Shifting her gears
INDIANAPOLIS – Last May, Danica Patrick attracted a crowd wherever she went at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. She clicked off some of the fastest times in practice and led part of the way in the Indy 500 before finishing fourth – as a rookie. This week, Patrick is back at the Brickyard, but things are much different. As she said: “We’re struggling, for sure.”
She has been slow in practice, almost 3 mph behind the fastest driver, Sam Hornish Jr., and has no answers why.
“We’re doing the best we can to make our cars work,” Patrick said. “We just can’t seem to get the car to grip up. We can’t really trim out and go fast right now.”
Patrick, 24, is running out of time if she wants to start up front in the May 28 race. Pole qualifying is today, and the forecast is for cool, wet and windy weather.
Practice was rained out Friday, as was Saturday’s planned pole qualifying. In the three previous days, Patrick’s best one-lap time was 223.084. Hornish has run 226.789, an enormous gap in open-wheel oval racing.
“Yeah, I wish I could say it’s good to be back, but it seems a little bit of a struggle this year,” said a slightly subdued Patrick. “Last year was, I guess, comparatively easy.”
Patrick qualified fourth for the 2005 race and became the first woman to lead a lap in the 500. Throughout May, she was mobbed by reporters, photographers and fans.
Was that because of her performance or because she was a woman at Indy?
“I think that last year people knew about me because I was fast,” she said. “That’s it. I mean, you know, I had the fastest speed of the month. I almost won the pole. Those are things that I think are remarkable for a rookie. I think that’s what caused it, not because I’m a girl. I mean, it helps to be a girl, no doubt. That makes the story that much more interesting.”
The story this week on Patrick is that she’s not quite as fast as 19-year-old rookie Marco Andretti (223.606) or his 43-year-old father, Michael (223.187), who hasn’t run at Indianapolis since 2003. That isn’t lost on Patrick.
“It’s tough right now,” she admitted. “But again, I don’t think anybody thinks I’m a bad driver. It’s just we’re struggling right now. I don’t think there’s anything in particular that I have to do to validate” herself.
In three IRL races this season, Patrick has finished 17th at Homestead-Miami, sixth at St. Petersburg, Fla., and eighth in Japan. She hasn’t qualified higher than 14th.
In last year’s Indy qualifying, Patrick went out on the track with a stiff wind blowing, wobbled her way through Lap 1 but recovered to post an average speed of 227.004 for four laps. That experience in less-than-ideal weather could help her today.
Since last May, Patrick has married, moved to Phoenix and lost a teammate, Paul Dana, killed in practice for the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami. Those were life-changing events. At Indy, she hasn’t had to deal with as many fans or TV crews, spending more time in the privacy of her motor coach. She’ll have her family, including husband Paul Hospenthal, offering support this weekend.