23-year old undaunted by media crush
source:
irl.racing-live.com
Rain and thunderstorms resulted in no action on the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway track Thursday but that did not slow the media rush
around 23-year-old rookie Danica Patrick.
While the rain was falling in Indianapolis, the female phenom with Rahal
Letterman Racing was participating in a national media teleconference. In
reality, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the RLR team had set up the
teleconference for Thursday before it was known there would be no activity on
the track, but the media function remained necessary due to the continuing media
buzz surrounding Patrick.
Patrick has been drawing the most fan and media attention around at the Speedway
since opening the month by running the fastest times in the Rookie Orientation
Program for the 89th running of the Indianapolis 500.
Contrast the Danica frenzy to that of 2000 Indianapolis rookie, Juan Pablo
Montoya. He was able to walk around the infield of the speedway in his Target
Chip Ganassi Racing shirt basically unnoticed. Montoya went on to win the race
in dominating fashion before taking his talents to Formula One.
Patrick on the other hand hardly move anywhere without drawing crowds of media
and fans. Even when she came out in a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up to
cover her identity she could not watch practice without being recognized and
approached for autographs.