IndyCar.com - Nice ring to it
"Driving the No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola car for Andretti Green Racing, here's your defending race winner, Danica Patrick."
The introduction from the Twin Ring Motegi start/finish line stage will elicit a sustained cheer, punctuated by schoolgirls waving orange and black (her car's colors) flags to display their support of the 27-year-old IndyCar Series veteran in the Indy Japan 300.
It will be a new experience for Patrick - not the adulation, but being introduced Sept. 19 as a race winner. In April 2008 at Twin Ring Motegi, she became the first female to win a major closed-course auto race. This year, the seventh IndyCar Series event on the mountaintop oval was moved to later in the schedule to potentially benefit from late summer weather.
"There's a level of confidence that comes with being the defending winner and there's some excitement as well," said Patrick, who is headed for a career high finish in the IndyCar Series standings. "But just going back to Japan is always nice for me."
From the fans to the food to the 1.5-mile oval, Patrick enjoys it all. Her first front-row start and top-five finish was recorded at Twin Ring Motegi in 2005, and she has three top-10s in four races.
"I guess what I want out of a race car suits Motegi," she said. "The characteristics that I like in a car work well there. That's all I can really pinpoint. There are tracks that you get on well with and there are tracks that you don't and sometimes you have no idea why (that happens). I think that Turns 3 and 4 are the most important turns there and that's the focus. We've always managed to improve the car and get it to go around there, and I've always driven for good teams."
In Victory Circle, Patrick was rewarded with an assortment of prizes unique to the event -- a bowling ball, bicycle, samurai sword and a miniature version of the trophy that is on permanent display at the nearby Honda Collection Hall. This week, she'll see her likeness on the 4-foot silver trophy.
"The sword came out for a while because it came with a beautiful stand, but it didn't really fit with the rest of the decor of the house," she said. "It's especially cool to see my face on a trophy, because that's the big deal at Indy, too. I will know how they did my hair then. I've always wondered how they did my hair from the photos."
IndyCar.com
The introduction from the Twin Ring Motegi start/finish line stage will elicit a sustained cheer, punctuated by schoolgirls waving orange and black (her car's colors) flags to display their support of the 27-year-old IndyCar Series veteran in the Indy Japan 300.
It will be a new experience for Patrick - not the adulation, but being introduced Sept. 19 as a race winner. In April 2008 at Twin Ring Motegi, she became the first female to win a major closed-course auto race. This year, the seventh IndyCar Series event on the mountaintop oval was moved to later in the schedule to potentially benefit from late summer weather.
"There's a level of confidence that comes with being the defending winner and there's some excitement as well," said Patrick, who is headed for a career high finish in the IndyCar Series standings. "But just going back to Japan is always nice for me."
From the fans to the food to the 1.5-mile oval, Patrick enjoys it all. Her first front-row start and top-five finish was recorded at Twin Ring Motegi in 2005, and she has three top-10s in four races.
"I guess what I want out of a race car suits Motegi," she said. "The characteristics that I like in a car work well there. That's all I can really pinpoint. There are tracks that you get on well with and there are tracks that you don't and sometimes you have no idea why (that happens). I think that Turns 3 and 4 are the most important turns there and that's the focus. We've always managed to improve the car and get it to go around there, and I've always driven for good teams."
In Victory Circle, Patrick was rewarded with an assortment of prizes unique to the event -- a bowling ball, bicycle, samurai sword and a miniature version of the trophy that is on permanent display at the nearby Honda Collection Hall. This week, she'll see her likeness on the 4-foot silver trophy.
"The sword came out for a while because it came with a beautiful stand, but it didn't really fit with the rest of the decor of the house," she said. "It's especially cool to see my face on a trophy, because that's the big deal at Indy, too. I will know how they did my hair then. I've always wondered how they did my hair from the photos."
IndyCar.com
