About Danica Patrick
Danica Sue Patrick (/ˈdænɪkə/; born March 25, 1982) is an American former professional racing driver. She is the most successful woman in the history of American open-wheel racing—her victory in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 is the only win by a woman in an IndyCar Series race.
Public Image
In a 2017 article for The Guardian, Andrew Lawrence described Patrick as "an anti-Mulan" who infiltrated and thrived in a male environment while accentuating her womanhood. He also said she is "an instrument of male and female fantasy, the sports pinup who grinds harder for feminism, day-to-day, than the great Billie Jean King ever could".Henry Hutton of the Independent Tribune noted that when Patrick entered IndyCar in 2005, she rapidly became a pop culture icon largely due to her gender and modelling, but her driver profile depreciated from car problems, racetrack accidents and uncompetitiveness.
She has been a magazine cover model for FHM, Sports Illustrated, TV Guide and ESPN: The Magazine and ranked highly on beauty lists and in polls, about female athletes.People magazine named her one of the most beautiful people in the world in 2006.The following year, Patrick was voted the sexiest athlete in the Victoria's Secret "What is Sexy" list.She was voted No. 42 in 2006 and No. 85 in 2007 in FHM's 100 sexiest women in the world.In an interview with Fox News in 2012, Patrick objected to being labeled a sex symbol: "People don't know how to describe women in a pretty way. Do you call Blake Griffin a sex symbol because he was on the cover of Men's Health with his shirt off? People just don't know what to call women who look attractive."She expressed a different view five years later, saying she felt "awesome" about being a sex symbol: "The exposure that was generated because of being female and using my attributes — it works."
Patrick has featured on sports power and popularity lists. Bloomberg Businessweek ranked her the 50th and 88th most powerful person in the world of sports in 2008 and 2010, respectively.Time magazine named her a candidate for the 100 most influential people in the world in 2009 and 2010.She has been highly ranked in the Davie-Brown Index for several years,and peaked at number eight among female athletes in 2010.Patrick was the Harris Poll's favorite female athlete in 2008; she placed second behind tennis player Serena Williams in 2007 and again from 2013 to 2015.Between 2007 and 2013, she appeared on Forbes' list of the 100 highest paid celebrities four times, ranking in the bottom quartile and was 93rd on the magazine's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2010.Her endorsement deals generated a Q Score—the industry's measure of celebrities' likability—peak of 29 in 2010.
Impact/Criticism
Patrick's strong fan base voted her the IndyCar Series Most Popular Driver from 2005 to 2010 and the NASCAR Nationwide Series Most Popular Driver in 2012.She was voted the Favorite Female Athlete at the Kids' Choice Award in 2008, 2012 and 2013.She also won the legend award at the 2018 Kids' Choice Sports.Increasing attendance at auto racing events and improved television ratings have been attributed to Patrick by scholars and the press.She has inspired many young girls' interest in motorsports, leading them to race competitively. Some have credited her with preventing the dissolution of the IndyCar Series, and strengthening support for NASCAR.Patrick has been called a trailblazer or pioneer for women in auto racing,and commentators agree her achievements have broken the gender barrier in an industry that is overwhelmingly male.
Patrick has come under scrutiny from the media and fans throughout her career.She has been called a "gimmick" or a "publicity stunt" by some fans for lack of better racing results.Critics have compared her to former tennis player Anna Kournikova for her lack of on-track success and promotion of her looks, though the similarities have been questioned by others.Prior to her 2008 Indy Japan 300 triumph, Patrick was criticized by commentators and fans who claimed her ~100 lb (45 kg) body weight constituted an unfair advantage.Indy Racing League president Brian Barnhart responded that her weight "had a virtually minimal effect on the competition".In June 2013, former NASCAR driver Kyle Petty called Patrick a "marketing machine" and asserted that she was not a race car driver.In February 2014, during an appearance at the eighth annual Canadian Motorsports Expo, Kyle's father, Richard Petty, criticized her for not winning more races.
NASCAR Final Years
For 2015, Patrick again stayed with Stewart-Haas Racing.She began her season in the Sprint Unlimited by finishing tenth after escaping with collateral damage from a multi-car accident. Patrick started at the back of the field for the season-opening Daytona 500 and finished 21st.After scoring two top-tens (seventh at the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway and ninth at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway), she eclipsed Janet Guthrie for the most top tens by a woman in Sprint Cup Series history.Patrick led two laps of the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway during the pit stop cycle, and finished 16th,and at the Quaker State 400, she became the first woman to start a hundred Cup Series races.At the Fall Martinsville race, she had twenty-five owner and drivers points deducted, was fined $50,000, and put on probation by NASCAR until the end of 2015 for an intentional retaliatory crash against David Gilliland.In 36 races, Patrick scored 716 points, placing her 24th in the drivers' standings, the highest of her career. She had two top-ten finishes, an average finish of 23.5, and failed to finish four times.
Patrick had signed a multi-year contract which allowed her to stay at Stewart-Haas Racing for 2016.She also switched crew chiefs from Daniel Knost to Billy Scott for the upcoming season.At the first race of the season, the Daytona 500, she retired when she made contact with Greg Biffle on the 184th lap, spun into the grass and heavily damaged her car's front end.Patrick was fined $20,000 for gesturing to Kasey Kahne after he wrecked her car at the Auto Club 400.She was involved in a high-speed crash with Matt Kenseth at Talladega which necessitated a chest radiograph.Patrick struggled with form during the season, but did improve her average result for the fifth consecutive year to a career-high 22.0 in thirty-six starts. Her best result of the season was eleventh place at the fall Charlotte race, and she led a career-high 30 laps.Patrick was again 24th in the final drivers' standings, but had fewer points than the previous season, at 689 accrued, and did not finish three races she entered.
Patrick remained with Stewart-Haas Racing for the duration of the renamed Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series in 2017.She began her campaign with her best finish in any NASCAR Cup Series race with a fourth place at the Advance Auto Parts Clash exhibition race at Daytona.Patrick was credited with a 33rd-place finish for the season-opening Daytona 500 after she was forced into retirement from being caught up in a multi-car accident.She later took her first top-ten finish in seventy-seven races when she placed tenth at Dover on June 4.On November 17, Patrick announced that she would step away from full-time racing after the season finale at Homestead-Miami, though she also announced plans to compete in the 2018 Daytona 500 and 2018 Indianapolis 500.She retired halfway through when her right-rear tire blew after glancing the wall and she collided heavily with another barrier.Patrick finished the 2017 season with one top-ten, eleven DNFs and an average finish of 23.8. She scored 511 points, putting her twenty-eighth in the drivers' standings.
In January 2018, it was announced that Patrick would be reunited with longtime partner GoDaddy for sponsorship of the "Danica Double" and assistance as she moved on to her life as a business woman and entrepreneur.For her final NASCAR race at the 2018 Daytona 500, Patrick signed with Premium Motorsports to drive its No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 after discussions with Chip Ganassi Racing did not yield in a race seat.Her final Daytona 500 came to an early end when she was involved in a six-car accident on lap 102, placing 35th in the final results.Patrick concluded her NASCAR career with no wins, and finished in the top ten in 3.6% of her 191 races.On March 7, 2018, it was announced that her final Indianapolis 500 appearance would be in a third car for Ed Carpenter Racing.
Personal Life
In 2005, she married Paul Edward Hospenthal, whom she met at his office in 2002 while recovering from a hip injury sustained during a yoga session.They divorced in 2013.
She was in relationships with fellow NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (from 2012 to 2017) and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (from 2018 to 2020).
In 2021, Patrick was reported to be in a relationship with American businessman Carter Comstock.In 2022, she confirmed that they had ended their relationship.
As of November 2024, Danica has amassed 960,000 followers on Instagram and 361,000 subscribers on her YouTube platform.
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