Racing
Danica Patrick made right move
By GREG ZYLA

Danica Patrick

Q: Greg, I heard that Danica Patrick was thinking about leaving IndyCar racing and joining NASCAR. Could this really be true? -Kathy M., e-mail from Florida

A: There had been wide speculation that Patrick would switch leagues after her Indy Racing League contract with Rahal Letterman expired at the end of this season. Her father was a guest of Roush Racing at Chicagoland Speedway for a recent Nextel Cup race, fueling rumors of a move to NASCAR.

But late last month, Patrick opted to stay in the IRL by signing with Andretti Green Racing for 2007. "My heart and soul is in IndyCar racing," she said. "NASCAR is not out for good. It's out for right now."

I think it's a good move on her part. The Indy Cars are very light, agile racing machines with big tires that stick to the race surface like nothing else. NASCAR, meanwhile, has big, heavy stock cars with smaller tires that don't hook up anywhere near an Indy Car. To say her NASCAR learning curve would be big is putting it mildly, but I do feel she has what it takes, mind you.

Patrick's recent fourth-place finish at Nashville proves she's as capable as ever in IndyCar racing, and that's where I feel she'll stay for several years to come.

Greg Zyla's Vega panel wagon gas-powered Funny Car as it ran in 1980.

If you threw her immediately into a pack of cars with Kyle

Busch on her right, Robby Gordon behind her, Tony Stewart on her left and Carl Edwards in front of her, it would be a tough learning curve for sure. That's my opinion, of course.

Presently, her many laps in an Indy Car just might be ready to pay off with a victory, and to move over to NASCAR and start from scratch would have been a major, time-consuming adjustment.

Q: Greg, I saw on the Internet that you used to race a Vega panel wagon Funny Car with a gas engine. Weren't these panel wagons some of the worst handling Funny Cars of all time? -Joe Z., e-mail from California

A: You are correct, Joe, but the fact is I didn't go 200 mph in mine as nitro Funny Car drivers did. The most famous Vega panel wagon Funny Cars were campaigned by Don Schumacher with Wonder Bread sponsorship in the early 1970s. Schumacher quickly found out how ill-handling the cars could be, and replaced them with regular Vega coupe bodies. Other panel-wagon nitro racers campaigned them, and crashed with regularity.

The quickest I ever went in my old Vega panel wagon was 138 mph in the quarter-mile, so it handled good, as it didn't fill the back of the car with air and make it "loose." This air rush was the main problem with these Funny Cars, as the quicker you went, the more air would build up in that panel wagon area inside and lift the rear tires off the ground. There are a few remaining

panel wagon Funny Cars, and one is called the "Paddy Wagon." It's a wheelstander exhibition vehicle that does about 120 mph in the quarter mile on its back tires. Bob Hall, who has campaigned the car for more than 20 years out of his home state of Maryland, owns it and still puts on shows everywhere. Thanks for remembering!

Write to Greg Zyla in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL32853-6475, or send an e-mail to letters.kfws@hearstsc.com.

(c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc