Danica Patrick sizes up her passenger through black wraparound shades and quickly lets him know who's in charge: "All right. Buckle your belt." One metallic click and twenty seconds later, we're screaming down the long back straightaway of the Grand Prix of Denver road course at 110 miles an hour, the gold Ford Contour pace car in full song, Danica's delicate hands resting on the wheel, as casual as a Sunday motorist out for a meander in the park. The road -- smoother than your rich uncle's driveway this year -- suddenly widens as it sweeps left, and with a deft downshift under hard braking, Patrick aims the car into the circuit's already famous Turn 5, a treacherous, medium-speed hairpin that was the site of much metal-crunching and curse-hurling in the inaugural Denver race last... More >>>