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Danica Patrick

Danica Sue Patrick (born March 25, 1982 in Beloit, Wisconsin) is an American auto racing driver competing in the IndyCar Series. She was raised in Roscoe, Illinois. Patrick was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season. In May 2006, she published her autobiography, Danica: Crossing the Line. With her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300, Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy car race.

Early racing career

Danica Patrick began go-karting in 1992 at the age of ten at Sugar River Raceway outside of Brodhead, Wisconsin and went on to win several national championships. She moved to England at the age of 16 in order to advance her racing career. Focusing primarily on road racing, Patrick raced in several developmental open-wheel series while in Europe, including Formula Ford and Formula Vauxhall. Patrick earned a second-place finish in England's extremely competitive Formula Ford Festival, the highest-ever finish by either a woman or an American in the event.

In 2002, Patrick signed a multi-year deal to race for the team of Bobby Rahal. After making several starts in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, she moved to the Toyota Atlantic Championship for 2003. Driving for Rahal Letterman Racing with sponsorship from Argent, Patrick achieved moderate success in the Toyota Atlantic series. During her time in Atlantics, she won one pole and was a consistent podium finisher (top three); however, she never won a race. In 2004, Patrick finished third in the Championship.

As well as participating in Atlantics, Patrick also made an appearance in the American Le Mans Series, driving for the Prodrive Ferrari team to tenth place at the 2003 Grand Prix of Atlanta. She would attempt sports cars later in her career with a run at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2006.

IRL IndyCar Series

2005

After the 2004 racing season, Rahal Letterman Racing officially announced that Patrick would drive in the IRL IndyCar Series for 2005.

On May 29, 2005, Patrick became only the fourth woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500, following Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher. After posting the fastest practice speed of the month during the morning practice session on the first day of qualifications (May 15), she made an error in the first turn of her first qualifying lap, and failed to capture the pole position, which instead went to Tony Kanaan. Patrick's fourth starting position, however, was still the highest ever attained for the race by a female driver. Patrick became the first female driver to lead the race at Indianapolis, first when acquiring it for a lap near the mark while cycling through pit stops, and late in the race when she stayed out one lap longer than her rivals during a set of green-flag pit stops. Patrick overcame two crucial errors to finish fourth in the race, the same position in which she started: Patrick's car stalled in the pits about halfway through the race, dropping her to the middle of the field; and shortly after reclaiming a spot in the top 10, Patrick spun on a caution period just before an intended green flag leading to a four car accident. The accident caused damage to Patrick's car that was limited to the nose and front wing. Her pit crew promptly made repairs, and due to the subsequent yellow, Patrick was able to rejoin the field having lost only one position. When the leaders pitted for fuel on lap 172, Patrick stayed out to take the lead. On lap 194, eventual race winner and 2005 series champion Dan Wheldon passed her as she was forced to slow in order to conserve fuel. Patrick was subsequently passed by both Bryan Herta and her teammate Vitor Meira. Patrick's fourth place was the highest ever finish for a female driver at the Indy 500, besting the previous record of ninth set by Janet Guthrie in 1978. Patrick led 19 laps overall.

On July 2, 2005, Patrick won her first pole position, leading a 1-2-3 sweep by Rahal Letterman Racing at Kansas Speedway. She became the second woman to accomplish this feat in the IndyCar Series, the first being Sarah Fisher in 2002 at Kentucky Speedway. On August 13, 2005, she won her second pole at Kentucky Speedway, although this time, rain prematurely ended qualifying and position was determined by speeds achieved during practice. She took a third pole at Chicagoland Speedway which tied her with Tomas Scheckter's record for number of pole positions earned in a rookie season.

In 2005, Patrick finished 12th in the IndyCar Series championship, with 325 points. She was named Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season.

During the offseason following the 2005 racing year, Patrick competed in the Rolex 24 at Daytona along with co-driver Rusty Wallace in January 2006.

2006

Patrick competed in the 2006 IndyCar Series season giving her another chance at qualifying and racing in the Indianapolis 500. In the first race of the season, the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead, Patrick qualified third behind the Penske Racing teammates of Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish, Jr. However, tragedy struck as RLR teammate Paul Dana was killed in a crash during practice the morning of the race. Patrick and Buddy Rice withdrew from the race immediately. The two resumed their 2006 IndyCar campaign with the second race of the year at St. Petersburg

At the Indy 500, Patrick started eighth and finished eighth. After Watkins Glen, RLR switched to the Dallara chassis and the team struggled to adapt. Patrick struggled to remain competitive, but her fourth place finishes at Nashville and Milwaukee tied her career best IndyCar finishes. At Michigan, Patrick's car ran out of fuel with three laps to go and she fell to 17th. She rebounded at Kentucky and Infineon to finish 8th in both races.

In her final race with RLR at Chicagoland, Patrick recorded a 12th place finish and a 9th place finish in the IndyCar Series Championship point standings, besting her 12th place points finish as a rookie.

In November, the March of Dimes awarded her the title of Sportswoman of the Year in celebration of her dedication and success.

2007

On July 25, 2006, Patrick announced she had signed a deal to drive for Andretti Green Racing, replacing Bryan Herta in the number 7 Dallara Honda car beginning in 2007. Patrick's car is sponsored by Motorola, XM radio and Go Daddy.

In Patrick's first race with AGR at Homestead on March 24 she finished 14th after crashing into the pit wall on lap 154. She finished 8th at St. Pete and 11th at Japan. At Kansas she had her best finish of the year at that point, finishing 7th.

In April 2007, Patrick launched her official fan club The Danica Maniacs to help foster greater interaction between her and her fans.

Patrick ended up starting and finishing eighth in the 91st running of the Indianapolis 500. She ran as high as 2nd to Tony Kanaan after the mid-race rain delay. After a pit stop, she dropped back in the field. Patrick was working her way back to the front until the race was ended under the caution caused by Marco Andretti's accident due to the subsequent rain on lap 166.

At Milwaukee, Patrick started second to last but moved up quickly to 5th before contact with Dan Wheldon. Patrick managed to save the car from hitting anything but the wreck caused aerodynamic damage. She used a timely caution to get back on the lead lap and finish 8th. After the race she and Wheldon had a heated exchange after she tried to confront him about the wreck.

Following the incident at Milwaukee, Patrick rebounded with a career night at Texas in the Bombardier Learjet 550. She ran with the lead pack throughout the entire race and led a race for the first time since 2005. She finished less than a second behind winner Sam Hornish, Jr., a then career-best third, her first "podium" finish.

Her good fortune would only be temporary as she was involved in one of the several crashes at Iowa to finish 13th. She would however rebound at Richmond to run in the top 10 all night before finishing 6th.

She followed that up with an 11th place finish at Watkins Glen before running in the top 5 all day and finishing 3rd at Nashville. At Mid-Ohio she finished 5th (her best career road course finish) despite being involved in a lap 1 accident that sent her into the grass briefly.

Patrick continued to have bad luck at Michigan International Speedway as previous years have seen Patrick retire from the race early due to fuel and other troubles. At the 2007 running, a flat tire in the late portion of the race forced Patrick to pit and dropped her to a 7th place finish.

Her terrible luck would continue at Kentucky as she ran in the lead group all night and appeared headed towards another podium finish when she spun out exiting pit road with less than 50 laps to go. After restarting from that spin, a rear tire on Patrick's car blew leading to a crash and forcing her to retire from the race.

Her luck would get a little better at Infineon as she ran in the top 10 and finished 6th. However a series of slow pit stops kept her from what could have been an even better finish.

At Belle Isle, Patrick started 11th and was involved in two accidents from which she was able to restart without damage, eventually driving to the front and leading 9 laps of the race before falling back after having to pit. On the final lap, while Patrick was running in 5th, Buddy Rice, Scott Dixon and teammate Dario Franchitti were involved in an accident immediately in front of her. Patrick was able to avoid the wreck and finish in second place, a career-high in the IndyCar Series and tying her with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver Sarah Fisher for best finish in IndyCar racing by a female.

At the season finale in Chicagoland Speedway, Patrick ran most of the race in the top 6, but had to make a pit stop for fuel with 7 laps to go. When entering pit lane, Patrick spun-out but avoided damage to her car. With assistance from her pit crew, Patrick was able to refire the engine, make a complete pit stop and reenter the race, finishing 11th overall.

For the 2007 season as a whole, Patrick scored her first three career podium finishes to finish with 4 top 5's and 11 top 10's while leading 17 laps on the season. She also scored her career best championship points finish of 7th with 424 points.

2008

To begin the 2008 season, her second with AGR, Patrick scored her best career Homestead finish of 6th. She followed that up with another top 10 by scoring a 10th place finish at St. Petersburg.

Patrick won at Twin Ring Motegi in the Indy Japan 300 on April 20, 2008, becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race, joining the ranks of drag racer Shirley Muldowney, who won three NHRA Top Fuel Championships, as a "first female" winner in the top tier of American motorsports. Patrick took the Indy Japan 300 after the race leaders were forced to pit for fuel in the final laps. She finished 5.8594 seconds ahead of the Brazilian pole-sitter Helio Castroneves on the Twin Ring Motegi oval.

Her team owner, Michael Andretti, commented, "I'm thrilled for her that the monkey is finally off of her back."

A mechanical problem late in the race RoadRunner Turbo 300 at Kansas Speedway forced Patrick to retire early from the race.

During practice for the 2008 Indianapolis 500, Patrick's car struck a member of Dale Coyne Racing's pit crew when she came into the pits on May 9th. During the Indianapolis 500 on May 25, 2008, she retired from the race early after a collision in the pitlane. As Ryan Briscoe exited his pitbox the two cars collided, damaging Patrick's left rear suspension and eliminating both from the race. After being pushed back to her own pit, Patrick left her car and headed down pit road towards Briscoe's pit at which point IMS security intervened, preventing an on-track confrontation.

Following Indy, Patrick finished 9th at Milwaukee and 10th at Texas, with both races ending under yellow flag conditions. At Iowa and Richmond she stayed out of the many crashes during these races and finished 6th in each event.

Overall, she finished the 2008 IndyCar Series season in sixth place - the highest championship finish among American drivers for the 2008 season.

Patrick will test for Formula One team Honda in November 2008.

As AGR stepped up to take over the A1 Grand Prix Team USA, Patrick is scheduled to be racing in the A1 series along with teammate Marco Andretti.

Controversy

Prior to her win in Motegi, the most notable criticism of Patrick was that she had not won a race in three years of IRL competition and still garnered significant media attention. She is frequently promoted in mainstream and motorsport media, and has been compared to female athletes like Anna Kournikova for her apparent willingness to be marketed on her looks, examples being her appearance in FHM in April 2003 and Sports Illustrated in June 2005 and February 2008.

Before 2008, some racing journalists, IndyCar fans, and other drivers claimed that Patrick's relatively low body weight gave her an advantage in the IndyCar series, which had a strict minimum weight set for the cars but which did not account for the driver's own weight. Patrick's height is and she weighs . By comparison, the IRL's tallest driver in 2008 is Justin Wilson who weighs . The Dallara cars used in the IRL series weigh between and , excluding the driver and of fuel. IRL President Brian Barnhart thinks the advantage is exaggerated, telling Dave Caldwell for The New York Times that Patrick's weight "had a [...] minimal effect on the competition. With the IRL-Champ Car unification prior to the 2008 racing season, the rules were revised to define the minimum weight of the car as including the driver.

The narrow focus on weight differential, however, ignores the obvious and significant mechanical disadvantage Patrick continues to wrestle with in spite of many bigger and stronger drivers calling for leveling the playing field by adding power steering to Indy Cars.

Several male drivers have made negative comments about Patrick's ability, as a woman, to race successfully. In May 2006, after an appearance on ESPN SportsCenter's Budweiser Hot Seat, Patrick made comments that ruffled the feathers of former NASCAR drivers. Former driver Richard Petty responded, in a separate interview, by stating, "I just don't think it's a sport for women, and so far, it's proved out. It's really not. It's good for them to come in. It gives us a lot of publicity, it gives them publicity. But as far as being a real true racer, making a living out of it, it's kind of tough. After Patrick's IRL win, she was praised by many drivers. NASCAR driver and former IRL champion Tony Stewart, for example, said "I think obviously she's got talent; she's been successful in every form of racing she's been in so far and I don't see why she wouldn't be successful here [in NASCAR]. Bob Margolis of Yahoo! Sports criticized Patrick for her actions after being taken out of the 2008 Indianapolis 500 after a pit road collision with Ryan Briscoe, writing that "Patrick’s drama queen theatrics have worn thin.

Motorsports career results

American Open-Wheel

(American Open Wheel driver results legend) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

IndyCar

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Rank	Points
2005	Rahal Letterman	HMS Ret	PHX 15	STP 12	MOT 4	INDY 4	TXS 13	RIR 10	KAN 9	NSH 7	MIL Ret	MIS Ret	KTY 16	PPIR 8	SNM Ret	CHI 6	WGL 16	FON Ret			12th	325
2006	Rahal Letterman	HMS Wth¹	STP 6	MOT 8	INDY 8	WGL 8	TXS 12	RIR 15	KAN 11	NSH 4	MIL 4	MIS Ret	KTY 8	SNM 8	CHI 12						9th	302
2007	Andretti Green	HMS Ret	STP 8	MOT 11	KAN 7	INDY 8	MIL 8	TXS 3	IOW Ret	RIR 6	WGL 11	NSH 3	MDO 5	MIS 7	KTY Ret	SNM 6	DET 2	CHI 11			7th	424
2008	Andretti Green	HMS 6	STP 10	MOT² 1	LBH² DNP	KAN Ret	INDY Ret	MIL 9	TXS 10	IOW 6	RIR 6	WGL 14	NSH 5	MDO 12	EDM 18	KTY 11	SNM 5	DET 16	CHI 10	SRF³	6th	379

''¹ Patrick and teammate Buddy Rice withdrew when fellow Rahal Letterman teammate Paul Dana was killed in race morning practice.

² Because of Reunification prior to the start of the 2008 IRL season, a compromise was established where teams were permitted to run either the Indy Japan 300 on April 19 with the IRL formula and rules or the Long Beach Grand Prix on April 20 with the old Champ Car formula and rules. Both races were for full IRL points.

³ Non-points race

Years	Teams	Races	Poles	Wins	Podiums (Non-win)**	Top 10s (Non-podium)***	Indianapolis 500 Wins	Championships
4	2	64	3	1	3	32	0	0

** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.

*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.

Indy 500 results

Year	Chassis	Engine	Start	Finish
2005	Dallara	Honda	4	4
2006	Dallara	Honda	10	8
2007	Dallara	Honda	8	8
2008	Dallara	Honda	5	22

Media work

Patrick has hosted several TV shows on Spike TV, including the "Powerblock", and she was featured in the 2005 documentary Girl Racers. On the August 23, 2007 episode of Diggnation, hosts Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose shot live at Infineon Raceway, where they were treated to a lap around the track in the IndyCar Safety Car driven by Patrick. On April 24, 2008, Patrick was a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night With Conan O'Brien on April 25, 2008.

Patrick was featured on the cover of the June 6, 2005 issue of Sports Illustrated, making her the first Indianapolis 500 driver on the cover since Al Unser, in victory lane, following his upset fourth victory in 1987. After her participation in the 2005 Indianapolis 500, she was asked by Playboy to have her pictures taken to be published in a future edition of its magazine. She declined the offer, but she did participate in a "20 Questions" interview with Jason Buhrmester for the magazine's July 2007 issue. She had also previously posed for FHM, appearing in the April 2003 issue. Recently she was on the cover of the September/October 2006 issue of travelgirl magazine and the October 2006 issue of American Libraries. Patrick appears in the February 15, 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She is featured in a 4-page photo spread.

She appeared in commercials for Secret deodorant in 2005 and 2006 until she was replaced by Rihanna in 2007. She also appeared in Jay-Z's music video "Show Me What You Got," where she drives a Pagani Zonda Roadster. A spot for the Honda Civic Coupe features Patrick trying to avoid a speeding ticket.

Patrick was featured in an ESPN "This Is SportsCenter" commercial, which showed then-anchor Dan Patrick towing her IndyCar due to a reserved space misunderstanding (the space in question being reserved for "D. Patrick"). She can also be seen in award winning corporate training videos Four Weeks In May and T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.

During testing at Phoenix International Raceway, GoDaddy filmed a commercial with Patrick that has also aired nationally. During the same test, at the invitation of GoDaddy, Patrick met with Paul Teutul, Sr. and Mikey Teutul, and subsequently appeared on an episode of American Chopper. On February 3, 2008, Patrick appeared in a GoDaddy.com commercial advertised during Super Bowl XLII.

Recently she was voted sexiest athlete in Victoria's Secret "What is Sexy" list. Patrick also was voted #42 in 2006 and #85 in 2007 in FHM's 100 sexiest women in the world.

Patrick is represented by The Endeavor Talent Agency.

Personal life

Patrick's parents, T.J. and Bev Patrick, met on a blind date at a snowmobile event in the 1970s when Bev was a mechanic for a friend's snowmobile. T.J. raced snowmobiles, motocross, and midget cars. They have owned a Java Hut and a plate glass company. Currently, T.J. helps his daughter by driving her motor coach, and managing her Web site and merchandise trailer. Bev handles the ins and outs of her business needs.

Prior to getting into auto racing, she was a cheerleader at Hononegah High School near Beloit in 1996.

Patrick is married to Paul Edward Hospenthal, who had previously been her physical therapist. She won the 2008 Kids Choice Award for favorite female athlete.