Breaking Records
After leaving high school to compete professionally in Europe, Patrick impressively earned herself second place at the Formula Ford Festival in 2000 – an annual British competition consisting of Ford powered single seat racing cars.
In fact, she had only lost by less than half a second to British racer Anthony Denis Davidson. Not just that, but her finish was considered the “best-ever-finish” for an American during that time. Can you imagine how excited she must’ve been?
From there, her career would sky-rocket within just a couple of years.
Indy 500
Even if you’re not that big into car-racing, you’ve probably heard of the Indy-car racing competitions, more specifically, the Indy 500. Right? If not, all you need to know is that it’s the most popular and prestigious racing competition stateside. And this race basically banned women from competing until the late 70s, with only a few female racers being part of it in the decades after.
But in 2002, Danica Patrick was about to get a one-in-a-million, once-in-a-lifetime chance. After a decade of racing, she was offered her very first Indy-racing contract by world-famous former Indy driver, Bobby Rahal. Talk about incredible!
However, that season wasn’t great and in the end, she didn’t have a chance to compete in Indy 500 that year.