SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — In a sport dominated by men, Danica Patrick has emerged as the biggest story at the 102nd Running of the Indianapolis 500. A bold move for the driver after spending the last seven years in NASCAR.
“I would say just driving the car and being distracted with other things like adjustments, traffic, looking in my mirrors. I’m getting a little more comfortable and almost reminding myself like, ‘hey, you’re not thinking hard enough about that corner there and you’re doing 230!’ So that’s what you need to get to. You need to get to the point where driving the car is very natural and instinctive on what’s happening,” said Danica Patrick.
Danica has re-learned quick. The driver of the #13 has already hit speeds of 228 in practice. Despite the early success, Patrick plans to lean on her teammates as much as possible.
“It’s about building confidence, not breaking it. So I think the team is very solid. They have great cars. It’s a great organization. I don’t need to be silly. We can rely on teammates and pace ourselves a little bit here and there,” said Patrick.
Despite having to relearn how to drive an IndyCar, Danica Patrick is very familiar with the Speedway. She’s led laps during the Indy 500, but most importantly, she understands the amount of respect a driver must have for this track.
“You know, I think the over sweeping feeling every time I come to this track is that you have to be humble and respectful of it. You’re going very fast, things happen very fast. You can go out from one run to the next and not change anything and the car can be different and you just need to keep your wits about you,” said Patrick.
As her racing career comes to an end behind the wheel, Patrick will move forward with this mindset.
“I know racing has given me everything I have. Every opportunity. And it all started here,” said Patrick.
A historic career, ending in at a historic track, in the most historic race in motorsports.