Sorry if this has been posted before.
http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0...-23770,00.html
Quote:
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Ingall title 'ultimate payback'
March 2, 2004
RUSSELL INGALL has revealed his wife was hospitalised and he received threats over his infamous V8 Supercar "race rage" confrontation with Mark Skaife.
The Ford driver remains angry with Skaife for comments made afterwards and says he'll refuse to acknowledge the Holden star this season unless Skaife wants to clear the air face to face.
Ingall also says winning the 2004 championship would provide the "ultimate payback".
Renowned for his steely approach to the sport and nicknamed "The Enforcer", Ingall was taken aback by the reaction to controversy which followed the 2003 final round incident at Eastern Creek in December.
And he's still upset by the effect it had on his family.
His wife Julia was taken to hospital with a stress-related condition. She has since recovered.
"My wife did end up in hospital. I don't want to talk too much about it, but I'm very angry about it," said Ingall.
"The way the incident was taken, the way it was perceived, when it comes to your family life, your wife and kids and that - they take to heart everything that is said.
"It affects a lot more than the person involved - it harms everyone around you.
"Motorsport's the same demographic as football.
"You get a lot of really genuine motorsport followers who are great people. But there is an element of people who are over-passionate, or not very smart, who make ridiculous, stupid comments and threats."
Ingall said little as the media storm raged, and admits his part - swerving his Ford toward Skaife, who was remonstrating with him trackside over their collision which put him out of the race - was "not the smartest thing I've ever done".
He was concerned by suggestions made later in some sections of the media that he'd endangered the Holden driver's life with his actions - something he categorically denies.
He was also annoyed by Skaife's post-incident comments which pinned the blame on him.
"I've not spoken to him (Skaife) since and unless he wants to get something off his chest face-to-face, not through the media, I'll refuse to acknowledge him," Ingall said.
"I'm not going to go out there and do anything stupid.
"My biggest motivation and the ultimate payback will be winning the championship.
"I'm going to try as hard as I can to achieve that.
"There will be nothing better than standing up there at the presentation night and picking up that trophy.
"That will be the ultimate retaliation."
Ingall's words add further spice to his first race with Skaife since Eastern Creek in the non-championship V8 Supercar event at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne starting on Thursday.
Ingall, who turned 40 last week, has every reason for optimism going into his second season with Ford's leading team, Stone Brothers Racing (SBR).
Team-mate Marcos Ambrose's championship win last year proved SBR has a competitive racing package, with both BA Falcons stripped back to basics and given a ground-up rebuild.
Ingall has set himself the target of beating Ambrose to win the title.
"The way my team-mate's going, if I beat him, I don't think there'll be too many ahead of him.
"It's no use picking soft targets. If you don't have strong competition, you don't pick up your level. "Marcos has taken it up a notch. Now I've got to lift."
...Oh yeah
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