born July 12, 1966 in Glendale, California) is an American race car driver. He competed in four Indy Racing League races in 2005, including the Indianapolis 500, with a best finish of 10th at Infineon Raceway. couldn't duplicate the 50-year-old feat of another Glendale native, Pat Flaherty George Francis 'Pat' Flaherty, Jr. (January 6 1926 - April 9 2002) was an American racecar driver who won the Indianapolis 500 in 1956. Born in Glendale, California, Flaherty died of cancer in Oxnard, California. , by winning the Indy 500. Bucknum made it through just onelap before crashing. Going into the second turn on lap 2, Bucknum slid down onto the slippery white line and went spinning into the outside wall. The hit took out rookie Hemelgarn teammate P.J. Chesson. Some chalked it up to tires that actually weren't warm enough on a day in which air temperature were 89 degrees and track temperatures soaring to 126 -- the hottest Indy 500 since 1953. ``I spun, and I'm not sure why,'' Bucknum said. ``It snapped around the back end, and I'm not sure how it happened.'' --Herta hurting: Among those mentioned as possible challengers was Andretti Green Racing's Bryan Herta Bryan Herta (b. May 23 1970, Warren, Michigan) is an American race car driver. He currently drives for Andretti Green Racing, which is co-owned by former CART and IRL driver Michael Andretti, in the ALMS, although his career has primarily been spent in open-wheel cars , a Hart High of Newhall graduate who lives in Valencia. Herta, who finished third last year, struggled all day and took 20th. ``We made some big changes in the pits. Unfortunately it took a lot of laps to do it, then the car was a lot more competitive,'' he said. --Local connections: Driver Roger Yasukawa Roger Yasukawa is an Japanese-American auto racing driver born October 10, 1977 in Los Angeles, California. Starting out karting in Southern California, winning the California State Championship in 1991 in Junior Sportsman. He then moved to Italy to compete in JICA. of West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. finished 16th, six laps back. He was two spots and one lap ahead of Brazilian Airton Dare, who drove a car owned by Sam Schmidt, a Pepperdine graduate. CAPTION(S): 2 boxes Box: (1) INDY 500 RESULTS (2) BY THE NOSE - Associated Press |
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