A week after a confrontation with fellow driver Milka Duno that quickly became a popular YouTube video, Danica Patrick said her only regret is not thinking about how public it would be.
The incident took place in the pits at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after last Saturday’s morning practice, when Patrick walked to the wall behind Duno’s pit to talk to the Venezuelan driver about getting in her way on the track.
“I don’t think that’s something that happens every weekend,” Patrick said. “All I can do is pay attention to the situation and realize that people are watching. A time and a place for everything.
“I just need to watch it, be careful, you know, not do anything that does anything that draws attention that’s not always the most positive. I want kids to be fans of me, and parents to be excited about watching, too.”
She added, “As a driver, I am not afraid to have conversations with other drivers. I think, in my life, I’m definitely under a close eye. There are always cameras and TV and things around. I just have to watch what I’m doing and where I’m doing it.
“That’s probably the lesson I’ve learned over the last few years is that people are always watching. What can I say? It’s a double-edged sword: People are always watching, but people are always watching. So you do good things and that’s fantastic and then you do other things that are good or bad or just indifferent, or can be something that people just draw their own opinions about. Those are the fine lines that you walk. I just have to be aware of that.”
“I want kids to be fans of me and parents to be excited about watching, too.”
Since then, the 26-year-old Wisconsin-born racer has parlayed her good looks and driving skill into a public relations juggernaut that includes TV Super Bowl commercials, merchandise trailers, talk-show appearances and Sports Illustrated swimsuit spreads.
Her Q-rating hit the stratosphere in April when she won her first major open-wheel race, at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.
But the fallout means her run-ins with other drivers are now beamed around the world instantaneously, including a pushing match with Dan Wheldon in 2007 when she felt he cut her off and put her under the inside line at Milwaukee.
“As a driver I’m not afraid to have conversations with other drivers,” she said.
“My personality is definitely a passionate personality.
“I’m very focused and very into what I’m doing. There are drivers out there that are more calm and there are drivers that are more excited and that goes across the board.
“It’s not a learned thing; it’s just a genetic thing.”
Patrick likes to provide driver’s education tips to the rest of the field, which is not always taken in the proper spirit.
Patrick was looking to help Milka Duno in Lexington, Ohio, last weekend after being unable to pass her during a practice run.
Patrick wanted to know if Duno was too busy applying eyeliner to notice that someone was trying to leave her jalopy in the exhaust fumes.
Patrick emphasized the point with profanity, which is straight out of Dale Carnegie’s book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
“I don’t like the show she likes in every race weekend,” Duno said. “She can push the guys because they cannot do anything to her. But she cannot push me. We meet on equal condition [as women], and I know what kind of character I have.”
So Duno showed Patrick, and what a show it was in “Race-Car Women Gone Wild.”
As it is, the fuss that envelops Patrick reflects the power of marketing more than performance on the track.
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