INDIANAPOLIS — A deep-seated intensity that often turned to anger has fueled Danica Patrick’s racing personality — until now.
Preparing for her fourth Indianapolis 500 in the wake of her historic and long-awaited first win, Patrick is trying hard to focus that intensity in a more positive direction.
“I realize, over time now, how unproductive being angry all the time is and how it doesn’t really do any good for my driving,” Patrick said Thursday while watching the rain fall outside the Andretti Green Racing’s hospitality tent, washing away the second straight day of practice for the May 25 race. “I think that being positive does.”
Patrick said part of the problem is that there are always doubters, people who refuse to believe a woman can be truly competitive in racing.
“Unfortunately, in my position, it takes a while to prove yourself,” she said. “And, unfortunately, also in my position, I’m never going to convince some people.”
The fact that her victory April 20 in Motegi, Japan — the first IndyCar win by a woman — was the result of fuel strategy, gave some of the naysayers even more fodder.
“I heard somebody say in an interview, ‘Well, she didn’t actually win.’ I don’t understand how anyone can possibly say that,” Patrick said, shaking her head. “I think it’s hilarious. You’re still not going to convince everybody.
“But, just as you get into a good group of people and you have great teammates and great engineers and good owners and people who really believe in you, all that stuff makes a difference.”
Still, it’s been a common sight after IRL IndyCar races the past few seasons to see a frustrated and irritated Patrick, her faced clouded by anger, stalking away from her race car — even after a good finish.
It wasn’t a pretty sight.
“I will say that it started, that whole being angry thing, because I wanted people to know that I wasn’t OK with finishing sixth,” Patrick explained. “I wasn’t OK with driving my butt off and finishing eighth. I wasn’t OK with those results. I’m not OK with finishing third.
“I want to win races and I wanted people to know that. I didn’t want them to see me smiling and going ‘Woo Hoo’ and them saying, ‘That’s it? That’s all she hopes for?’ I wanted them to know that I wished and believed in more.”
But Patrick is now 26, in her fourth IndyCar season and the most popular driver in the series. And, thanks to her victory in Japan, she’s also a winner.
“She’s a much more mature person now than when I first met her,” said AGR teammate Tony Kanaan. “She has handled so much pressure, with people saying she’d never win or that she couldn’t do the job.
“Well, now she has proven she can win and she can do the job. And not just to everyone else, to herself. That can change the way you look at things.”
Winning has definitely given Patrick the impetus to try to change her demeanor outside the race car — for her fans as much as for herself.
“I’ve really tried to change it, to try not to be so mad all the time,” she said. “And one of the (reasons) is for the fans. Sometimes they don’t know how you’ve done even though they’re standing right behind your pit. And, probably the rest of the time, as long as they’re still cheering for you, they don’t care.
“So, when I’m mad and they feel that, they don’t understand that. That’s a negative thing. It’s time to change that.”
Patrick says some of her personality is inherited, adding, “I would imagine that a lot of this comes out subconsciously and just instinctively and I don’t have a lot of control over some of it. It would prove I have some of those mad and angry instincts in me, which is hard to change.
“But I’m trying to grow up. I’m trying to be better all-around for all kinds of reasons: for myself, for the people around me and for the people I don’t know who are around me.”
As an Indy rookie in 2005, a small bobble that nearly put her into the wall on the first of her four qualifying laps, had Patrick talking to herself. She still qualified fourth — the best ever for a woman at the famed Brickyard — but that wasn’t much solace at the time.
On Saturday, she will have an opportunity to show her maturity — as a race driver and as a person — when she tries to win the pole for her fourth 500.
“One little thing can make a big difference here,” Patrick said. “You’re just on such a knife’s edge around here. So, absolutely, there’s a shot at the pole. I think that there’s going to be a bunch of us with that chance — but we’re one of them.”
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