Danica Patrick Gaining Confidence with New Role at AGR
Written by Allan Brewer · March 31, 2008
America’s Princess of Speed Growing On and Off the Track
Before, she might have deferred to veteran teammates Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan; but with the Indy Racing League champion gone to NASCAR, the time has come for the tiny black-haired racer from Roscoe, Illinois to take a step forward into a leadership role at Andretti Green Racing.
Danica Patrick, the only woman to ever lead the Indianapolis 500, has big shoes to fill at AGR.
Franchitti was not only the senior spokesman, a consummate media darling with his dark looks and movie-star wife, but also arguably the most ready resource of practical information on car set-up and race-strategy for the team that bears America’s best-known racing name.
With his absence Danica feels the impetus to become a resource for young Hideki Mutoh, a rookie teammate up from the Indy Lights series.
“If I can be seen as a person he can come to for help, I’d be very happy and very honored,” Patrick said in a recent teleconference with the media.
“We’ve always had a great team and worked together. I haven’t talked to Hideki a lot, because we’re always busy testing, but I’m always looking for teammates who can make us all better.”
Responsibility Grows as Racer Moves Up in Racing Stature
It’s this sense of responsibility to a purpose beyond her own success that marks a sea-change in how Danica sees the world, and how it in turn sees her.
“I want to win for the fans,” she said, “for the ones who come out and cheer week-in and week-out. I want to win for them, for them to be excited when it finally happens, so they’ll have a great Sunday.”
Patrick remains loyal to the Indy Racing League that has made her a household name, shunning opportunities to drive the taxi-cabs of the racing world. Rather, she’s intent on making open-wheel racing the destination of choice for the world’s fastest shoes.
“Any good driver leaving (the IRL) is never good,” she offered. “You always want to keep the marquis names in the series.”
“The challenge is to look at why they might leave, and fix it so they don’t. We need to explain it and prevent it from happening again.”
The void at the top has inevitably pushed her name to the top of the list of stars in the League, something that will never be more obvious than when the month of May rolls along and all eyes are focused on the Indianapolis 500.
“Indy is always a big part of our year,” she said, “because we spend 30 days there getting ready for the race. It’s impossible not to learn more and share more with teammates than during that single month of the year.”
“It’s the month that I, and everyone, becomes acclimated as a ‘team’.”
Embracing the Moment Key to Moving Beyond the Past
With early-season testing now out of the way, Danica can focus her energy on what she has as yet failed to do: win a race and silent her most vocal critics with finality.
“I feel excitement, as opposed to nervousness,” she said of the pressure to produce results in her fourth season of IndyCar Series competition. “I feel confident that I’ve come into my own now, and I can push the limits to where they need to be,” to get that elusive first victory.
She came achingly close in 2007, moving up the standings with each passing week to a career-best second at Detroit’s Belle Isle Grand Prix in the fifteenth event of the season.
Even more impressive, with her sixth-place result last weekend in Miami she now owns eleven top-ten’s in her last fifteen races; a record of consistent money-finishes that gives testament to the twenty-six year old racer’s grit and determination.
“Pushing and being aggressive comes from being comfortable,” she said of her impressive run toward the front of the pack. “With the time I’ve had in the car I feel I can push it really far now. It’s nice to feel that control, the ability to make the car go where you want it to go.”
“I’m better than I’ve every been,” she added.
”I’m ready to win”
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[…] go where you want it to go.
“she has as yet failed to do: win a race and silent her most vocal critics with finality”
Uh, I’m an AGR fan, and I am proud of Danica’s consistent stick to the top ten - it’s fabulous, BUT you kind of have to do the above before you start advising the new drivers. It seems kind of big-headed to me. Win please, even just once, then advise.
All that being said, a Danica win or two in 2008 would just be spectacular!