By Danica Patrick is the most successful women in the history of motorsports.
Some might balk at that statement. Some might even laugh. All of this is to be expected, as she never quite got the respect that she deserved throughout her career in auto racing.
It takes extreme talent to break through into the top levels of motorsports. It takes a lot of demanding work and the ultimate level of dedication. And that’s for a man.
For a woman, the challenge becomes even harder. Despite this, a rare few have been able to overcome these difficulties over the history of motorsports.
None have done so to the level of Patrick.
And yet, despite this, I still may be selling Patrick short in terms of her spot in racing history. I know that sounds crazy but hear me out.
Patrick in NASCAR
NASCAR fans gave Patrick a lot of grief throughout her time in the series, and while it was very much overdone, some of it was at least a bit warranted.
It’s true that Patrick never finished higher than 24th in the final standings during her time in the cup series despite driving for Stewart-Haas Racing. And while that was underwhelming compared to expectations, there was still a lot more good than bad in her NASCAR career to counteract that fact.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at some of these accomplishments in comparison to the other great women to have raced in NASCAR.
Patrick has 191 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series. That’s the most of all time for a woman. She also has 252 starts total among the top three series. That’s also the most of all time. She finished her career with seven top ten finishes in the Cup Series, the same amount that she had in the Xfinity Series. Both of those are the all-time marks as well among women. She led 64 laps in the Cup Series as well, which is also the most all-time.
And guess what, the records don’t end there.
Patrick has a best career finish of sixth in the Cup Series, which is tied with Janet Guthrie for the best finish in the series by a woman in the modern era. Her best finish of fourth in the Xfinity Series is the best finish by a woman in any of the top three series of all-time. Her 10th place points finish in the 2012 Xfinity Series Standings was the best points finish for a woman in any of the top three series of all-time.
She also stepped up in the big races. She became the first woman to ever win a pole in the Cup Series when she won the pole for the 2013 Daytona 500. Patrick led five laps in that race, which allowed her to become the first woman to lead laps in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500.
Patrick in IndyCar
Speaking of the Indianapolis 500, Patrick had a large amount of success in that race alone, not to mention IndyCar as a whole, a series in which she was incredibly successful.
In 2005, as a rookie, Patrick led 19 laps in the famous event before falling to fourth after having to save fuel. With the result, she became the first women to ever lead laps in the Indianapolis 500 and set the mark for the best finish by a woman in the history of the race, a mark that she has since beaten herself when she finished third in 2009.
Those races were only a couple of the many shining moments Patrick had in IndyCar. In her rookie season, she captured three pole positions, tied for most poles by a rookie in series history. She finished that season by capturing rookie of the year for not only the Indianapolis 500, but also for the season.
At the 2008 Indy Japan 300, Patrick made even more history, as she became the first woman to ever win an IndyCar race.
In 2009, Patrick finished a career best fifth in the standings. In fact, Patrick was consistently one of the better drivers in IndyCar, as she finished in the top ten in the standings in six out of her seven full-time seasons.
That includes in 2010, when she finished 10th in the standings and set a series record at the time for consecutive races running at the finish with 29.
The numbers show that Danica is easily the most accomplished women, which is an incredible achievement in and of itself without a doubt. However, they also show that she was an incredible race car driver in general, and she showed that in IndyCar before she ever had even gotten into NASCAR.
Her Impact on Motorsports
But it was her time in NASCAR that was truly the most impactful of her career, numbers aside. While she no doubt was an inspiration throughout her IndyCar career, she reached such large audiences when she got into NASCAR, inspired many young women across the country, and showed them that women did have a place in the sport and that if they worked hard enough, they too could make that dream a reality one day.
And that above anything else is why Patrick is the greatest woman in motorsports history.
She may have not been the first women in motorsports, but she had the most success and provided arguably the most inspiration, which puts her in a world of her own in the history of auto racing.
*Stats courtesy of Racing-Reference
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