Stewart tires of Petty rant about Danica
NASCAR driver Tony Stewart has a reputation as someone who’s willing to speak his mind. He’s setting that reputation as a car owner too.
Before a live audience at an appearance near Daytona International Speedway earlier this week, Stewart told Performance Racing Network that he suggested to Danica Patrick - who drives a car owned by Stewart-Haas Racing - that she challenge 76-year-old Richard Petty. This came after Petty made comments saying Patrick could only win a Sprint Cup race if “everybody else stayed home.”
“I think it [a race] would pretty much settle it once and for all, maybe get him to shut up a little bit, too,” Stewart told ESPN.com.
“I will supply the cars. If he wants to race her, I’ll make sure they have exactly the same setup in the car and give him the chance. He can drive one of my 14 cars. I don’t care.”
Petty made his original comments about Patrick during a recent appearance at the Canadian Motorsports Expo, saying that “If she’d have been a male, nobody would ever know if she’d showed up at a racetrack.”
Patrick finished 27th in the Sprint Cup standings during her rookie season while driving for Stewart-Haas. She finished eighth at last year’s Daytona 500 after becoming the first woman to win the pole for that event. She has seven top-10 finishes in the Nationwide Series.
“This is a female deal that’s driving her. There’s nothing wrong with that, because that’s good PR for me,” Stewart said. “More fans come out, people are more interested in it. She has helped to draw attention to the sport, which helps everybody in the sport.”
Patrick has brushed off Petty’s criticism, saying he is entitled to his opinion.
“As I said the last time somebody said something that was not so positive for me, it spawns so many positive articles,” Patrick said during Daytona 500 media day. “I love the conversation that it creates in sport, and across the board it makes sports interesting.
It makes life interesting when people have different perspectives, and that’s fine with me.”Too much pasta
As first reported by The Oklahoman of Oklahoma City on Wednesday, three University of Oklahoma athletes had to donate $3.83 each to charity to cover the cost of extra portions of pasta they ate at a graduation banquet in 2013 in order to restore their NCAA eligibility.
The information came to light when Oklahoma self-reported the violation of NCAA bylaw 16.11.1.6 that permits schools to provide athletes with “reasonable refreshments” from time to time for “celebratory events.”
Though such violations usually revolve around boosters picking up the tab for an athlete’s meal at a restaurant, everything from ham sandwiches to cream cheese have become issues in the past, according to The Los Angeles Times.
In 2000, then-Nebraska quarterback Eric Crouch had to donate $22.77 to charity to cover a ham sandwich and a plane ride that were regarded as extra benefits.
Another NCAA bylaw permits schools to offer bagels, fruits and nuts to athletes at any time.
An intepretation, which was eliminated last year, prohibited offering spreads such as cream cheese or peanut butter with the bagels.
In response to the Oklahoma story, an NCAA spokesman wrote in an email to the Times that, “While we appreciate Oklahoma’s commitment, there are no NCAA rules regarding portion sizes, and any penalties were determined by the university.”Quote of the day
“There’ll be some guys in the past couple of
recruiting classes that I had a hand in helping to bring to TCU. I know one
thing, my blood will be pumping red that day.” New Arkansas defensive backs coach Clay Jennings, who previously coached at TCU, on the Hogs facing the Horned Frogs in 2016 and 2017
Sports, Pages 21 on 02/21/2014