During Saturday's qualifying, Danica Patrick qualified with a scarily ill handling race car that was capable of only the 23rd starting position. Obviously frustrated at her first lack of success at Indy and probably compounded by her team's lack of performance throughout this season, this is what she said when interviewed over the track's PA system: "I don't know. I'm very, very disappointed. I've never been bad here before. I've never been outside the top 10 on a finish or qualifying, so... it's not my fault. This car is not good." She continued to recount a previous qualifying attempt in which she qualified well with an oversteering car as proof that she has the skills to do well. The crowd booed this and well they should have. She got out of the car, and whether she meant to or not, publicly placed the blame for her ill handling car squarely on the shoulders of her team. Motor Sport is a TEAM sport; she shoulders just as much blame for the car's lack of performance as the rest of the team does. Sure, they didn't provide her with a car that was fast enough but you can also argue that she didn't provide the feedback needed by the team to make her car fast enough. I hope that, in retrospect, she regrets what she said. I also hope that she doesn't believe what she said, that it was just the frustration of a disappointing season and month of May bubbling to the surface.
Paul Tracy, one of my open wheel heroes, experienced the worst case scenario: not making the big race. He and KV Racing pulled a time that eventually would have made the race expecting that another car would bump them out. Tracy's car did not handle well in the afternoon heat and he ended up aborting the try because the speed wasn't fast enough to get in. Time ran out on Tracy and the KV squad and he didn't get a chance to go out again. Sadly, PT is missing the 2010 Indianapolis 500. Paul's response afterwards: "Turns out we would still have been in. But it's a team decision. And we worked as a team all week, and we made decisions as a team. And you win and lose as a team." This is how the situation should be handled. PT realizes that it is a TEAM sport. You win and lose as a team, something that Danica Patrick apparently forgot.
Tony Kanaan almost experienced the same fate as Paul Tracy and during the weekend proved why he is a champion. Kanaan destroyed a car on Saturday, missing not only the Fast 9, but the top 24 as well, forcing him to qualify on Sunday's Bump Day. On Sunday, he crashed again, this time sustaining damage to the car. The Andretti Autosport team labored throughout the afternoon, using parts from three of the other Andretti Autosport cars to rebuild Kanaan's car. Kanaan didn't place blame in public. He maintained his composure throughout then went out and put the car in the field with a 224.072 MPH four lap average with only 30 minutes left in qualifying. This is the first time Kanaan has qualified outside of the first two rows for the Indianapolis 500, yet he handled himself like the champion he is and carried himself like the team leader that he is. Here is what Kanaan posted on Twitter after his trying weekend: "Today I am a happy person,not because I qualifed, because I realize how many friends and fans I have.Thanks to all of you for the support." This is why TK is another of my open wheel heroes.
Mac McCormick III
No comments:
Post a Comment