Danica Patrick’s historic victory is yet another sign of the positive vibe that IndyCar racing has been feeling since unification at the end of February.
Prior to that, IndyCar had become the “Redheaded Stepchild” of the sporting world, relegated to the back pages of the sports sections when it was embroiled in an open-wheel civil war, first with CART and later with CART’s successor, Champ Car.
But when the sport of IndyCar racing became whole again, with Champ Car ceasing operation and many of its teams joining IndyCar, the sport was back and relevant again.
First, it was Graham Rahal winning the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg two weeks ago, becoming the youngest IndyCar winner in history at 19.
But that accomplishment may pale in social significance to what Patrick did on a cold, overcast day 65 miles northeast of Tokyo — a race that had been postponed a day because of a wet track.
“It was great that unification happened, that it was put together and everyone looked at the big picture,” Patrick said after watching the final laps of the Champ Car Series finale in the Long Beach Grand Prix. “The momentum of the series is clear. The IndyCar Series has been growing over the last couple of years and there were some great things that happened over the winter. I didn’t even like to bring up the split in the series because most fans never really understood it, but we have a bright future for IndyCar.
“This is just a start. It will snowball from here.”
On Sunday in Japan, Patrick’s Andretti Green Racing team played the fuel strategy game perfectly. She saved fuel early in her final run while the other drivers in front of her either had to pit for a splash of Ethanol in the closing laps or get off the throttle like Helio Castroneves had to do with three laps to go.
That played perfectly into Patrick’s plan as she sped by Castroneves with two laps to go, drove to the checkered flag and into history as the first woman ever to win a race in a major closed-course racing series.
“I can’t say the last stint was exactly hard,” Patrick said. “I was taking it easy and going fast but still trying to save fuel. All I had to beat was Helio and I knew I had been saving fuel earlier in the stint. I didn’t want to make the mistake of not trying harder to get by him.
“Finally.”
At times, patience was tested. For the first 49 races of her career, she was constantly hounded by the questions, “When are you going to win a race?” or “Are you ever going to win a race?” She became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and was in front with seven laps to go before fading to a fourth-place finish that year.
But in her 50th start, Patrick finally answered those questions and lived up to her billing off the track.
And while Shirley Muldowney and Melanie Troxel are race winners in drag racing, their battles are usually one-on-one against another competitor and the clock. Patrick’s victory came on a 1.5-mile oval against 17 other drivers.
“It was a matter of everything coming together,” Patrick said. “I knew this is how it would feel.”
There was Patrick, standing on the top rung of the podium, just a few inches above America’s Dancing King, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves, who finished second.
And while Janet Guthrie was the real pioneer by becoming the first female ever to race in the Indianapolis 500 in 1977, there would be others that would follow, including Lyn St. James, Sarah Fisher and even Milka Duno.
But Patrick is the first to actually win an IndyCar race, posing next to a trophy that was nearly as big as she is at five-feet.