Kudos to native Midwesterner Danica Patrick for her win at Japan's Twin Rings Motegi over the weekend. It's sad that her historical win wasn't seen by more American viewers. The time zone delay was problem enough, but a wet track caused an event postponement until Sunday and thus a further erosion of the potential audience. ESPN Classic re-aired the race on Monday morning. But on Monday at 8 a.m., there wasn't much of a potential audience then either.
Patrick became the first and only women to win a major open wheel ("ain't got no finnders" for you NASCAR types) auto race. Louise Smith won a race or two in the nascent years of NASCAR, and both Shirley Muldowney and Angelle Sampay have won either multiple events or championships in NHRA drag racing.
Danica's win stood on the shoulders of many. Janet Guthrie was the first woman to start at the Indianapolis 500. Sarah Fisher showed that a woman could be ultra-popular with fans and race competently -- even if in a second rate car. Lynn St. James established herself in both sports cars and later at Indianapolis. But it fell to the diminutive young woman from Roscoe Illinois to get the job done. A combination of careful throttle management and a good car allowed her to pass up a late pit stop and pass by Helio Castroneves in the process.
The monkey is off her back. She won fair and square.
So can she win another? Or is it too soon for us to put the monkey back up there?
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