Danica Patrick only recently realized that she is a ready-made role model and - at 5 foot 2 - larger than life in pop culture.
source: indycar.com / By Dave Lewandowski Born five years after Janet Guthrie cleared the Indianapolis 500 gender fence, Patrick's IndyCar Series rookie season has accelerated international interest much like she drives her No. 16 Rahal Letterman Racing Honda-powered Panoz. What the media is saying about Patrick and the IndyCar Series. Read After starting and finishing in the top four in consecutive races, including the 89th "Greatest Spectacle in Racing," it's little wonder that a tidal wave of media and spectators have followed her every move - from the Port-o-Let at Watkins Glen International during last week's Open Test to the Formula 1 paddock at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Self-assured and comfortable with her surroundings - a confluence of her upbringing and maturation from cutting her racing teeth in Europe - Patrick is acutely aware of the amalgam of record results and being a comely woman. "All I knew was the best-case scenario it would be big news and it would help the series and inspire young kids and girls and be a really great story," she said of her Indianapolis 500 record-setting debut. "It's a big deal, but I don't think it's something I'm going to over-analyze and say, 'Wow, I'm in the newspapers every day and I made Us Weekly.' I think that it's just kind of a story right now and it's something that people are excited to see how it unfolds." A Sports Illustrated cover after the "500" and follow-up article in the current issue, the subject of an hour-long ESPN special, interviews on network news shows, and stories in mainstream periodicals such as People magazine and Newsweek have been part of the story. So has "checkered carpet" interviews with syndicated shows such as "Entertainment Tonight" and "Inside Edition" in association with the world premiere of "Herbie: Fully Loaded" on June 19 in Los Angeles.
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