She ran side-by-side at 220+ mph in open cockpit cars. Why would she be scared at under 200 mph in an enclosed racecar?
I dunno... because the closed cars are heavier? And in some cases driven by guys who will TRY to hit you?
And side-by-side running in IndyCar mostly happens on ovals, although in those cars there’s a lot more chance of going airborne if they lock wheels. She spent very little time running side-by-side with anyone in IndyCar on road courses, unless she was being lapped. I was actually a bit surprised that she had such a hard time with road courses given that they were all she ran on in her Toyota Atlantic days...
I won’t pretend to be a huge race fan, but living in Indianapolis, I do catch a thing or two. I also can’t spout Danica statistics, but in my perception, she gets nervous when she’s racing in a group of cars. The open-wheeled cars have much more down force; the NASCAR vehicles get a little “loose” when cars are directly behind you-which is typical of the Daytona-style races. I think she’ll get squeamish when it happens, and will drop back, or cause the first “big one” at Daytona 2013.