Danica Sue Patrick was born March 25, 1982 in Beloit, Wisconsin. She is age 26 auto racing driver competing in the IndyCar Series. She is from an Irish-American family and was raised in Roscoe, Illinois. Patrick was named the Rookie of the Year for both the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and the 2005 IndyCar Series season. In May 2006, she published her autobiography, Danica: Crossing the Line.
On February 3, 2008, Patrick appeared in a Go Daddy Inc. commercial advertised at the Super Bowl, but was only shown on godaddy.com. Patrick appears in the February 15, 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. She is featured in a 4-page photo spread .
Patricks's parents, T.J. and Bev Patrick, met on a blind date at a snowmobile event in the 1970s when Bev was a mechanic for a friend's snowmobile. T.J. raced snowmobiles, motocross, and midget cars. They have owned a Java Hut and a plate glass company. Currently, T.J. helps his daughter by driving her motor coach, and managing her Web site and merchandise trailer. Bev handles the ins and outs of her business needs. Patrick is married to Paul Edward Hospenthal, who had previously been her physical therapist.
Recently she was voted sexiest athlete in Victoria's Secret "What is Sexy" list. Patrick also was voted 42 in 2006 and 85 in 2007 in FHM's 100 sexiest women in the world. On the February 23, 2007 episode of the MTV2 Series of Celebrity Deathmatch Patrick was portrayed in animated clay form fighting Anna Kournikova. Patrick was voiced by Laura Napoli. On the August 23, 2007 episode of Diggnation, hosts Alex Albrecht and Kevin Rose shot live at the Infineon Raceway, where they were treated to a lap around the track in an IndyCar driven by Patrick. Over the next several weeks, Rose repeatedly made reference to the fact that he was very attracted to Patrick. Patrick is represented by The Endeavor Talent Agency. On July 25, 2006, Patrick announced she had signed a deal to drive for Andretti Green Racing, replacing Bryan Herta in the number 7 Dallara Honda car beginning in 2007. Patrick's car is sponsored by Motorola, XM radio and Go Daddy. In Patrick's first race with Andretti Green Racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 24th she finished 14th after crashing into the pit wall on lap 154 and being knocked out of the race. Following Homestead, she finished 8th at St. Petersburg and 11th at Japan. At Kansas she had her best finish of the year at that point, finishing 7th. In April 2007, Patrick launched her official fan club The Danica Maniacs to help foster greater interaction between her and her fans. Benefits include a "Pit Kit," contests and giveaways, sponsor discounts and promotions, and a members-only web site loaded with features. Patrick ended up starting and finishing eighth in the 91st running of the 2007 Indianapolis 500. She ran as high as 2nd to Tony Kanaan after the rain delay. She had to pit after the rain delay, which dropped her back in the field. Patrick was working her way back to the front until the race was ended under the caution caused by Marco Andretti's accident due to the subsequent rain on lap 166. At the Milwaukee Mile, Patrick started second to last but moved up quickly to 5th before contact with Dan Wheldon. Patrick managed to save the car from hitting anything but the wreck caused aerodynamic damage. She used a timely caution to get back on the lead lap and finish 8th. After the race she and Wheldon had a heated exchange after she tried to confront him about the wreck.
Following the incident at Milwaukee, Patrick rebounded with a career night at Texas in the Bombardier Learjet 550. She ran with the lead pack throughout the entire race and led her first two laps since her rookie season before finishing third, her first top-three finish at the time and less than a second behind eventual winner Sam Hornish, Jr. Her good fortune would only be temporary as she was involved in one of the several crashes at Iowa to finish 13th. She would however rebound at Richmond to run in the top 10 all night before finishing 6th. She followed that up with an 11th place finish at Watkins Glen before running in the top 5 all day and finishing 3rd at Nashville. At Mid-Ohio she finished 5th (her best career road course finish) despite being involved in a lap 1 accident that sent her into the grass briefly.
Patrick continued to have bad luck at Michigan International Speedway as previous years have seen Patrick retire from the race early due to fuel and other troubles. At the 2007 running, a flat tire in the late portion of the race forced Patrick to pit and dropped her to a 7th place finish. Her terrible luck would continue at Kentucky as she ran in the lead group all night and appeared headed towards another podium finish when she spun out exiting pit road with less than 50 laps to go. After restarting from that spin, a rear tire on Patrick's car blew leading to a crash and forcing her to retire from the race.
Her luck would get a little better at Infineon as she ran in the top 10 and finished 6th. However a series of slow pit stops kept her from what could have been an even better finish. At Belle Isle, Patrick started 11th and was involved in two accidents from which she was able to restart without damage, eventually driving to the front and leading 9 laps of the race before falling back after having to pit. On the final lap, while Patrick was running in 5th, Buddy Rice, Scott Dixon and teammate Dario Franchitti were involved in an accident immediately in front of her. Patrick was able to avoid the wreck and finish in second place, a career-high in the IndyCar Series and tying her with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver Sarah Fisher for best finish in Indy Style racing by a female.
At the season finale in Chicagoland Speedway, Patrick ran most of the race in in the top 6, but had to make a pit stop for fuel with 7 laps to go. When entering pit lane, Patrick spun-out but avoided damage to her car. With assistance from her pit crew, Patrick was able to refire the engine, make a complete pit stop and reenter the race, finishing 11th overall. For the 2007 season as a whole, Patrick scored her first three career podium finishes to finish with 4 top 5's and 11 top 10's while leading 17 laps on the season. She also scored her career best championship points finish of 7th with 424 points.
