In a season where Danica Patrick finally won an IndyCar race, trouble for the starlet continued in Saturday's Rexall Edmonton Indy when she was driven off the track by the team owner's son, Marco Andretti.
The incident led to a major closed-door meeting that lasted for an hour after the race. Inside the meeting were Andretti Green Racing team owners Michael Andretti, Kim Green and Kevin Savoree and the four drivers including Tony Kanaan, Hideki Mutoh, Marco Andretti and Patrick.
This season, Andretti Green Racing has become "Team Turmoil."
Rather than storm down and put the finger of blame on Marco Andretti, as she has been prone to do with rival drivers Ryan Briscoe is this year's Indianapolis 500 and Milka Duno last weekend at Mid-Ohio, Patrick let her teammate off the hook.
"Marco is my teammate, and I know he wouldn't do things on purpose, so it's all good," Patrick said.
Marco Andretti left the meeting without comment. The team issued an innocuous quote from the driver following the race that did not bring up the incident.
"It was a difficult race and not the finish we were looking for," the statement said. "There was tremendous fan support and this was a great event weekend, so hopefully we'll have a better result next year."
----
Patrick's IndyCar suffered a flat left rear and Andretti's car suffered front wing damage. Patrick's car had to be restarted by the Delphi IndyCar safety team but it dealt a critical blow to both drivers' chances in the race.
Andretti would finish 17th and Patrick 18th, and both were summoned into the back of one of the AGR transporters for a closed-door meeting;
When asked if it were a "give-and-take" meeting, Andretti snickered, hopped on his scooter and drove off.
----
An angry-looking Kanaan marched out of the meeting and left the track. When asked by SI.com about the particulars of the meeting, he snapped, "I'm not going to talk about it. That's our personal stuff and it's nobody else's business.
"You can ask but I'm not going to talk."
When pressed on the issue, however, Kanaan finally offered his thoughts on the team's overall performance.
"I think we didn't have good cars," Kanaan said. "We tried to regroup and didn't do a good job as a team. When the best finish for the team is ninth-place, that's not a good result for anyone."
----
Luckily for Patrick and the AGR team, there were no video cameras in the closed-door meeting, but the fact it needed to be held in the first place only underlines how this has become "Team Turmoil" of the IndyCar Series.
... notes from The EDJE
Original Story:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/wr....
The incident led to a major closed-door meeting that lasted for an hour after the race. Inside the meeting were Andretti Green Racing team owners Michael Andretti, Kim Green and Kevin Savoree and the four drivers including Tony Kanaan, Hideki Mutoh, Marco Andretti and Patrick.
This season, Andretti Green Racing has become "Team Turmoil."
Rather than storm down and put the finger of blame on Marco Andretti, as she has been prone to do with rival drivers Ryan Briscoe is this year's Indianapolis 500 and Milka Duno last weekend at Mid-Ohio, Patrick let her teammate off the hook.
"Marco is my teammate, and I know he wouldn't do things on purpose, so it's all good," Patrick said.
Marco Andretti left the meeting without comment. The team issued an innocuous quote from the driver following the race that did not bring up the incident.
"It was a difficult race and not the finish we were looking for," the statement said. "There was tremendous fan support and this was a great event weekend, so hopefully we'll have a better result next year."
----
Patrick's IndyCar suffered a flat left rear and Andretti's car suffered front wing damage. Patrick's car had to be restarted by the Delphi IndyCar safety team but it dealt a critical blow to both drivers' chances in the race.
Andretti would finish 17th and Patrick 18th, and both were summoned into the back of one of the AGR transporters for a closed-door meeting;
When asked if it were a "give-and-take" meeting, Andretti snickered, hopped on his scooter and drove off.
----
An angry-looking Kanaan marched out of the meeting and left the track. When asked by SI.com about the particulars of the meeting, he snapped, "I'm not going to talk about it. That's our personal stuff and it's nobody else's business.
"You can ask but I'm not going to talk."
When pressed on the issue, however, Kanaan finally offered his thoughts on the team's overall performance.
"I think we didn't have good cars," Kanaan said. "We tried to regroup and didn't do a good job as a team. When the best finish for the team is ninth-place, that's not a good result for anyone."
----
Luckily for Patrick and the AGR team, there were no video cameras in the closed-door meeting, but the fact it needed to be held in the first place only underlines how this has become "Team Turmoil" of the IndyCar Series.
... notes from The EDJE
Original Story:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/wr....
