'''Danica Sue Patrick''' (born March 25, 1982) is an American auto racing driver competing in the Indy Racing League. She was born in Beloit, Wisconsin, and was raised in Roscoe, Illinois. She was named Rookie of The Year in the 2005 IRL Championship. In May 2006, she published her autobiography, ''Danica: Crossing the Line''.
Early racing career
Patrick began karting in 1992 , and went on to win several national championships in karting. She moved to England at the age of 16 in order to advance her racing career; rather than finishing high school, she earned a GED. Focusing primarily on road racing, Patrick raced in several developmental open-wheel series while in Europe, including Formula Ford and Formula Vauxhall. A big achievement was finishing second in England's super-competitive Formula Ford Festival, the highest-ever finish by either a woman or an American in the event.
In 2002, Patrick signed a multi-year deal to race for the team of Bobby Rahal. After making several starts in the Barber Dodge Pro Series, she moved to the Toyota Atlantic Championship for 2003. Driving for the highly regarded Rahal Letterman team with sponsorship from Argent, Patrick achieved moderate success in the Toyota Atlantic series. During her time in Atlantics, she won one pole and was a consistent finisher on the podium (top three); however, she never won a race. In 2004, Patrick finished third in the Championship.
IRL 2005
After the 2004 racing season, following much speculation as to where Patrick would race in 2005, during the offseason, Rahal Letterman Racing officially announced that Patrick would drive in the IRL IndyCar Series for 2005.
On May 29, 2005, Patrick became only the fourth woman to race in the Indianapolis 500, following Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James, and Sarah Fisher. After posting the fastest practice speed of the month (229.880 mph / 369.956 km/h) during the morning practice session for the first day of qualifications (May 15), she made an error in the first turn of her first qualifying lap, and failed to capture the pole position, which instead went to Tony Kanaan; Patrick's fourth starting position, however, was still the highest ever attained for the race by a female driver.
Patrick became the first female driver to lead the race at Indianapolis, first when acquiring it for a lap near the 125 mile mark while cycling through pit stops, and late in the race when she stayed out one lap longer than her rivals during a set of green-flag pit stops. Patrick overcame two crucial blunders to finish fourth in
