The resentment that is brewing in the IRL over the attention that Danica is receiving is getting publicly noticeable, especially following Kanaan’s win in Kansas when he basically opened with “you guys came to see Danica. Sorry” (not an exact quote there). Wow. An obviously overjoyed Kanaan starts off by bashing the media and the public before getting into his ‘we had a great car speech’. Then there are those ‘Danica who?’ t-shirts that are affectionately worn by a few members of the IRL squad. It’s all in good fun, no doubt. But behind every ‘joke’ there’s a certain amount of truth to it and it’s getting obvious the other drivers are frustrated by her attention.

You can tell the drivers all day that “its good exposure for the sport” and “they come to see her and then stick around for the rest of the field” as much as you want. The drivers will even repeat that mantra when asked by all the journalists about Miss Patrick. But they know better. They know that they come for her, stay for her and cheer for her. Any new fan that has arrived after the Indy500 is a Danica fan. There’s no question about it. Case in point: before Indy and the usual barrage of IRL PR, you seldom heard about Danica in the mainstream media. Nobody was really paying attention to her or the IRL in general. Then came the Danica-Media blitz and suddenly ticket sales and rating are higher than last years. You could spin this all you want, but the fact is, they are there to see her. And when she’s got the pole position, yet falls back to 8th before completing the first lap, the people won’t stick around much longer. When they see her in 16th place, the people won’t stick around much longer.

And its not that the drivers are upset with Danica. She’s essentially an innocent (I’ll be it pro-active ) member here. No, they resent the IRL for putting all their eggs in one basket. The top drivers in the IRL are worthy of twice the amount of press that she’s gotten. But the officials at the top knew that it took a pretty girl to get the media’s attention, so they have basically shun the other drivers for her.

The sad part is that the IRL is producing great racing this year. Very close finishes and a line-up that is likely its strongest in years. But nobody outside the racing world cares about that. People who watched ‘entertainment tonight’ or whatever chat shows she did don’t care that Wheldon is running away with the championship thanks to fantastic results. They don’t care that Sheckter is coming on very strong and is finally starting to look a little like his championship father. All they want is Danica and more Danica. Again, this is good short term exposure for the IRL, but it’s frustrating to the other drivers and for Danica who continues to be ‘below expectations’ even though she’s just a rookie. But I digress.


Paul Tracy coming in to Toronto as the leader of the Champ Car World Series! What an absolutely brilliant scenarios. I have to admit, following Long Beach, I feared that Seabass would run away with the championship. I literally thought he could win every race. But, it has not been the case at all and in fact, all expectations and predictions before the season started are coming true. They said the competition was the deepest its been years. Check. They said that PKV would compete for the championship. Check. Rusport would establish itself as one of the top teams. Check. We’d see quality runs out of the talented rookies. Check. We’ve got the recipe of a great season going!

This is all great for the series. Its ultra competitive and each victory earned are by results of hard-fought battles. Thus, making them extra special. I firmly believe that should Paul Tracy win at home this weekend, this win would eclipse his win in 2003. I know he’s proclaimed it to be the biggest win of his career. But with the series being what it is this year, I think the thrill from West Hill would have a new career highlight.
FYI: Bronte Tagliani will be on Wednesday’s Off the Record, while Alex, Bourdais, Tara Mcleod (CASCAR driver) and myself will be on Thursday. Hmm, wonder if the Danica question will come up? We’re set to be on, but with the looming NHL agreement, we could very well be bumped on account of TSN’s inevitable marathon coverage. I guess I shouldn’t make fun of TSN on the eve of my appearance on their network. Go tsn!