American former professional racing driver Danica Patrick is considered to be most famous and successful female race car drivers in the world. She has broken numerous barriers and has set different records with her on-track performance. Aside from her kart racing interest, the former professional racer who has since retired from NASCAR also finds time to do her hobbies such as midget car racing, motocross and snowmobiles.
After she has accumulated $80 million of wealth, she has put racing behind her and went on to pursue her other interest. She now focuses on her other passion such as food, fitness, and helping others. Prior to achieving massive success in her career, take a peek at how she started and how she was able to get to where she is today.
RELATED: How Denny Hamlin Became A NASCAR Legend And Made His $65 Million Fortune
The Role Of Danica’s Sister In Her Racing Career
A post shared by Danica Patrick (@danicapatrick)
Danica Sue Patrick was born March 25, 1982, in Beloit, Wisconsin. Her parents Beverly Ann and Terry Joseph Patrick Jr. met at a blind date at some snowmobile event in the 1970s. She grew up in a household with a working class parents. Her childhood was spent in Roscoe, Illinois with her parents owning companies such as Java Hut coffee shop and a glass company.
Patrick has a mixed blood consisting of Irish, French-Canadian, Norwegian, Native American and Italian. She only has one sibling, a younger sister named Brooke who is currently a pediatric physical therapist. Patrick initially had no interest in racing, in fact, she’s aiming for a career as a secretary or a veterinarian, and a singing career would have worked for her as well. Racing was far from her mind since she does not have an interest on it and it’s an expensive sports especially Formula One.
However her parents wanted a hobby for their family that would help them be closer to each other and the sisters requested to buy some race go-karts since Brooke’s friend let her drive a race go-karts and she had fun.
Their parents obliged and gave them both race go-karts. Patrick was only ten at the time when she first got her hands on a race go-kart. Soon, Patrick started karting at some raceway in Wisconsin where her father would act as her crew chief while her mother closely monitors her progress and keeps track of the statistics on her racing.
She spent her teenage years babysitting for some family when she’s not racing. Patrick admitted that growing up, she did not have any female influences in her life. Although she did not did not strive to achieve some female goals, she has always strived to be the best she could be.
Her Struggles And Accidents On The Race Track
A post shared by Danica Patrick (@danicapatrick)
She then dropped out of high school with the consent of her parents in 1998 and decided to just obtain her GED certification. She then moved to the United Kingdom to further pursue her career. During her stay at the United Kingdom, she has competed for the Formula Ford and Formula Vauxhall. After three years of stay in UK, she decided to move back to the United States in 2001 since her funds are running out.
During Patrick’s first ever race; she crashed into some barriers at the speed of 25 mph as a result of some brake failure. Thankfully, it’s not a fatal and deadly crash as she did not sustain any injuries and did not give her some trauma behind the wheels. In fact, she tried to be better at racing and she improved greatly soon after. Her massive improvement on her eye to foot coordination allowed her to set several track records at both Michiana Raceway Park and Sugar River Raceway.
The following year, she competed for the five Barber Dodge Pro Series, the races for the Rahal Letterman Racing. It was the American former auto racer and team owner Bobby Rahal who hired Patrick to race for his team, Rahal Letterman Racing, for the next three years. She then raced at the Toyota Atlantic Series after the Dodge Pro Series and spent the next two years racing for the Toyota Atlantic Series. With her great skills and determination, she was able to place third at the championship standings for the season of 2004. She is the first ever woman to win the pole position in the series.
Since Rahal saw Patrick’s potential, he decided to include her to Rahal Letterman Racing’s IndyCar Series roster for the year 2005. She debuted at the season opening race on the Homestead-Miami Speedway. She sustained a crash during the race that led to her hospitalization due to some mild concussion. Thankfully it’s not one of those deadliest racecar crashes. This did not stop her from attempting to pursue further success into her career. During the fourth race of the same season, she started second and led the 32 laps before finishing fourth which is her best finish for the season.
Setting Numerous Track Records
A post shared by Danica Patrick (@danicapatrick)
After she finished fourth, she then started working hard towards being better. She then set the fastest overall practice speed during the Indianapolis 500. She was initially up for winning the fourth place however she missed out on it since she has to conserve fuel. Danica has set numerous firsts for a woman during that time.
Danica Patrick finally took her first pole position at the eighth race at Kansas Speedway of the season. She has become the second woman to hold a first position pole in the history of IndyCar Series after Sarah Fisher in 2002. She went on to take two more pole positions at the Kentucky Speedway and Chicagoland Speedway. Her hard work paid off since she was finally gained recognition and was named as the Rookie of the Year for the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis 500 in 2005.
With her perseverance and determination, she finally achieved her first victory at the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi on April 20, 2008. This has made her the first women to ever win a top-level sanctioned open wheel car racing event. She continued racing all throughout her career and reached the peak of her career in 2009 at the IndyCar racing. The following year, she decided to race through the partial season in NASCAR’s lower-tier Nationwide Series while still competing at the IndyCar racing.
Patrick started competing full time at NASCAR in 2012 and would participate in top tier races. Just after a year of competing, she finally won her first pole position at the Daytona 500 in 2013. Throughout her career, Patrick has set numerous records for woman. She even became one of the richest NASCAR drivers of all time. She made headlines across the world for setting numerous track records with her performance. She finally closed out her racing career in 2018 with Danica Double as she competed for two marquee events that were considered to be the cornerstones of her career: the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.
READ NEXT: Becoming Wednesday: A Look At The Rise Of Jenna Ortega In Hollywood
Sources: The Spun, Britannica, Celebrity Net Worth
Source: Read Full Article
