A Leading Lady in Every Way

Danica Patrick didn’t win the Indianapolis 500 Sunday but, gosh, as she would say, she sure dominated it.

Just as she had dominated nearly a month’s worth of practice as an Indy rookie. Just as she had stolen the show with a near miss on pole-qualifying day.

This time, though, everything was for real. This wasn’t practice. This wasn’t four laps of qualifying, with nobody else on the track.

This was the race, 500 miles, 200 laps around the old 2 1/2 -mile brickyard, where for years, men were men and women weren’t welcome. This time, she was out there with 32 other cars, before more than 300,000 fans.

And at one stage late in the race, as she led -- only one woman had ever led before, Patrick, earlier in the race -- after having battled back from 16th place, she had nearly every one of them standing, cheering, waving, urging her on to what would have been the most revolutionary victory in American sports history.

As TV star David Letterman, one of her team’s co-owners, pointed out, “She had the thing perpendicular to the cement and still had a chance to win.”

It didn’t work out quite that way, but ...

According to one of racing’s oldest saws, “Nobody cares who finished second.” Yet when the sun went down over the grandstands, people were talking more about Patrick’s fourth-place finish than about Englishman Dan Wheldon’s victory -- a legitimate, well-deserved victory.

But then, he had simply won the race. She had spent her afternoon making history. Among her accomplishments:

* She started fourth, higher than any woman before her.

* On Lap 56, when she stayed out after leader Dario Franchitti and second runner Tony Kanaan had pitted, she became the first woman to lead the 500, although women had raced 1,688 laps.

* On Lap 189, she took advantage of the draft and made a racing move equal to any by any male driver, passing Wheldon for the lead on a restart after a caution period.

* She led three times for a total of 19 laps.

* She became the first woman to finish on the lead lap. The best previous finish by a woman was ninth, 10 laps down, by Janet Guthrie in 1978.

* She stalled her car in the pits, falling from fourth to 16th, then, in her haste to make up ground, touched wheels with Kosuke Matsuura’s car and, later, on a restart, got a full taste of the Indianapolis experience, spinning and taking out cars driven by Panther teammates Tomas Enge and Tomas Scheckter.

“Gosh, did I make some mistakes,” she said. “I stalled it. ... I spun. And I can’t believe that my car didn’t completely demolish because I got hit, like, twice. Spun it around. I can’t believe I kept the engine running. ... And I’m going to be real mad at myself for stalling [in the pits].”

But when she was asked if she thought she’d made a point for females, she was quick to answer, “I made a hell of a point for anybody, are you kidding me? I came from the back twice.

“I was more content running up front. It was much easier. I think what might have showed the most today was that I was able to pass and I was able to set someone up better [for a pass]. I definitely got a lot of experience in different situations. So it was frustrating to be leading the race with so few laps to go and not be able to finish hard, just hang out up front and win the thing.”

She couldn’t win, though, because she was a victim of her own good luck.When she spun on the restart on Lap 155, she lost part of the front wing assembly on her car. But the Enge-Sheckter accidents she caused made for a caution period that allowed her to pop into her pit for repairs and a full fuel load, without losing much time. The fuel load gave her a shot at finishing without having to stop again -- if things played out just right.

So when Wheldon and the six other drivers ahead of her took advantage of another caution period to refuel and re-tire 13 laps later, she stayed out and assumed the lead. Then, however, because she was on older tires and not altogether certain she could finish with her fuel load, she had to drive conservatively.

Wheldon passed her for the lead at the start-finish line with 14 laps left, she got him back on the restart four laps later, then he re-passed her for good in the first turn with six laps left. Before it was over, she also was passed by Rahal Letterman teammate Vitor Meira and Wheldon’s teammate, Bryan Herta.

“Saving fuel had to override everything else,” Patrick said. “I also was getting a little bit loose at the end. The car was starting to move around a little bit.”

So on a day she didn’t win, Danica Patrick, a 23-year-old female rookie, stole the show again.

And the historical significance of that?

“I don’t know,” she said. “I’m just racing. It sounds so goober, but I don’t know.”

She’ll soon find out.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Women at Indy

Four women have raced in the Indianapolis 500. How they fared:

*--* Best Best Driver, Years Races Start Finish Laps Danica Patrick, 2005 1 4 4 200 Sarah Fisher, 2000-04 5 9 21 465 Lyn St. James, 1992-2000 7 6 11 947 Janet Guthrie, 1977-79 3 14 9 220

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*--* YEAR BY YEAR Year Driver Finish Laps Finish 2005 Danica Patrick 4 200 Running 2004 Sarah Fisher 21 177 Running 2003 Sarah Fisher 31 14 Out, accident 2002 Sarah Fisher 24 196 Running 2001 Sarah Fisher 31 7 Out, accident 2000 Sarah Fisher 31 71 Out, accident 2000 Lyn St. James 32 69 Out, accident 1997 Lyn St. James 13 186 Running 1996 Lyn St. James 14 153 Out, accident 1995 Lyn St. James 32 0 Out, accident 1994 Lyn St. James 19 170 Running 1993 Lyn St. James 25 176 Out, gearbox 1992 Lyn St. James 11 193 Running 1979 Janet Guthrie 34 3 Out, burned piston 1978 Janet Guthrie 9 190 Running 1977 Janet Guthrie 29 27 Out, engine

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