Danica says she doesn’t miss racing
CHARLOTTE, N.C. >> Danica Patrick choked back tears after crashing out of her final Indianapolis 500, that one last trip around the historic speedway that launched her career coming to such a disappointing close.
She has not been back to a race track in the 10 months since. And she hasn’t looked back even once.
NBC Sports announced Wednesday that Patrick will be part of its inaugural broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 in May, a project that will return her to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since she ended her career there a year ago with the second leg of the “Danica Double.” In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, she was asked if she has missed racing since she walked away.
“No. No I don’t. I’m being really honest,” Patrick said without hesitation. “I’m not someone who looks back on things and has a lot of regret. I’m really not. Anytime anybody asks me if I could change anything, what would I change? Well, I’m just not the kind of person that really thinks like that. You know, I (raced) it for 27 years and life is so short and there’s so much to experience and so much to do. I spent a lot of time racing and now I can spend time doing other things.”
Patrick, who turns 37 next week, is the only woman to lead laps in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, win the pole for the Daytona 500 and win an IndyCar Series race. Her third-place finish at Indy in 2009 is the highest for a woman.
She walked away last season after a farewell tour that stopped at Daytona and Indianapolis. Both finales ended in crashes, and Patrick gradually eased into private life following the Indy 500. She was the first woman to host the ESPYs in July, but has spent the bulk of her time enjoying personal travel, occasional speaking engagements and focusing on her wine label.
Patrick has been primarily based in Phoenix since January, when the NFL season ended for quarterback boyfriend Aaron Rodgers, and enjoying the freedom of setting her own schedule.
“I’m an optimist who thinks things will work out and even though they can be scary along the way, but I really felt strong enough to make the decision to retire and move on and jump into these other projects I have,” Patrick said. “You don’t want to be half-hearted going 200 mph. The intention was that I wanted to travel and I wanted to be able to be able to just take a weeklong trip ... plan events in the summer that are really cool, go to concerts.”