Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula 1 World Champion has taken Danica Patrick off the race track last weekend during the last moments of the NASCAR Nationwide race held at Road America.
The television footage shows Villeneuve past Max Papis and on Danica Patrick's rear bumper going into a sharp left-hand corner when he appeared to miss his braking point and tapped into her GoDaddy.com car, sending her spinning off the track.
After first blaming the whole thing on another driver, Villeneuve dismissively waved Danica's crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and reporters away and made the following statement on TV: "It (Patrick's trip into the gravel trap) had nothing to do with me. I don't care."
That promoted Discount Tire, the main sponsor of Penske Racing's No. 22 Nationwide Series car driven by Villeneuve that day, took the rare step of issuing a statement.
"Together Penske and Discount Tire have achieved great success in the Nationwide Series, including a championship, and have maintained the highest levels of integrity and sportsmanship throughout that relationship. Although we believe the contact between Villeneuve and Patrick to be unfortunate, it is a part of professional racing. However, Villeneuve's post-race comments did not reflect our ideals regarding sportsmanship. Having said that, we continue to be very proud of our relationship with the Penske organization."
The television footage shows Villeneuve past Max Papis and on Danica Patrick's rear bumper going into a sharp left-hand corner when he appeared to miss his braking point and tapped into her GoDaddy.com car, sending her spinning off the track.
After first blaming the whole thing on another driver, Villeneuve dismissively waved Danica's crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and reporters away and made the following statement on TV: "It (Patrick's trip into the gravel trap) had nothing to do with me. I don't care."
That promoted Discount Tire, the main sponsor of Penske Racing's No. 22 Nationwide Series car driven by Villeneuve that day, took the rare step of issuing a statement.
"Together Penske and Discount Tire have achieved great success in the Nationwide Series, including a championship, and have maintained the highest levels of integrity and sportsmanship throughout that relationship. Although we believe the contact between Villeneuve and Patrick to be unfortunate, it is a part of professional racing. However, Villeneuve's post-race comments did not reflect our ideals regarding sportsmanship. Having said that, we continue to be very proud of our relationship with the Penske organization."