BROOKLYN, Mich. — Dan Wheldon has a well-deserved reputation of being a “lady’s man,” but one female who doesn’t seem to get along with the likeable Englishman is Danica Patrick, who ripped Wheldon after Sunday’s Firestone Indy 400 for what she believes caused the major crash on lap 144.
The resulting collision sent her Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti for a flight that probably lasted longer than the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903.
“Dan just came up and hit Dario and Dario flipped around,” Patrick said. “Dan drives really aggressively out there. He said it himself on pit lane at Milwaukee he’s tougher. I don’t know if tougher means rougher because he doesn’t play completely fair out there. I even said that on my radio, ‘Dan better play fair today.’ I’m serious because he likes to drive up and intimidate you.
“Don’t mess with us, especially Dario because he isn’t going to move. That’s the result. People need to think when you are going 225 miles per hour what the right and wrong things are. The faster you move upwards, the slower you move backwards.”
It’s the strongest comments yet from Patrick on Wheldon since their initial confrontation after the Milwaukee race June 3.
Patrick had one of the fastest cars in the race at that point and was able to continue in the race but she believed at that time Wheldon cost her a chance at victory. She charged the driver on pit lane after the race and even grabbed his arm, which led Wheldon to refer to her as a yapping little dog biting at his ankles.
Franchitti and Wheldon spoke about the incident in the infield care center and said the crash was really no one’s fault; they were just going for the same part of the race track.
“I went up just a touch and Dario started to come down with normal superspeedway stuff and unfortunately we touched,” Wheldon said. “Superspeedway-style racing you always run the risk of something like this happening. There was a lot of respect for everybody out there but there were instances where I was guilty as well. It’s just the law of averages.
“It’s never good but thankfully Dario is OK. Dario is a good friend and drives very aggressively out there.”

• Scott Sharp’s third-place finish was the fortunate ending to what could have been a disastrous day for the last of the IRL’s original drivers.
“The big moment, the big crash, I was tucked up right under Sam Hornish, Jr. and all of a sudden, Sam’s rear wing is almost in my cockpit,” Sharp recalled. “I thought when I hit him for sure it ripped off a lot more than the front wing.
“Obviously, the guys built us a pretty good car.”
 
• The man in the red suit talking to himself while walking through the infield wasn’t drunk or crazy; it was Helio Castroneves who was furious at Vitor Meira after the two drivers crashed on lap 59.
“The incident out there today was very unfortunate because the Team Penske car was awesome,” Castroneves said. “I have a lot of respect for Vitor and his driving abilities, but I think he was being a little too aggressive for so early in the race. Unfortunately we touched and it resulted in a short day for both of us.”
Meira disagreed with Castroneves on who was to blame for the incident.
“I’ve got my point of view and he’s got his point of view,” Meira said. “From my point of view, he moved. If you ask him for his point of view, he’s going to say whatever he thinks. We’re both men enough to first analyze what happened and then discuss it.
“Helio’s always been pretty good and I’ve always been good with him. It’s on to the next race.”