On Sunday May 27, 2018, Danica Patrick ended her career as a professional race car driver at the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500.
She ended her career in the place that made her.
As Danica’s racing career comes to a close I just wanted to thank her.
Thank you Danica.
Thank you for for everything that you have done.
If you’re reading this you probably already know who Danica Patrick is so I’ll just state for the record some highlights.
Danica Patrick is the most successful women in open wheel racing.
She is the only woman to have ever won an IndyCar race.
She is also the only woman to have lead laps at the Indy 500.
Her 4th place finish in the 2005 Indy 500 is the highest finishing position in the race ever by a woman.
She is a badass woman.
If it weren’t for Danica I might not have become an IndyCar fan, or I might not have become as big of a fan that I am, or I might not have become a fan until I was older.
Yes, walking away from my first Indy 500 in 2006 I was in awe of what I had just experienced, but I also walked away from May with a favorite driver, that being Danica Patrick.
Danica was my hook into IndyCar.
She was this really cool female racing in a field full of men.
Even though I didn’t want to be a race car driver I saw her as a representation of me and all other girls in racing.
I was her biggest fan until she switched to Nascar.
I was not a Nascar fan so I didn’t follow her or her career in Nascar. So when she left IndyCar I was sad to see her go, but I had so many other drivers in the field that I loved that it didn’t matter that much. I still loved IndyCar, even without Danica in it. But without Danica to help me get started who knows where I would be in my obsession with IndyCar.
So thank you Danica.
Danica gets a lot of hate thats for sure.
No one get more hate than Danica except Taylor Swift.
Danica gets a lot of hate that she doesn’t deserve.
No, she’s not the most fan friendly driver, but if we’re being honest, she doesn't owe us anything. She doesn’t owe us her time and she’s well aware of it.
I mean for all the people who have negative things to say about her I don’t blame her for wanting to avoid people when she can.
And a lot of people have issues with all of the media attention she gets.
Well, the media are the ones who took the initial interest in her and she ran with it. Who wouldn’t? The media and her ability to drive a race car is what made Danica a household name.
And I just want to point out that all of y’all who are making a fuss online about Danica getting too much attention are giving Danica attention.. just saying.
And for all of the haters out there who say that Danica deserved to end her career with a crash at Indy: you need to shut your face.
She knows how to drive a car thats for sure and she absolutely did not deserve to end her career that way.
It was just a casualty of Indy, as they are always unfortunate. I mean look who else crashed on Sunday, multiple IndyCar champion Sebastian Bourdais, Indy 500 winner Tony Kannan, and THREE time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves.
Saying Danica deserved to crash would essentially be the same as saying that TK. Seb, and Helio deserved to crash as well.
Don’t argue with me on that.
Anyways, on to a more positive note.
We cannot thank Danica enough for everything that she has done for IndyCar and motorsports in general.
Even Roger Penske acknowledged how much gratitude we owe to Danica.
And no one can argue with the Captain, am I right?
So thank you Danica for being a strong, independent woman.
Thank you Danica for standing your ground even when people pushed you around.
Thank you Danica for being a female in a male dominated sport.
Thank you Danica for continuing to remain yourself even when people thought you should change your ways.
Thank you Danica for sighing my visor when I was ten years old. It is still one of my most prized possessions.
Thank you Danica for being my hook into IndyCar.
Thank you Danica for being a strong woman role model for girls and boys everywhere to look up to.
Thank you Danica for being Danica.
Your influence on motorsports will never be forgotten.
It’s people like you and Sarah Fisher, Pippa Mann, Simona De Silvestro, Lynn St. James, and Janet Guthrie that make it possible for girls to achieve their dreams.
I know that someday, because of the Influence of Danica Patrick and all of the other women I just mentioned and many more to come, that someday there will be just as many women, if not more, than men competing for a spot in the Indy 500.
I just hope that all of them, and myself get to see it in our lifetime.
On that note, one last time, Thank you Danica.
xxkaitlyn
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