We've all heard the rumors for a couple of years, and not it looks like Tony Stewart let the cat out the bag on Saturday in Atlanta: Sooner rather than later, Danica Patrick is going to be behind the wheel of one or more cars on the NASCAR circuit, more than likely in the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series.

And when that does happen, Patrick will more than likely be on the fast track to becoming one of the most well-compensated athletes in the world.  Everybody knows that in NASCAR the ability to attract and hold sponsors can be as important as winning races.  Patrick, despite the fact that she's only won a single race in her IRL career, is already the most high profile driver in American open wheel racing.  There are few new worlds left to conquer, and NASCAR is all that's really left in North America.

According to the published reports, Patrick wouldn't leave her ride with Andretti Green Racing, but would rather run a limited number of races on NASCAR's two junior circuits as part of Stewart's team in addition to her IRL duties.  If/when she makes that first appearance, it's going to be a category five media frenzy, and companies are going to kill each other to sponsor her ride.

Once again, keep in mind that Patrick isn't actually leaving IRL just yet.  While she might not have anything left to do in IRL off the track, there is a little bit of unfinished business she would probably like to take care of in Indianapolis next May.  I don't think she'll bolt to NASCAR full time until she's had a few more kicks at that can.

POSTCRIPT: For those of you who came looking for Danica Patrick pics, click here.  And when you speak of me, speak well.

So what did ABC's announcer say when they came back from commercial?

"We're at an auto race where a hockey game has broken out."

Wow, how original. He said this even though it seems like racers on every major North American circuit, be it Champ Car, IRL or NASCAR, get into post-race confrontations like this on a more or less regular basis.

Instead, they ought to call these incidents for what they really are: WWE-style garbage. Hockey fights are real.

Of course, the IRL folks would never stoop so low as to use an incident like this to promote the sport, now would they?

More soon.

UPDATE: As soon as this hits YouTube, be sure to see Sam Hornish, Sr. do his best Don Zimmer imitation, first shoving Kannan, before getting shoved to the ground himself. Later, in a post-race interview, Kannan took a shot at Hornish, Sr., saying that the driver always needs to have his father around to defend him, and that's why "dads belong in the grandstand," and not the pits.

As Marco Andretti saw the fight develop, he pushed his father, Michael, out of the line of fire as he went to defend his driver Kannan. As Hornish, Sr. was shoved to the ground, it seemed as if the younger Andretti said, "See what happened," as the elder covered his eyes in disbelief.

ABC can't get enough of re-playing the incident. Oh, the horror.

As the son of a son of Scotland, I teared up a little when Dario took the checkered flag. Way to go.

Though the circuit, like most others, is far safer than it was in the past, I can't help but still feel something of relief when I hear the news that a driver is calling it quits after a long career. I guess I just can't get the stories of Ayrton Senna, Gilles Villeneuve and Pedro Rodriguez out of my head. For more on F1 safety, check out this Mitchell Yelverton post from The Truth About Cars:

While today]]> http://offwing.com/2006/09/report-schumacher-to-announce-retirement-this-weekend/feed 0 http://offwing.com/2006/08/and-speaking-of-the-denver-grand-prix http://offwing.com/2006/08/and-speaking-of-the-denver-grand-prix#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 03:59:59 +0000 Eric McErlain http://ericmcerlain.com/site/?p=14959 I would have had more to share, but my flight didn't get into Dulles until just before Midnight, and it was more than an hour later before I even got to my car after what seemed like an interminable wait in baggage claim. Add it all up, and I wasn't through my front door until after 1:30 a.m.

Total travel time from departure from the race to my front door: 10.5 hours. Not fun. Not fun at all.

In any case, I still have a few items to share. Click here for a gallery of pics of the Newman Wachs racer I was in Denver to see in the first place.

And here's the view from the seats that I had all weekend. That's Invesco Field in the background:

I'm afraid this video doesn't do the experience much justice. After my first full weekend of big time auto racing, I'm hooked. I'll have more later in the week.

]]> http://offwing.com/2006/08/and-speaking-of-the-denver-grand-prix/feed 1 http://offwing.com/2006/08/at-the-denver-grand-prix http://offwing.com/2006/08/at-the-denver-grand-prix#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 03:59:59 +0000 Eric McErlain http://ericmcerlain.com/site/?p=14964 Every once in a while, I've come across assignments in my career where the burdens of work become light and sweet. When I was a young corporate PR drone, the company I worked for owned the Denver Nuggets, and got the assignment to write a season preview for the company newsletter, an experience that included watching a solitary Larry Bird take endless foul shots hours before an exhibition game.

Later in my career, I got to slip into the opening of the MCI Center here in Washington while I was working for the telecom company. At another time during my stretch at MCI, I took a tour of the backlot of Paramount Studios where all the Star Trek Series were shot. And when the CEO of PSINet appeared at a press conference with then Baltimore Ravens Owner Art Modell to announce a stadium naming rights deal, I got to play a small, but satisfying role in the day's events.

And now I've gotten lucky again. This weekend, the logo of my employer, the Nuclear Energy Institute, is going to appear on one of the cars from the Newman Wachs Racing Team as it participates in a Champ Car Atlantic Series event in Denver. It's all part of the industry's efforts to communicate the environmental benefits of nuclear energy, in this case the fact that nuclear-generated electricity doesn't pollute the air or contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.

Guess who's been asked to ride shotgun?

In any case, I'll be blogging about it over at my work blog, NEI Nuclear Notes, throughout the weekend, and probably into Monday as well. Anything that isn't work related, I'll be posting here at Off Wing.

I'll be bringing my camera, and the folks at Newman Wachs tell me that I should have more or less unlimited access to all sorts of areas around the track. And even though my official work will end once the Champ Atlantic race finishes up early on Sunday, I'll be sticking around for the Denver Grand Prix later in the day before heading home.

This ought to be fun. Please come back and visit all weekend long.

For those of you who would like to watch on television, the Speed Channel schedule is here.

]]> http://offwing.com/2006/08/at-the-denver-grand-prix/feed 1 http://offwing.com/2006/08/villeneuve-loses-f1-ride-nascar-next http://offwing.com/2006/08/villeneuve-loses-f1-ride-nascar-next#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 03:59:59 +0000 Eric McErlain http://ericmcerlain.com/site/?p=14974 After several weeks of speculation that he was done with the BMW Sauber Team, Jacques Villeneuve and the team have made it official:

Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve's Formula One career appears over after he parted company with BMW-Sauber.

The Canadian sat out Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix due to the after effects of a heavy crash in Germany.

BMW-Sauber used the opportunity to give Polish rookie Robert Kubica his debut and suggested he could stay on in the role even when Villeneuve was fit.

That prompted Monday's announcement of a split, with the team blaming uncertainty over Villeneuve's future for the decision.

What's next for the former F1 world champ? Speculation has him grabbing a ride in NASCAR for 2007 -- and some say he might already be there. More here.

POSTSCRIPT: I shouldn't forget to congratulate Jenson Button on his first F1 win ever, in what was perhaps the wildest race on the circuit so far this season in Budapest. I wish every weekend in F1 could have been like the one we just had in Hungary.

]]> http://offwing.com/2006/08/villeneuve-loses-f1-ride-nascar-next/feed 0 http://offwing.com/2006/07/the-tracy-tagliani-fight http://offwing.com/2006/07/the-tracy-tagliani-fight#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 03:59:59 +0000 Eric McErlain http://ericmcerlain.com/site/?p=14996 For those of you who missed the Paul Tracy-Alex Tagliani confrontation yesterday, here's the video:

A great television moment.

]]> http://offwing.com/2006/07/the-tracy-tagliani-fight/feed 1 http://offwing.com/2006/07/champ-car-or-championship-boxing http://offwing.com/2006/07/champ-car-or-championship-boxing#comments Thu, 01 Jan 1970 03:59:59 +0000 Eric McErlain http://ericmcerlain.com/site/?p=15002 Great television moment out of the San Jose Grand Prix today: After overshooting Turn 6 on the city-street course, Paul Tracy spun his car into a 180 degree spin to rejoin the race, unfortunately, he skipped right out into traffic, and took the nose off of Alex Tagliani's car, knocking both out of the race.

But that's just where the fun began, as Tagliani stalked off the course to find Tracy and give him a piece of his mind -- and with an NBC cameraman in tow to boot. The results were predictable, as Tagliani grabbed Tracy and demanded an explanation. When he didn't get one, an enraged Tagliani screamed that his car was destroyed. He made it clear repeatedly that he had "no cars left,".

It was at that point that Tracy had enough, and asked Tagliani to get his hands off of him. But Tagliani wouldn't let up, which is when he threw a punch at Tracy. He then responded in kind -- which is where NBC cut the feed to the camera.

It's probably the best moment Champ Car has had in a long time. I'm glad I decided to watch. Courtesy of TiVo, I've watched the confrontation at least four times now.

One last note: PJ went to last year's race, so there's always a chance he was nearby with his camera. I sure hope so.

]]> http://offwing.com/2006/07/champ-car-or-championship-boxing/feed 0