First of All, It's Patrick -- at Last
Pioneering Racecar Driver Breaks Through With the Checkered Flag in Japan

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 21, 2008

As a young woman competing in the male-dominated world of auto racing, Danica Patrick says she tried not to dwell too much on her sex -- except in one respect. From the outset she dreamed of becoming the first woman to win an IndyCar race.

Yesterday she did just that, out-dueling Helio Castroneves in a gamble of fuel mileage to win the Indy Japan 300.

Patrick's victory took place halfway around the world and a half-day removed from a live American television audience. But its effects are likely to be far-reaching, boosting interest in U.S.-based open-wheel racing, which has taken a back seat to NASCAR during the past decade, and debunking the growing assertion that Patrick was more hype than substance.

Regardless, with the victory, the 26-year-old Patrick achieved what racing pioneers such as Janet Guthrie and Lyn St. James did not in previous decades: steer an Indy Car into Victory Lane and unabashedly shed tears of joy.

"It's going to be one of those things that's remembered," Patrick told a packed room of reporters last night in Long Beach, Calif., after a long flight from Tokyo. "It's a first. Firsts are always in history books. I've always hoped and wanted to be that person -- to be the first female to win in history."

Reared in Illinois, Patrick was 10 when she started racing go-karts under her father's supervision. At 16 she moved to England to hone her skills in open-wheel racing, with a dream of one day competing in the Indianapolis 500.

Patrick made her Indy 500 debut in 2005, and a circus erupted after she nearly won the pole with a blistering qualifying lap. The frenzy, dubbed "Danica-mania," followed her throughout the run-up to the race, in which she became the first woman to lead the famed 500-miler. She finished fourth and won rookie of the year honors.

Patrick's petite frame was suddenly everywhere, it seemed. Barely 5 feet tall and 100 pounds, she became a media heavyweight overnight. She was featured in music videos and on daytime talk shows. And corporate sponsors such as Motorola, Video Professor and GoDaddy.com climbed aboard.

But after she failed to win a race her first three seasons, comparisons with Anna Kournikova followed, with critics sniping that Patrick was simply the motorsports equivalent of the Russian tennis beauty -- blessed with looks, riches, fame and not a trophy of consequence to show for it.

Patrick only fueled such talk by trading on her looks in a way that Guthrie and St. James had not.

Most provocatively, she had posed for an FHM magazine spread before landing her IndyCar ride that featured her splayed across the hood of a '57 Chevy in a black cutout swimsuit and stiletto heels and draped between the Chevy's tailfins in boots, hot pants and a red leather lace-up bustier.

Still winless, she launched the 2008 racing season with a more tasteful photo spread in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, with an unzipped, blue Motorola racing suit draped around her thighs to reveal a white bikini.

A few drivers publicly questioned the attention she was getting, but Patrick's car owners and teammates lauded her dedication to the sport. And yesterday, in a rain-delayed race on Motegi's Twin Ring circuit outside Tokyo, Patrick's hard work paid off.

With qualifying rained out, drivers lined up for the start according to the points standings, which placed Patrick sixth. That's roughly where she ran until the waning laps around the 1.5-mile oval. With five laps to go, leader Scott Dixon pitted for fuel. Front-runners Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan followed suit.

That left Castroneves and Patrick to settle it, each determined to milk what fuel remained in their tanks. Castroneves backed off the throttle, and Patrick passed him for the lead on Lap 198 of 200. Her crew chief radioed that as long as she kept the Brazilian in her rear view mirror, the victory was hers.

Finally, her crew chief radioed, "Use as much fuel as you want and bring her around to the checkered flag!"

Said Patrick, after her long flight home: "It's been a long time I've waited for this. I wish it could have happened sooner, but I'm not going to argue."

Her margin of victory -- nearly six seconds -- was a whopper. And Castroneves, who is as famous for winning "Dancing With the Stars" as he is the Indianapolis 500, had nothing but praise. "She did a great job," he said. "She passed me fair and square."

The victory came on her 50th start, in her fourth IRL season.

"She needed to win to give herself legitimacy," said Eddie Gossage, president of Texas Motor Speedway, who has promoted IRL races for a decade. "Even though she has had some really good finishes, it has been enough time."

That said, Gossage plans to use images from Patrick's Sports Illustrated swimsuit spread to help promote the June IRL race at his track. He has already secured the photo rights. Her victory, he added, gives him another selling point.

"She was already one of the strongest assets that we had to work with as a promoter," Gossage said. "There are only a handful of people that you can call by one name and everyone knows who it is. Now, she has legitimacy. Anybody that wanted to be a detractor before could argue that she never won; 'She's just a novelty act!' They can't say that anymore."