Etc...

A pizza, please, sans police

When a Charlotte, N.C., pizza shop gave senior Dorothy Densmore the cold shoulder this week, she turned up the heat of her own temper. After a 911 dispatcher fielded 20 calls from her in little more than half an hour, all to complain that the shop wouldn't deliver to her apartment, the police charged her with misusing the 911 system - but only after a warning. Next time, maybe Dorothy will dial 411 and find another pizza parlor - or the Better Business Bureau.

Danica Patrick ready to rev it up at the Indy 500

Danica Patrick has yet to take the green starting flag at the Indianapolis 500, and already she's been a guest on the David Letterman show. And why not? The rookie has been the most watched driver at the speedway this year, and the first woman with the car, team, and starting position (4th) that race watchers consider necessary to win. Letterman, by the way, happens to be co-owner of the Rahal Letterman Racing Team for which Patrick drives. Her qualifying speed of 227.004 m.p.h. puts her on the inside of the second row in the 33-car field for Sunday's 89th Indy 500. Patrick follows in the tire tracks of three other women to race at the Brickyard, beginning with physicist Janet Guthrie in 1977. The women who've competed at Indy, the years they qualified, plus their starting and finishing positions:

Year/ Start/ Finish
Janet Guthrie
1977 26th 29th
1978 15th 9th
1979 14th 34th
Lynn St. James
1992 27th 11th
1993 21st 25th
1994 6th 19th
1995 28th 32nd
1996 18th 14th
1997 34th 13th
2000 32nd 32nd
Sarah Fisher
2000 19th 31st
2001 15th 31st
2002 9th 24th
2003 24th 31st
2004 19th 21st
- www.indy500.com