Danica Patrick will be racing on Memorial Day weekend for the ninth straight year this weekend. In those seven of those nine years, Danica Patrick competed in the Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Patrick had her moments in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” At Indy in ’05, she lead three times for 19 laps and finished fourth in her first Indy 500; becoming the first woman to lead laps and score a top-five finish at the Brickyard.
She also posted the fastest lap on the opening day of practice. Although she’s been doing absolutely nothing lately; finishing in the 20s and 30s pretty much every week of NASCAR, she still has a fair amount of glory at Indianapolis.
“One Lap Downica” had a practice lap of 229.880 mph on Indy Pole Day; the fastest turned by any woman in the history of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Patrick ended up qualifying fourth, the best-ever starting position for a woman in the race.
On 2005 Indy 500 race day, Danica blew past leader Dan Wheldon and held the point until lap 194, when she was forced to slow down in order to conserve for the finish. Danica Patrick scored six top-10 finishes in seven starts at Indianapolis. Her third-place result in 2009 is the best finish ever for a woman in the history of the Indianapolis 500.
This year, Danica will watch the start of the Indianapolis 500 on television from her motorhome in the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway infield as she prepares to drive in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.
“I will watch it. I think we are all curious. We’re all in racing and we all watch racing,” Danica Patrick said.
“I think that’s a common thread and it always will be there, especially with the Indy 500 being such a cool and old, historic race. We’ll all be paying attention. Last year, they put on a great show.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net. He’s also an author who also contributes regularly to MSN, Fox Sports , Chicago Now, Walter Football.com and Yardbarker
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