Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival - March 19 - Ask Patty

March 19, 2010

Women in Motorsports Blog Carnival - March 19

AskPatty.com's women in motorsports blog carnival rounds up all the latest news from Melanie Troxel's triumph over Ashley Force Hood to Angelle Sampey's retirement.

Danica Patrick made the switch back from NASCAR to Indy Racing last weekend with an effortless transition.

She started in 13 position, and finished in 15.

“At the end of the day I think the Godaddy.com car is going to be strong this year and the team overall is a lot stronger than we’ve been," said Patrick. "It was a good first out for us.”

The next race for Patrick is the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Fla., on Sunday, March 28.

Milka Duno may have landed a full time ride with Dale Coyne Racing this season in IndyCar, but she's yet to prove her racing mite.

In Sao Paulo, Duno made contact on lap 20, which put her out of the race.

Duno, who signed with Coyne earlier this month, overall is excited about her new opportunities.

“I look forward to competing with Dale Coyne Racing. I’ve had the chance to speak with Dale and the team to discuss goals for the season and we are in harmony in all areas”, said Duno. “For the past three seasons I’ve only run partial schedules and I’m anxious to be competing in all the races this year. Doing so builds momentum and maintains consistency that I feel is a key factor to good results. The full schedule includes seven races at tracks that I have yet to compete on so I will be doing my absolute best to learn these new tracks as quickly as possible. This full season will be challenging – but I’m very thankful for the opportunity!”

Lisa Bowman-Lee gets a thrill from having a bunch of men chasing her. Only, she likes the chase to be on a racetrack.

The 40-year-old who married her childhood sweetheart 18 years ago, entered the male- dominated, testosterone-driven world of professional car racing in 2000, and she is loving every minute of it. The fact that she has racked up 120 trophies and numerous certificates over the years for her award-winning performances, shows that she is a hard catch.

Indore, India, is not usually a place associated with women's racing, but last weekend they turned out all the stops.

Women of all ages participated in the event which had women drivers on the hunt for five spots within the city; with clues given at each location. At each point, they were given a task to complete before they were allowed to move on.

First prize was awarded to Dr.Snehal Kotari, second to Monika Sharma and third was earned by Praveena Mishra.

Melanie Troxel trumped rival Ashley Force Hood in a close call with the wall first round at Gainesville Raceway last weekend. She almost knocked into the left side retaining wall before gathering up her ride for the win.

"That was the second time I was really close to that left-hand wall," Troxel said. "Fortunately for us it was close but not on the wall. It wasn't pretty but any time you can get a win, there's no complaining.

"It was our first round win of the year and we ran quicker than we ever have this weekend. There's a natural tendency for racers to want more, but we've made improvements off our last race, which is the goal we set when we came in."

Later, she fell to Tony Pedregon.

In Pro Mod, Troxel followed up Saturday night's win over Chip King with a quarterfinal loss to Kenny Lang after she spun the tires of her Corvette.

Three-time NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Angelle Sampey announced her retirement this week. At one time Sampey was the Queen of motorcycle drag racing but now she is stepping away from the sport to focus on her family.

Sampey won the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle championship three times (2000-2002). Along with Shirley Muldowney, Sampey is one of a few women to have won a major motorsports championship.

Due to lack of sponsorship, Sampey did not race during the 2009 season.