Danica Patrick will be among the favorites to win the Indianapolis 500 when practice officially begins Tuesday for the May 25 race.
That’s not so much because of her historic first victory two weeks ago in the IRL IndyCar Series race in Japan as it is due to her feeling at home at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It’s a place where Patrick has felt welcome and comfortable since she first arrived there as a 23-year-old rookie in May 2005.
“I like Indy a lot,” Patrick said. “I feel very confident there.
“But, at the same time, the place demands a little respect. It’s never easy and you can’t take speed for granted there. You have to really stay with the car and push it to its limit.”
She became an instant sensation at the famed Brickyard by doing just that. And the fans quickly latched onto the tiny, fearless girl with the long black hair and the very fast car.
From the moment she put a wheel onto the 2.5-mile Indy oval, Patrick was quick.
Each day in practice, she was at or near the top of the speed chart and only a bobble that nearly sent her into the wall on the first of her four qualifying laps kept Patrick from winning the pole.
Still, she kept her head, kept her foot on the gas and qualified fourth, the best that any woman had done at the speedway.
Thus began “DanicaMania,” a national reaction that saw her attractive visage nearly everywhere — on TV, magazine covers, billboards and commercials.
Then, in the race, Patrick led 19 laps — a first for a woman at Indy — and survived a collision with another car to finish fourth, the best finish for a female at the big track.
Patrick, who easily won that year’s rookie of the year honors, was suddenly an indelible part of Indy lore. And her fame has hardly diminished, even though she hasn’t come close to the pole and has finished eighth each of the past two years at Indy.
But a good case can be made that her drives in both 2006, for Rahal Letterman Racing — the team that brought her to Indy — and in 2007, for her current team, Andretti Green Racing, were considerably better than her rookie performance.
She is particularly proud of her drive in last May’s rain-shortened race.
“I feel like (Indy) was probably some of the best driving I’ve done,” Patrick said of the 2007 race. “There’s just a little bit of bravery that maybe I lacked a little in the beginning years. It’s just having the confidence that you’re going to go into the corner and make it out and beat the (other drivers).”
There was a second round of “DanicaMania” following her win in Motegi on April 20 — in her 50th IndyCar start — and Patrick was the center of attention last week at the IndyCar race in Kansas as she went for two in a row.
Though she started third, Patrick fought a handling problem early and eventually had to drop out because of a broken wheel.
She was frustrated and upset, but nothing can dent her confidence right now.
“I was climbing back up again and I could see the leaders,” said Patrick, who ran as high as seventh on the Kansas oval in the laps just before having to park her car. “A yellow (flag) and a good restart and we’re back in it.”
But it wasn’t to be, and now Patrick is now setting her sights on Indy, where the challenges will be twofold.
First, Patrick will have to contend with a group of additional challengers arriving at Indy in the wake of the unification of the two American open-wheel series after a 12-year rivalry.
Beyond that, she is likely to be challenged just handling all the media requests and fan interest that come with arriving at the speedway, but especially after her big win in Japan.
That’s all OK with Patrick.
“It’s great that we’re going to have more cars and more competition, to be all together again, and I don’t mind the interviews and all that. I think I do better when there’s more stuff going on,” she said. “It keeps me occupied or there’s just more time to be nervous.”
And she can always get away for a bit by climbing into her No. 7 Dallara and making a few more high-speed trips around the track.
“It’s so weird how when I put my helmet on and get on the track, I don’t feel like anybody is watching,” she said. “You’re in your own head and you’re doing your own thing. You know, the real answer is, though, even more people are watching, but you just don’t think of that.
“Maybe other drivers are different, but I definitely feel like I’ve entered a different space, and you lose the nerves and you just get on with what you do.”
Maybe that will include an Indy 500 win.
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