Danica Patrick began go-karting in 1992 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. She has also earned a GED. 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.
On May 29, 2005, Patrick became only the fourth woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, following Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher. After posting the fastest practice speed of the month (229.880 mph / 369.956 km/h) 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.
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. The 24 hour event was her longest race to date.
At the Indianapolis 500, Patrick took eighth place after starting tenth. Shortly after Watkins Glen, Rahal Letterman racing 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 IRL finishes. The following week at Michigan, though, Patrick's car died with three laps to go and she finished 17th. She rebounded at Kentucky and Infineon to finish 8th in both races.
In April 2007, Patrick launched her official fan club The Danica Maniacs to help foster greater interaction between her and her fans. Benefits include a "Pit Kit," contests and giveaways, sponsor discounts and promotions, and a members-only web site loaded with features.
Patrick ended up starting and finishing eighth in the 91st running of the 2007 Indianapolis 500. She ran as high as 2nd to Tony Kanaan after the rain delay. She had to pit after the rain delay, which dropped her 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.
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 her first two laps since her rookie season before finishing third, her first top-three finish at the time and less than a second behind eventual winner Sam Hornish, Jr.
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.
At the season finale in Chicagoland Speedway, Patrick ran most of the race in 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 finshes 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.
When talk heated up of a possible future Patrick move to NASCAR in July 2006, fellow IRL driver Ed Carpenter said, "I think Danica's pretty aggressive in our cars. I mean, you know especially if you catch her at the right time of the month, she might be trading plenty of paint out there." He later said that he meant no disrespect, and that he felt she could hold her own on whatever circuit she was in. He also said it was unlikely she would jump to NASCAR.
0** Podium (Non-win) indicates 2nd or 3rd place finishes.*** Top 10s (Non-podium) indicates 4th through 10th place finishes.
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 (and the cover, the first for the Indianapolis 500 itself) since Al Unser, in victory lane, following his upset fourth victory in 1987.
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, Go Daddy filmed a second commercial with Patrick that has also aired nationally. During the same test, at the invitation of Go Daddy, Patrick met with Paul Sr. and Mikey Teutul, and subsequently appeared on an episode of American Chopper.
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