Sunday, May 29, 2005
As the laps wound down, the huge crowd was on its feet cheering wildly for Danica to win the Indianapolis 500.
Instead, Dan won.
Daniel Clive Wheldon of Emberton, England, won the most famous race in the world on May 29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
But Danica Patrick, a black-haired girl from America’s heartland, captured the hearts of America from sea to shining sea by nearly winning the race and making it clear that a female can race with the boys and battle them wheel to wheel right to the very last lap.
Danica led 19 laps and was out in front with only seven laps to go. But her fuel supply was getting close to fumes and her tires were worn, so she slipped back to fourth at the checkered flag.
Minutes later as Wheldon, the personable third-year driver for Andretti Green Racing, circled the huge 2 1/2-mile oval for his victory salute, television and newspaper reporters swarmed Patrick’s pit. Hers was as big a story as Wheldon’s.
Patrick, a 23-year-old who grew up in Roscoe, Ill., became the first woman ever to lead the Indianapolis 500 over its 89-year race history. She also became the highest-finishing female driver, topping Janet Guthrie’s ninth place in 1978.
But Danica was only 4.5515 seconds behind at the end, not 10 laps like Guthrie.
“I made a hell of a point for anybody, are you kidding me?” Danica responded to a question about what she has done for females in auto racing.
Then Patrick, driver of the No. 16 Rahal Letterman Racing Argent Pioneer Panoz/Honda/Firestone, talked about how lousy it was back in 16th place where she found herself after stalling her car during her second pit stop. And she said she learned so much during the race. She never even referred to what her race success achieved in proving a woman can race with some of world’s best male racers without being intimidated.
A second reporter rephrased the question about the historical significance of her Indy performance that was seen worldwide on television.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m just racing. I don’t know.
“It sounds so goober stupid, but I just don’t think about it. I just don’t think about it. I don’t know why. I didn’t even think that all the media stuff going on was that – I wasn’t getting overwhelmed. I was getting overwhelmed with the lack of time I had for myself, but all the coverage? I was your story.”
Danica’s mother, Bev, sat nearby as her daughter met the media. Even she marveled at the job she did.
“I think as a rookie it’s just unbelievable how she has adapted to the oval racing and performed,” Bev Patrick said.
A gender question was tossed at Bev Patrick, too.
“Well, the car doesn’t know the difference,” she said. “When she gets out there, I just want her to go faster and win.”
Down trackside in the pits as Danica was swarmed by cameras, microphones and tape recorders, “The Late Show with David Letterman” talk show host and co-car owner Dave Letterman stood quietly in the background, a weekend stubble of whiskers on his face.
“She was great on the show (during a mid-May appearance), but today was remarkable,” Letterman said. “And it didn’t make any difference who the driver was to turn in a race like this. She was unbelievable. I mean, this was a difficult race to contend and lead and almost win.
“It was just a beautiful thing to watch.”
Danica displayed her skills on MBNA Pole Day on May 15 when but for a wiggle in Turn 1 on her first qualifying lap she probably would have qualified for the coveted inside front row starting spot. She wound up on the inside of the second row, and it must be remembered this was only her sixth oval race.
When the green flag was waved by retiring Indiana Pacers superstar Reggie Miller, Patrick gunned her car into the first turn with authority. And there was no turning back, only a couple of bumps along the way.
After 20 laps, she was third. Then on Lap 57, she moved into the lead as pitting began.
Patrick faced her first error when she pitted on Lap 79, and the car stalled as she engaged the clutch. She dropped from fourth to 16th as the starter was needed to get the engine running again.
“I’m going to be mad at myself for the stall,” she said.
At the halfway mark, Patrick had advanced two positions. She passed fellow rookie Tomas Enge for 13th on Lap 113 and got to 11th by Lap 117. It wasn’t until Lap 142 that she reached 10th. Five laps later, she was ninth.
Danica emerged from the pitting frenzy on Lap 156 in eighth. But just as the green waved for the restart, she suddenly spun sideways into Enge’s car nose-first. Somehow the only damage done to her machine was to the front nosecone, which was quickly replaced. She only lost one position.
Danica exploded into the lead on Lap 172 when the leaders pitted, lost it to Wheldon on Lap 186 only to send the huge crowd into a lather by blasting by the Englishman on another restart on Lap 189.
“My engineer, Ray (Leto), told me we needed to have the restart of the century,” she said. “I think we had it.”
But with her fuel dwindling down to a precious few drops she just couldn’t keep the throttle down and finish first. Wheldon darted under her in Turn 1 of Lap 194, and on Lap 198, her teammate Vitor Meira and Wheldon’s teammate Bryan Herta also got by. Fellow rookie Sebastien Bourdais crashed on Lap 199, and the race finished under caution.
“Yeah, I think it did,” Leto said about the caution getting Danica to the finish line. “Until we know how much fuel is left in there, we were calculating that we were going to be out.
“The car took a beating today and made it through. The guys in the pit did a great job changing that wing without losing a lap and put her in position where she could battle back. This was the lo