pressdog.com

Danica and Pippa Declared Most Popular

Danica Patrick

Pippa Mann

Women of pressdog™ Danica Patrick and Pippa Mann were declared Most Popular in the IndyCar and Firestone Indy Lights leagues respectively at the annual DownForce banquet last weekend.

De Silvestro, Lloyd Among Combatants for Autosport Rookie of the Year, Fans Asked to Vote

Autosport.com is asking fans to vote for "AUTOSPORT.com Rookie of the Year award - a key part of the annual AUTOSPORT Awards."

Simona and Alex face a formidable grid of potential ROYs, including Formula 1 newcomers Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hulkenberg and Vitaly Petrov, GP2ers Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird, Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Kris Meeke, and World Rally Championship convert Kimi Raikkonen.

Also on the ballot are Formula 2 and British Formula 3 champions Dean Stoneman and Jean-Eric Vergne.

The best part is that this ROY race IS THE FAN'S BUSINESS, and you're being asked to VOTE for the winner. So VOTE, ye BASTARDS, HERE.

Indianapolis 500 Historic Grid: The Movie

History geeks -- and you know who you are -- feast on this courtesy of IMS productions:

For a list of the grid, go here.

Sarah Fisher Wins "Risk Taker" Award

pressdog fav Sarah Fisher was presented with the “Risk Taker” Leading Light Award from Women and Hi Tech in Indianapolis on Thursday night.

The Leading Light Award Ceremony honored women from Indiana with achievements in science, education, and technology.

Sarah's risk involved draining her savings to start Sarah Fisher Racing with husband Andy O'Gara in 2008.

That's crazy enough for anyone, more so for woman of modest means who simply shared the American drive to start a small business. Read more about Sarah's journey from 19-year-old driver to 30-year-old team boss here.

For more on Sarah's very deserved award, check the Official IndyCar Blog HERE.

Danica GIRDS FOR WAR in Charlotte

Here's the thing: Danica Patrick has a temper, and it's pretty clear she ain't takin' no shit from anybody.

If you've ever gotten The Look (as I have), you know this is NOT miniature golf.

So you had to see the smack coming after Danica got rolled (allegedly) by James Buescher at California last race.

Today Danica in Charlotte Danica was throwing down: "I hope that he (James Buescher) thinks about what he did last weekend. If he plays well with others then you know we'll be able to carry on. But if he doesn't, there's going to be a need for something to happen because you can't get pushed around out there. You can't."

Read more Danica Smacktrick HERE.

"There's going to be a need for something to happen ..." Translation, "something's going to have to go down" or "we are gonna GO." GO TIME IN CHARLOTTE. If everyone thinks I'm suddenly a Fanica or kissing Danica's ass or whatever, they're wrong. I'm a fan of passion and emotion and something other than vanilla beating vanilla for the 769th time in a row.

Danica is colorful and different and edgy. I'm a fan of all that. And ... news flash ... so are sponsors. Plus I'm so hungry for some emotion in racing that I'm unreasonalby giddy about NASCAR paint swapping. You all go about your business arguing over the IndyCar championship trophy, etc. I'll be watching a race at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Friday on ESPN2.

Props to my boy Andy Bernstein for making me aware of the smack talk in Charlotte today.

The Historic Grid Listing

As part of the celebration of the 100 years of IMS, IndyCar rolled out a grid of historic Indy 500 winners (above). Read all about it on the Official Blog HERE. Courtesy of IndyCar PR, here is a listing of the cars on the historic grid.

1 -- 1911 (yellow) Harroun 2010 (red) Franchitti 1961 (white) Foyt
2 -- 1979 (white/blue/red) Mears 1939/40 (maroon) Shaw 1970 (blue) Unser
3 -- 1963 (white/blue/red) Jones 1990 (red) Luyendyk 1947/48 (blue) Rose
4 -- 1980 (yellow) Rutherford 1953 (gray) Vukovich 1968 (red/black/yellow) Unser
5 -- 1964 (white/blue/red) Foyt 1965 (green/yellow)Clark 1922 (cream) Murphy
6 -- 1969 (orange) Andretti 1957/58 (yellow) Hanks/Bryan 1983 (white/red/blue) Sneva
7 -- 1912 (blue)Dawson 1982 (blue/red)Johncock 1952 (cream) Ruttman
8 -- 1972 (blue) Donohue 1962 (red/white/blue) Ward 2000 (red) Montoya
9 -- 1928 (gold/black) Meyer 1995 (blue/white) Villeneuve 1950 (yellow) Parsons
10 -- 1977 (orange) Foyt 1951 (blue) Wallard 1992 (blue/white/red) Unser
11 -- 1946 (blue) Robson 1978 (red/white/blue) Unser 1932 (white) Frame

Word to Chile

Props to Chile for coming to the emotional rescue of their trapped miners. Manly tears all around. Today we're all Chilean (Ich bin ein Chilean).

Vote Early and Often for Sage Karam as SI Kid Athlete of the Year

Sage Karam, USF2000 champion who is the same age as my youngest daughter (15), is a semi-finalist for Sports Illustrated Kid Athlete of the Year. Fans are being asked to vote for their favorite.

So ... VOTE, ye BASTARDS: www.sikids.com/contests/skoty/2010/vote

The top 3 vote getters will advance to the finals and the Sports Illustrated editors will select the winner. This is a Chicago-style vote, so you can vote as many times as you want. Show an open-wheeler some love and click it.

Damn You, Nationbusch ... DAMN YOU

It's come to this: I am looking forward to the next NASCAR Nationwide race. And if I get drunk and become totally honest -- my anticipation may be more than for any IndyCar race last season.

Damn you, Nationwide. DAMN YOU TO HELL FOR BEING INTERESTING. Judas priest. I really wanted the Nationwide Races Starring Danica Patrick to be boring and uninteresting. I wanted this out of loyalty to IndyCar, even though IndyCar's "story lines" have been perpetually recycled since 2005.

But NOOOOOOO. After just one Nationbusch race, I am intrigued. Even though I fell asleep and woke up with Danica P30, only to learn about The Crash later.

But I will have to tune in Saturday Friday. Why?

Danica Gets Speared at Fontana

Official NASCAR video of Danica Patrick getting rammed from the rear (take it easy!) at Fontana on Saturday.

Whether this was "one of them racing deals" or one them "feel free to intentionally hit any car you want" NASCAR "let-em-race" deals, YOU BE THE JUDGE.

I will say that any racing in which one compeitor admits to intentionally wrecking another (which has happened many times in NASCAR) and gets no penalty is bullshit.