On July 2, 2005, Patrick won her first pole position, on
August 13, 2005, she won her second pole at Kentucky Speedway, although this
time, rain prematurely ended qualifying and position was determined by speeds
achieved during practice. She took a third pole at Chicagoland Speedway which
tied her with Tomas Scheckter's record for number of pole positions earned in a
rookie season. In 2005, Patrick finished 12th in the IndyCar Series
championship, with 325 points. She was named Rookie of the Year for both the
2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season.
In 2006 she finished
9th place in the IndyCar Series Championship point standings, besting
her 12th place points finish as a rookie.
In November, the March of Dimes awarded her the title of Sportswoman of
the Year in celebration of her dedication and success.
For the 2007 season as a whole, Patrick scored her first
three career podium finishes. She also scored her career best championship
points finish of 7th with 424 points.
In the 2008 IndyCar Series season she finished in sixth place — the highest championship
finish among American drivers for the 2008 season.
On May 24th 2009 Patrick raced at the
Indianapolis 500. She finished third behind winner Helio Castroneves and
second-place Dan Wheldon. The highest ever finish for a female racer.
During the 2010 season, Patrick set the Indycar Series
record for consecutive races finished running, having finished every race of
the season as well as all but the first race of the 2009 season, for a total of
33 races.
At the end of the 2011 season Patrick announced that she
would no longer be driving Indy Cars and would focus her full attention to driving
in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
For the 2013 season, Danica drives the number #10
GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, and
a limited Nationwide Series schedule for Turner Motorsports. Danica became the fastest pole qualifier to
qualify since 1990 for the Daytona 500 and the first female NASCAR driver to
win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, which was also done at Daytona.
But is she good enough to race with the big boys?
Bernie Ecclestone has famously stated, aimed at Danica
Patrick, “that women shouldn’t be racing with men and should be dressed in
white like all the other domestic appliances". He then went on to say,
earlier this year, that he would love for Danica to join Formula One.
I know I’ll get a lot of stick for this, but I believe that,
if Danica wished, she’d be a very good Formula One driver; she has showed in
the past that she knows how to drive and has great skills. She is a great
driver, but gets a lot of stick for being female. Always being told that she
shouldn’t be racing or she’ll never be good enough because she’s female. She’s
an inspiration to all young girls who are following their dreams of becoming
racers!
People need to get into their head that female drivers are
just as good as male! And some of these girl racers have more balls than the
men!!
