Danica Patrick, First Woman to Win a Major Closed-Course Auto Race

Born on March 25, 1982, Danica Patrick began her racing career at age 10—with go-karts. She dominated the competition, earning titles four years in a row. At the age of 16, Patrick took her passion for speed overseas to England, where she sharpened her skills in the Formula Vauxhall Winter Series. A year later, she took second place in the 2000 Formula Ford Festival, the best finish ever achieved by a woman or an American.

Patrick entered the Indy Racing League in 2005. In May of that year, she qualified for the Indianapolis 500; she finished fourth, the highest position ever achieved by a woman in the race. She attained three separate pole positions during the same season, and was named Rookie of the Year. Patrick improved to a ninth-place overall finish for the IndyCar Series Championship during the 2006 season; in 2007, she moved up to seventh place.

Patrick’s greatest triumph to date occurred on April 19, 2008, during her 50th start, when she drove to victory in the Indy Japan 300 and became the first woman ever to win a race on the IndyCar circuit. As Bruce Martin of Sports Illustrated sees it, Danica Patrick “represents the same hope to female race drivers that Jackie Robinson represented to African-Americans when he broke the color-barrier in Major League Baseball.”