Danica Patrick and the Daytona 500

The whole world has come to "know" Danica Patrick in the past week. Her pole position at the 2013 Daytona 500 has propelled her from the sporting world of auto racing into the world of newsmakers and trailblazers. Danica Sue Patrick (born March 25, 1982) is an American auto racing driver. Some refer to her as a model and advertising spokeswoman, but Danica lives for auto racing. The rest is the glitz. Even though we have all seen and heard Danica Patrick on TV this week, do most of us know that she is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing - that she is the only woman to win a race in the IndyCar Series - that she holds the highest finish (third place) by a woman at the Indianapolis 500. Patrick's racing passion and prowess began in kart racing. She later raced Formula Ford in England before moving back to the United States and moving up to IndyCars, where she raced 115 times in 7 years for both Rahal Letterman Racing and Andretti Autosport, with a record of 1 Wins 7 Podiums and 3 Poles. Along the way, Patrick was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season. With her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300, Patrick became the first woman to win an Indy car race. She placed third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500, which was both a personal best for her at the track, and the highest finish by a woman in the event's history. Patrick holds the IRL record for most consecutive races running at the finish. As of October 2, 2011, she had completed 50 consecutive races in the running (the next highest total in the record book is 32). During her time in IndyCar, Patrick drove for Rahal Letterman Racing from 2005 to 2006, and Andretti Autosport from 2007 to 2011. In 2010, Patrick began racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, driving the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet Impala for JR Motorsports part-time. She also has an equity stake in her #7 team. She had her best career finish of 4th in series on March 5, 2011, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the best finish by a woman in a NASCAR top-circuit. In the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Patrick has 7 Top tens and 1Pole. In 2012 she moved into the NASCAR Nationwide Series and occasionally in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. For the 2013 season. Danica is driving the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing in the Sprint Cup Series, and a limited Nationwide Series schedule for Turner Motorsports. On February 17, 2013, Patrick became the first woman to win a pole position in Sprint Cup history, doing so for the 2013 Daytona 500. Will Danica Parick win the Daytona 500 on Sunday? Nobody can say. The pole position driver has not won a Daytona 500 since 2000. And only one rookie has ever won at Daytona - 20-year-old Trevor Bayne in 2011, breaking Jeff Gordon's mark as the youngest winner in Daytona 500 history. Gordon was 25 when he won the 500 in 1997. Some have claimed that Patrick's comparatively low body weight constitutes unfair competition due to the inverse proportionality of the combined mass of a car and its driver, and its maximum velocity. However, the body weight of male drivers have the higher muscle mass, which is a key component in distance and endurance. After Patrick's IRL win, she was praised by many drivers, including Tony Stewart, who said "I think obviously she's got talent; she's been successful in every form of racing she's been in so far and I don't see why she wouldn't be successful here [in NASCAR]." Besides her racing, and following in an important NASCAR tradition, Danica Patrick is the celebrity spokesperson for Drive4COPD, an awareness campaign for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, of which her grandmother died. Patrick's presence as a key spokesperson for the COPD Foundation's DRIVE4COPD screening and education campaign in conjunction with NASCAR has greatly raised awareness about a disease that has been relatively anonymous despite being the third-deadliest killer in the United States. It's greater than diabetes and breast cancer combined, and the only major killer of Americans on the rise. In addition, Patrick works for the National Breast Cancer Foundation and with GoDaddy has helped elevate the profile of the campaign even further, according to the NBFC. "They have given NBCF the ability to reach a new audience to let them know about how we provide free mammograms to women in need and encourage women to create their early detection plan," according to a NBCF spokesperson. High-profile personalities such as Patrick "allow us to reach a captive audience" to increase awareness. So, dear readers, tune in Sunday to see if Danica Patrick etches her name in Daytona history. ~~~~~ Many thanks to Wikipedia for the statistics...and a thank-you to my sister for opening for me the exciting world of racing beyond Formula 1. Her passion for auto racing is exceeded only by her encyclopedic knowledge of all things NASCAR.