Despite never winning in that series, she placed third in the drivers' overall standings in 2004, earning her a chance to compete in the Indianapolis 500. Three other women, Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James, and Sarah Fisher, had previously qualified for the Indy 500, the country's most renowned car event. Guthrie won the race in 1972, St. James took home the trophy in 1973, and Fisher finished second in 1974.
Patrick began competing in NASCAR races when she was still a student at Rockingham High School in North Carolina. She earned $100,000 her first season racing in the sport and eventually became one of its biggest stars. In 2004, she moved to Europe where she competed in several Formula One races for Renault before returning to America the following year to drive for Dodge in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.
During her time away from racing, Patrick has worked as a model and has made several television appearances. She was also part of a famous photo shoot where she dressed up like a superhero for Men's Vogue magazine.
In 2012, Patrick returned to racing in the IndyCar Series with Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DRI). The team was owned by her former driver, Dale Earnhardt, who died in the same race as her father, Richard, at the age of 48. She finished 17th in her first IndyCar race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Patrick broke Janet Guthrie's Sprint Cup Series record for most top-ten finishes by a woman in 2015. She retired from full-time racing following the 2017 season, however she raced in the 2018 Daytona 500 and 2018 Indianapolis 500 before formally retiring. Patrick was born and raised in Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1982. She started racing go-karts at age six and won several races before moving on to stock cars when she was nine. At 15 years old, she became the youngest driver ever to win an American Motorcycle Association (AMA) National Championship. Two years later, she became the first female winner of the prestigious 250cc World Championship. In 1999, she made her debut in the Winston Cup Series with Denny Hamlin's team. That same year, she also made her CART Touring Car Championship debut with three other drivers in the Camel Honda Atlantics race. She finished 17th out of 20 drivers competing that weekend.
After two successful seasons, Patrick moved to the Nationwide Series, where she remained for five seasons. In 2004, she had her best season so far, finishing fifth in the points standings. In 2005, she switched to the Busch Series, winning four races during her first season there. In 2007, she returned to the Cup Series, this time driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. She has one victory so far in her career - during the 2010 Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Danica Patrick never won a NASCAR race, but she did create history by being the first female driver to start the Daytona 500 from the pole position. Despite the decline, her eighth-place finish gave her the highest-placing woman in "The Great American Race" ever. Before the season started, she also held the record for most seasons leading the championship standings (4).
Patrick began driving at age 21 in 2001 in the ARCA Racing Series. That same year, she made her debut in the NASCAR Busch Series at age 22 when she replaced an injured Jason Leffler on short notice at California Speedway. She finished 11th after starting 31st. In 2002, she drove five races for Jack Ingram Motorsports and earned her first career victory at Memphis Motorsports Park. This all happened before the age of 23 years old.
In 2003, Patrick became the first female driver to win a race in any of the three major American auto racing series when she took home the inaugural season of the now-defunct Women's Championship. The championship was similar to today's Chase for the Sprint Cup in that it had a set number of races. Danica ended up winning four of those events - including the first two races of the season - to be crowned champion. Her partner for most of the season was her husband/manager/driver Kevin Ward.
In 2004, Patrick returned to NASCAR and joined Joe Gibbs Racing.
This was the highest-placed finish by a woman in the Indianapolis 500's history. For the rest of the season, she had seven more top-ten results, the finest of which were a pair of fifth-place finishes at the Milwaukee and Richmond races. Patrick completed the season sixth in the overall point standings, her best finish to date.
After finishing second in the preseason point standings, Danica Patrick won the first two races of the season before suffering her only setback of 2002: a 23rd-place finish at the Las Vegas race. From there, she went on to claim five more victories over the next six months, including two of the biggest events in sports car racing: the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Daytona. The victory at Daytona made her the first female driver to win an open-wheel race in the United States, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, and Australia.
During the off-season, Patrick signed on with Dale Earnhardt's #3 Chevrolet team for 2003 but was forced to sit out the first three races of the season due to sponsorship issues. When her sponsor came on board, she returned to competition at Texas Motor Speedway where she finished seventh. She went on to lead 131 laps at California before finishing fourth. Her third-place run at Michigan marked her first top-three finish at that track.
Danica Patrick ended up eighth in the final points standings, her best performance since joining NASCAR in 2001.
Copyright © 2020 - 2023 Sportsmanist Inc.
