Coming up May 24, this year’s Indy 500, which will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first purpose-built race track in the world, already has three female entrants, the largest grouping of such drivers ever at the 2.5-mile oval, and one of them has a solid chance of victory, as good or better a chance than any of the 30 men the women will be up against.
Commercial Point, Ohio’s Sarah Fisher, 28, Venezuelan Milka Duno, 37 and Illinois’ own Danica Patrick, 27, will fly their 800-horsepower open-wheel IndyCars with Honda engines mounted in Italian-built Dallara chassis against the best field of racers to compete at the 500 in over a dozen years.
Of the three, Danica Patrick is carrying the hopes and dreams of many to be the first woman to win Indy, especially following her victory at the Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan last year, the first time a woman ever won a major open-wheel race event.
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She’s on the cover of the June issue of Shape magazine, in Sports Illustrated swimsuit editions, does TV ads for and other sponsors and clients, is a frequent talk show guest and just last week was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.
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Patrick is the single best hope for motor racing’s future in this country; rumors of her moving to Formula 1 next year make her power and influence in the sport and the world of advertising even stronger.
Yet we think it’s great that a tough, taut young woman who wears fireproof underwear to work, has a husband so completely in the background that a lot of people don’t know she’s married, has an office consisting of a gas and brake pedal, gear-shifter and exotic electronic telemetry and TV cameras, gets more than a little grease under her nails and has a team owner named Andretti who spends much of his time trying to control her decidedly snarky mouth and attitude is well-positioned to strike another blow for equality between the sexes … and then some.
