Patrick says concerns about Japan understandable

Understandable, yes. Altogether rational? Maybe not so much.

Come now, she's hardly waving her arms in the air screaming "run for your lives!". In the current environment, bearing in mind she's not a nuclear physicist, her concern is both understandable and rational.

“Having concerns about coming here is completely understandable,” Patrick said Friday. “Now that I’m here, I’ve eaten the food, I go out running in the morning so I’m doing the things I normally do here and it seems like everything is fine.”

I guess someone should tell her that you can't see or taste radiation...

It's COMPLETELY understandable, especially given the lack of transparency (as is often the case) by the J-government. It's good, however, that she DID come and check it out for herself. For people who don't want to, that's fine too.

Understandable, yes. Altogether rational? Maybe not so much.

I totally agree. It's understandable that she would want to think of her own safety. Yet, irrationality exists. I remember one of my Japanese friends who works in Los Angeles was going to visit her family in Kyoto, when some of her coworkers suddenly got really mad at her and told her not to come back because she would get radiation poisoning and pass it on to them. They seemed so surprised that she didn't hear about the "thousands of Japanese people dying of radiation poisoning". All my friend could do was say, "Huh?"

It's COMPLETELY understandable, especially given the lack of transparency (as is often the case)

So true. The lack of transparency and sensationalism by governments all across the world is mindboggling. I wish governments and media around the world wouldn't do such things.

Understandable, yes. Altogether rational? Maybe not so much.

LFRAgain -- agreed. But no less irrational than the Japanese people who shunned refugees from the Fukushima area and have bullied their kids in school. Radiation is a scary word, and holding Danica Patrick to a higher standard than that demonstrated by Japanese people is unfair.

How about cancelling all car racing in the future...sport? yeah right.

“I know a lot of people are concerned, a lot of us looked at each other and said ‘Are you going to eat here? Did you eat sushi?’ We’ve all asked those questions but it seems fine.”

Don't speak too soon, Danica. You could still conceivably drop dead of radiation poisoning in the next hour or so. Fortunately, as long as you stay away from sushi, the only food eaten in exotic Zipang, you may yet make it through. Best keep a lead-lined refrigerator handy in the pits to be safe. I see that she's also cannily hung back in qualifying (23rd out of 26) just in case another earthquake should consume the front-runners. Smart...