INDIANAPOLIS, May 29 -- Ten laps remained in the Indianapolis 500 when Danica Patrick passed race leader Dan Wheldon. Earlier Sunday, Patrick had become the first woman to lead the race -- now she had her sights set on winning it.
More than 300,000 fans stood and screamed, sensing they were only 25 miles from witnessing history.
But Patrick's fuel-starved racecar began to slow slightly, and Wheldon retook the lead on Lap 194 of 200. He held on to win a race that will be remembered at least as much for the woman who didn't win as the man who did.
Patrick, a 23-year-old rookie, wound up fourth, the best finish for a woman. (The previous best was Janet Guthrie's ninth-place finish in 1978.) Patrick had dialed back her car's fuel consumption -- which costs horsepower -- in the final laps to make sure she had enough to finish.
"If I could have run full fuel, we'll never know," Patrick said. "I'd like to think we could have won it."
Instead, after a race that featured 27 lead changes -- the second most in its history -- Wheldon collected his fourth victory in five Indy Racing League races this season. The win gave team owner Michael Andretti what he had come so close to as a driver but was never quite able to pull off: a trip to Victory Lane at the Brickyard and the obligatory sip from the milk jug.
"No more curse," said Andretti, whose family had been plagued by bad luck here since his father, Mario, won the race in 1969. "This place had been tough on me personally. But I just always had the feeling that one day I would have some good memories here."
Vitor Meira, Patrick's Rahal Letterman teammate, finished second and Bryan Herta was third. Wheldon, who started 16th, took the checkered flag under caution after Sebastien Bourdais smacked the outside retaining wall with two laps remaining.
"I'm certainly satisfied in the fact that I've won the Indianapolis 500 in my career," an emotional Wheldon said. "I mean, it's a kid coming from England. You know what the race is like watching it on TV and reading about it magazines.
"And then I came over and watched Kenny Brack win [in 1999]. It just opened my eyes to the magnitude of the event and how much I wanted to be here."
Despite the performance of the 26-year-old from Emberton, England, Patrick (who started fourth) was the story before, during and after the race.
Her runs during qualifying and practice had indicated that she had the car and the talent to win the race. She backed it up on Sunday, becoming the first woman to lead the 500 on Lap 57. (She led three times for a total of 19 laps.) But she stalled her engine in the pits on Lap 79 and fell back to 16th.
