Patrick heads into new phase of life after racing

CHARLOTTE, N. C. » Danica Patrick blazed her way through motorsports like no woman ever had.

She was fearless in an Indy car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a whiteknuckle track that has shaken the nerves of many a driver. With marketing savvy and strong sponsorship support, she built a platform that made her one of the most recognizable athletes in the world — not just among female athletes, either. Patrick leads all celebrities with a record 14 appearances in Super Bowl commercials.

Patrick spoke her mind, verbally sparred with rivals, didn’t back down from anything.

All of which made it so startling two weeks ago when Patrick, steely and stoic in public for so many years, wept as she announced she will drive just two more races : next year’s Daytona 500 in February and then the Indianapolis 500 three months later in a “Danica Double” that will close out her career at the track that played a huge part in her fame. She knew for several months that her days as a full-time race car driver were dwindling, but making it official brought out a wave of emotion few had ever seen from Patrick. “It’s hard to say things out loud,” she later explained. Patrick sat down with The Associated Press for nearly an hour prior to announcing her retirement plan. She was ecstatic about what is ahead. There was no sadness, just acceptance that for the first time in more than a decade she had sponsorship problems and had to find something else to do with her life.

By the end of the NASCAR season, after just one top-10 finish and tying her career low of 28th in the Cup standings, she said: “I couldn’t have been more miserable. It’s been such a grind and I always said, if I don’t think I can run better than where I am, then it’s not fun and I don’t want to do it.”

Patrick is aware of her legacy in racing. She is the only woman to lead laps in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. She finished fourth as a rookie at Indy, where she led 19 laps and “Danica Mania” was born. Four years later, she was a career-best third at “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

A star was born and sponsor GoDaddy wanted to move to NASCAR, where the visibility was higher. But like most every openwheel driver before her, Patrick struggled in the transi- tion to stock cars.

At five full seasons at NASCAR’s highest level, she lasted longer than peers Dario Franchitti and Sam Hornish Jr., both IndyCar champions and Indy 500 winners. Still, Patrick had just seven top-10 finishes in 190 races, one pole — her rookie year at the Daytona 500 — and never finished higher than 24th in the standings. Critics bring all that up whenever Patrick’s legacy is mentioned.

“I feel like it takes away from everything else I’ve accomplished,” Patrick said. “I don’t want to be remembered for the things that didn’t go as well. I want to be remembered for the things that did go well.”

And so begins the second act for a 35-year- old who left her Illinois home nearly two decades ago to travel alone as a teenager to Europe and pursue a career in open-wheel racing.