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May 25, 2011 - The biggest cheers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway did not occur when Danica Patrick made her qualifying run late in the day on Sunday. No, the driver most often labeled the most popular in the IZOD IndyCar Series trailed in cheers to those for Simona De Silvestro, who qualified her backup car on Saturday just over 48 hours after a frightening wreck on the north end of IMS.
As Patrick continues to eye NASCAR in the future, it is De Silvestro who appears on the verge of filling that gap left by Patrick, even being able to exceed it in the coming years.
Patrick's slide in the eyes of some IndyCar fans started at IMS last year, when her car was surprisingly slow in qualifying. After completing her four-lap run, Patrick aired her complaints in a live interview broadcast throughout the track, saying:

I wasn't flat out the last two laps and I was scared to death flat on the first two.  I've never been bad here before. I've never been outside the top 10 on a finish or qualifying, so, it's not my fault. The car is not good.

To Patrick's credit, her comments this year when dealt a slow car in qualifying were much more measured. However, the damage was done in 2010, when the perception that Patrick would not push her car to its limits bothered some, but to put the blame on others irritated even the casual race fan. To complicate matters, Patrick had already begun to show signs of her interest in NASCAR, running a selected number of races in ARCA and Nationwide Series events.
The growing separation anxiety, combined with Patrick's apparent petulance following the 2010 qualification effort, greased the wheels for fans to start looking for a replacement for the highest-finishing woman in the Indianapolis 500.

We’ve had our share of severe weather this week and the outlook for Wednesday is for an even GREATER risk of strong to severe storms. In fact, both the National Weather Service in Indy and the Storm Prediction Center are suggesting the possibility of strong and long-lived tornadoes tomorrow. They will likely develop during the heat of the afternoon to our west in Missouri and Illinois, then track eastward into the Hoosier State. We’ll keep you covered here at Channel 13 with updates from Chuck Lofton on Sunrise, Nicole Misencik at Noon, and Chief Meteorologist Chris Wright along with Nicole in the afternoon.  Stay safe! -Meteorologist Chikage Windler