While the IndyCar Series has one of the longest offseasons in sports, Danica Patrick doesn’t mind because it allows her to be the face of the series in a different way than the steely look of determination that peers through a race visor.
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Last week, however, the IndyCar Series finally started shaking off the cobwebs of an offseason that began in September 2008, and there’s plenty to look forward to in ‘09, including the return of Patrick. While she was no better than 15th quick out of 22 car/driver combinations that posted lap times in the Open Test at Homestead-Miami Speedway, that matters little because Patrick is the face of IndyCar. And what a beautiful face it is. If this is what it takes for IndyCar to get attention in the mainstream media heading into it’s April 5 season open, so be it.
“The offseason was good,” Patrick said last week. “I seemed to be preparing for photo shoots quite a bit and going to conventions and signing autographs and terribly exciting things like that. But it stayed really full and busy. I don’t get bored by not being in the race car because I have plenty of other things to worry about and do, so there is never a dull moment in the ‘Danica Racing Camp.’”
“For me, I fill the time pretty easily, so if nobody else is testing I don’t feel like I’m falling behind—so we are all even,” Patrick said. “But if people are doing things, then I feel like I need to be out there doing something.”
When Patrick was asked to pose for Sports Illustrated in 2008, she thought it was a once-in-a-career opportunity. When she was asked to pose again in 2009, she thought it might become an annual ritual.
“Let’s hope this becomes a trend,” Patrick said. “I was very, very flattered when I got the second invitation. There was such a positive response from the internet views. You have to look at the nuts and bolts of it and the point of the story is people buy the magazine and look on the internet at the pictures and they were doing that so I was flattered to be back. I was flattered to be a model for a day.”
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