I tuned into my first Indy Car race in May 2005. I had heard of a female rookie driver, and was curious to see what all the fuss was about. I saw Danica Patrick race and was immediately impressed. How could someone of her stature, hang on to a 600 horsepower vehicle? Quite a task for anyone male or female.
Thus my introduction to Danica, whom I now refer to as D.P. Since that first Indy 500 run in 2005, I have not missed a single race, practice or qualifying run. There have been many highs and lows on the journey so far.
From my standpoint, she was always popular, but her run in with Milka Duno, July 2008, put her on the news highlight reel. Youtube had a lot of hits, and the scuffle grabbed the public’s attention. D.P is not new to the subject of controversy, and it has affected her both negatively and positively. With the Duno incident, she came across as feisty and as someone who stood up for herself. I was completely in agreement with Danica. I witnessed, time and time again, Duno holding up faster cars, which was becoming more of a safety issue. After that incident, I don’t recall seeing very much of Milka.
The next big media incident was when she was booed, at Indy qualifying runs, in May of 2010. The crowd, was not very happy with her. She made the comment, “It wasn’t me, it was the car.”
At the time I heard that comment, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal either. However, after many years of watching how hard the engineers, pit crew, and entire team work. I have a different perspective, motorsports is a team effort, I didn’t see it at the time, and I think D.P. learned from that experience as well.
Then in 2010, she split her time by racing in Nascar part time and a full time Indy Car schedule. I think some of her Indy car fans felt betrayed, like when LeBron James left Cleveland. She had been such a focal point and such a fixture, the idea of her leaving for some felt like betrayal. Some, like myself decided to follow her to Nascar, others stayed and are still making the snide comments about her only winning one race. She had some stellar runs, for me the most notable was Texas 2010, where she battled it out for 2nd until the very end with her teammate Tony Kanaan. She flat out beat him, and placed an outright 2nd. By the end of the year, I think some Indy car enthusiasts felt her loyalty to Indy car was fading.
To be honest 2011 in Indy car was a rocky time period, she struggled with her car a lot and it wasn’t just solely her car, per se, her teammates also had car issues. Bump day 2011 was difficult to watch, only her and Marco made it in, by both making last minute gutsy qualifying runs, which almost never happened. Imagine, Indy without Danica? Stop the presses, it almost happened. Her other two teammates, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Mike Conway didn’t even qualify for the Indy 500. That right there proved to me that it wasn’t a driver or specifically a Danica issue, it had to do more with the setup and although Danica was booed for saying it, this time it really was the car.
Danica ended her season at the tragic Las Vegas 2011 race, which before the race I was hoping to hear some sort of farewell speech, or some inclination that she would miss her years in Indy car. Instead, there was the pre- race interview and she said quote, “I’m not here to make friends.” Ouch. I just told myself, that’s just Danica, she’s getting herself pumped up for the race. Who knows how others interpreted it?
Danica did leave the Indy car 2011 season being 10th overall in point standings, and she finished all races that season, what I’m saying is she left with a solid resume.
Now fast forward to the present, 2012. Is Danica dominating the series? No, she isn’t. Is she improving with each race? At some tracks she is driving in a stock car for the first time, others are more familiar, yes, each time she gets track time, her performance improves.
What I’m impressed with so far is her re-starts, last season in stock cars, it was like she was standing still. Now, she’s moving forward or maintaining her track position. Also, she’s asking the right questions on her radio, she’s really trying to break down her pitting routine, which is another area she needs to improve on. Reminding her team on the radio, “Now remind me again when I get to pit lane.”
She’s calling some of the shots at times and even encouraging and thanking her pit crew for their efforts, now that’s what I like to see.
Off the track she has a 600,000+ Twitter following, and her tweets are quite interesting. Everything from a farmer’s market trip to a visit and picture from an art gallery, to a shrunken sock, really? It’s nice to see the carefree fun side of D.P, knowing she’s not always 100 percent business away from the track. Also, D.P, has some of the most kind hearted and loyal fans out there. Her post race interviews are becoming more frequent and lighthearted, and as I like to playfully remind her through Twitter, fans like it when your in your happy place.
D.P. participated in the “Prelude to the Dream,” race, her first time ever racing on a dirt track. She had been asked before by Tony but declined. She took a gamble and had a tough start and she ran into the wall during qualifying. They fixed her car up and although she was in the back of the field, hung in there and managed a 15th place finish. A lot of cars hit the wall, some never came back out. These cars are being driven sideways, and after watching Darrell Waltrip take a spin with Tony Stewart, only 4 laps, you know that it was one wild ride. Now imagine taking the wild ride, with 24 other cars sliding at your door? Your first time ever driving a new car on a new track, D.P. did it, and was able to finish, which was an accomplishment in itself. As a first time viewer, I was entertained and it was all to benefit charity.
Will Danica continue to amaze us? Of course she will, right now I believe she is the only female racer who has all ready proven she can run up front with the big boys, and she is more consistent than she is given credit for. As an average person, like D.P, I’ve had run ins with people, we all have. I haven’t rammed anybody into a brick wall, but I have had my share of verbal mishaps with others, you’d be surprised with whom. The bottom line is, I see growth and improvement in her performance and I will continue to support D.P. Hopefully one day, just like witnessing her win from t.v at Twin Ring Motegi, I can actually be in the crowd and witness history being made again. As she does her victory lap, and raises up that winning trophy in triumphant victory.
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