By Eric Powell
indy500.com
Friday, September 5, 2008
After taking the Madden Cruiser into legendary Turn 1 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 70 mph, Danica Patrick has a new appreciation for what her Motorola-sponsored IndyCar Series car can do at 220 mph.
"It kind of handles like you want an IndyCar to handle - it understeers, which means it doesn't want to turn," Patrick said. "So as I went into Turn 1 a little hot one lap, like 70 mph, it didn't really turn as easy and I thought, 'Probably better back it down a little.' I felt the pressure to go fast! What can I say, I'm a driver. I'm like, 'Let's not drive around at 50.'"
Patrick drove John Madden's Outback Steakhouse-sponsored tour bus Sept. 5 around the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval to shoot the opening scenes for NBC's coverage of the Indianapolis Colts-Chicago Bears NFL game, the "Sunday Night Football" regular-season opener, which will air live at 8 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Sept. 7.
Veteran sports broadcaster Al Michaels and NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden are commentators for "Sunday Night Football," and Madden, who doesn't like to fly, travels to and from games in the Madden Cruiser.
Patrick grew up only an hour from Chicago and was a Bears' fan in her early years. But she also likes the Colts and had a sly answer for the inevitable question: Which team will you cheer for on Sunday?
"I grew up as a Bears fan - by law in my house - (which) makes my job a little difficult to choose who to cheer for," she said. "So, I'm going to cheer for the team that's losing at halftime. You've got to support the underdog."
Immediately after the shoot, Patrick hit the road for Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., for the PEAK Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300, the IndyCar Series season finale which airs on ABC at 3:30 p.m. (ET) Sunday, Sept. 7. Patrick is hopeful the race will be completed in time for her to see the start of the game.
"I don't know if the race will be done in time to catch the start," she said. "No matter what, we're going to TiVo it to see how it all turned out and make sure that it looked like I was doing a reasonable amount of speed around the Speedway."
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