She finally earned her first IndyCar Series win in April—in her 50th start—when a fuel-mileage gamble put her in Victory Lane at Motegi, Japan, making her the first woman to win a major open-wheel race.
Another round of “Danicamania” ensued and Patrick landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated, where she also appeared earlier in the year in a white bikini as part of the magazine’s swimsuit edition.
But Patrick, who drives the No. 7 car for Andretti Green Racing, often has struggled since her victory. It’s a situation she hopes to reverse Sunday in the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at the Infineon Raceway road course here.
“2008 has been an up and down year,” Patrick said at Infineon on Thursday. “It’s been interesting, it’s been exciting, it’s been frustrating.
“At the end of the day what I will remember from this year is that I did win my first race so that’s always going to be a good memory to have.”
Patrick’s best finish at Infineon, in three starts, was a sixth a year ago. Through the first 14 races of this season, Patrick has only one other top-five finish besides her win in Japan—a fifth in Nashville, Tenn.—and she is sixth in the IndyCar series point standings.
Patrick’s season has been marked by run-ins with other drivers as well.
“We’re all out here with a job to do, and with emotions, but I do try to listen to my mom when she tells me to always be a lady,” Patrick said. “So I balance the two as best as I can.”
“I like to look pretty and I like to look sexy and I like to look like a girl but then I’m very tough at the track, so I think that contrast is kind of cool,” she once said.
“The moments that have been tough this year I’ve learned from and grown from,” Patrick said. “I wouldn’t change anything.”
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