Danica Sue Patrick (born March 25, 1982) is an American auto racing driver, model and advertising spokeswoman. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing—her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only women's victory in an IndyCar Series race and her third place in the 2009 Indianapolis 500 the highest finish ever there by a woman. She competed in the series from 2005 to 2011.
In 2012 she competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
For the 2013 season, Patrick drives the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, and a limited Nationwide Series schedule for Turner Motorsports.
In 2013, she became the first female NASCAR driver to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, turning in the fastest qualifying lap since 1990 in qualifying for the Daytona 500.
Patrick started in kart racing and later raced Formula Ford in England before returning to the United States and moving up to IndyCars.
She was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season.
She holds the IRL record for most consecutive races running at the finish: as of October 2, 2011, she had completed 50 consecutive in the running (besting the record by 18).
During her time in IndyCar, Patrick drove for Rahal Letterman Racing from 2005–2006, and Andretti Autosport from 2007 to 2011.
Patrick was scheduled to test for Formula One team Honda in November 2008,but this was called off due to the Honda team pulling out of the sport.
In late 2009, the stillborn American F1 team US F1 allegedly considered testing Patrick for a potential drive in 2010.
However, she stated that she wasn't contacted by anyone from the team, and that she had no plans to leave the IndyCar Series for Formula One at the time.
After the announcement of the return of Formula One to the USA in 2012, Formula One executive Bernie Ecclestone said that "to have someone like Danica Patrick in F1 would be a perfect advert."
No comments:
Post a Comment