Indianapolis – If not for a few rookie mistakes, Danica Patrick could have put the finishing touches on what Janet Guthrie started in 1977 when Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500.
Patrick, driving for Rahal Letterman Racing, ultimately rolled the dice Sunday to put herself in position to win America’s biggest open-wheel event after making up for two errors to lead the Indy 500 three times for 19 laps.
Before taking her last lead with 10 laps to go, she already had her name in the history books by becoming the highest female qualifier (fourth) and the first woman to lead a lap.
She settled for fourth place – the best finish for a woman in race history. The previous best was Guthrie’s ninth-place result in 1978. Patrick, 23, the fourth woman to qualify for the race, is the only female driver to complete the 200 laps.
“It was frustrating to be leading the race with so few laps to go and not be able to finish hard and just hang out up front and win the thing,” said Patrick, who was looking for her first major professional win. “But I also knew that I was not in the same strategy and something had to give.”
Patrick took her first lead on lap 56 after those in front of her pitted and she chose to delay her stop. Her ensuing pit stop was a disaster, as she stalled her engine while peeling out from her stall on lap 80. She fell from fourth to 16th.
Patrick rallied back into the top 10 before creating a four-car accident during a restart on lap 155. She spun, and the car’s left-front wing was torn off by Tomas Enge.
Patrick came in for repairs, fuel and tires, then pitted again to top off the fuel under caution just before lap 160.
“From my side of it, gosh, I did make some mistakes,” Patrick said. “I stalled it, went back to 16th, (and then) people were checking up a little bit on the start toward the end with about 50 or so to go …
“I can’t believe my car didn’t completely demolish, because I got hit like twice, spun it around, and I can’t believe I kept the engine running.
“Somebody is sitting by my side.”
Under green-flag race conditions, her car’s 33 gallons of fuel would last between 33 and 35 laps around the 2.5-mile oval. But she managed to make it to the finish because of three cautions covering 8 laps.
“I said we needed to roll the dice,” co-owner Bobby Rahal recalls telling his team around lap 180. “We didn’t have quite as of a good a car to pass eight guys in 20 laps.”
