Biography

Racing driver, model, and spokesperson Danica Sue Patrick was born in 1982 in Wisconsin. Long before Danica became the most successful female racer in the sport of American open-wheel racing, she grew up in the Beloit area of the state, right on the Illinois state line. As a child, Patrick’s father taught her a love of the sport that was to become her destiny. Her earliest forays into the sport were in the early 1990’s, when while still in elementary school, she began go-kart racing in Brodhead, at the Sugar River Raceway. But opportunities for racing were limited in the state, and so at the age of sixteen she moved to England to begin racing in various British national series events.

Throughout the rest of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Danica Patrick competed in a number of championships, including the Barber Dodge Pro Series and the Toyota Atlantic Championship, in which she finished third. But it was her win in the 2008 Indy Japan 300 that made her famous as the only woman to win an IndyCar series event. After returning to the United States, she took third place in the Indianapolis 500 in 2009, and then went on to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Most recently, Danica Patrick began the first female ever to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2013, qualifying for the Daytona 500.

Since her rise to fame as a racer, Danica Patrick has become an iconic public figure in high demand. She has hosted a number of television shows in acting roles, including CSI: NY in an episode that aired in 2010. She also competed on the reality competition Chopped for the Food Network in 2013, ultimately winning the competition. Patrick also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2005, and in the publication’s Swimsuit Issue in 2008.