Patrick tries to build goodwill with fans

No more unpleasant moments during tour stops in Boston.

BOSTON — Danica Patrick emerged from some recent fan encounters with a couple of bruises: One resulted in a swollen ring finger after a girl shook her hand too enthusiastically, and another left its mark on her image.

The 35-year-old NASCAR driver said Wednesday that she “had a moment” when she cursed out a booing fan after qualifying for last week’s race. “In a perfect world, I would have never walked over there and I’d have just kept going,” she said during a promotional tour stop in Boston. “That’s mostly what I do, every sin- gle day. If someone boos me, you just keep walking. But every now and again they just catch you in a moment. And I had a moment.”

In a video that went viral after the race in Pocono, Penn., Patrick stormed over to the fan and said: “I’m a person, too. I have feelings. When you boo me, it hurts my feelings.”

She explained during a stop at the “Cheers” bar to promote next month’s New Hampshire 301 that a fan had gone through the security cordon in an attempt to get her autograph. “I didn’t feel it was right to honor that person for disrespecting the security guard and trying to get past him by signing his stuff,” she said. “So I was put in this awkward situation.”

On Wednesday, Patrick took a student-guided tour designed to focus on influential women in history, and shook or slapped every hand held out to her in Boston. She signed dozens of autographs for people who approached her along the way. “Days like today, when you hear that you’re an inspiration, that’s the good part,” she said. “That makes the work, which is sometimes frustrating, worth it.”

Patrick said she is eager to continue driving after her contract expires at the end of the year. Although she has been increasingly active in ventures off the track, she says is not ready to retire. “The racing always comes first,” she said.