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04/21/2008: "You Go, Girl!"

It was a great weekend of sports, and there are lots of stories that could be told. But while many were compelling, only one was historic.

Yesterday, Danica Patrick won the Japan Indy 300 at Twin Ring Motegi, with Helio Castroneves placing second and Dan Wheldon third. It was the first victory by a woman in a major closed-course racing series.

And one hell of a relief for the driver.

Most racing fans first met Danica at the 2005 Indianapolis 500, where she nearly took the pole and was within a handful of laps of winning. But it was a month earlier at Motegi that everyone first saw the talent she had, as she led laps in what was one of her first races. She's always run well there, and one ESPN.com columnist actually called her victory a few days ago. Anyone who appreciates racing talent knew it was a question of when, not if, Danica would win an IndyCar race.

But the pundit were on her early, as her good looks garnered her as much or more press than her performances. As the number of races in her career increased, the whispers got louder, and she was compared with other attractive but unfulfilled sports personalities such as tennis star Anna Kournikova. Danica's performance yesterday will end that forever.

Ironically, Patrick's historic victory came in one of the IRL's least visible races. When the ChampCar series folded into IRL earlier this year, the only schedule hiccup was this weekend. ChampCar had their biggest race - the Long Beach Grand Prix - while IndyCar was at Motegi - the home track of IRL engine provider Honda. When the problems couldn't be resolved, it was decided that the heritage IRL cars would race in Japan while the ChampCar teams would return to their old equipment one last time for the LBGP - and both races would award IRL championship points. The Motegi race was scheduled for Saturday morning (Friday night here in SoCal), only to be postponed due to track weepers. When it was rescheduled for Saturday night SoCal time, few people realized it. I only found it by accident, and with the race half over. Boy, am I glad I did!

I make no bones about being a Danica fan, and the first thing I did was to determine her position. She was running in the second five, behind the leaders, which has been her usual position the last few races. The commentators mentioned that she and Helio had both pitted out of sequence with the rest of the leaders, but it seemed that all would need to make at least one more stop. Once most of the frontrunners realized they didn't have enough fuel to make the end of the race, they turned up the wick and raced hard, while Danica and Helio continued to try and conserve. Sure enough, each of the main competitors peeled off in the last few laps for a splash of ethanol, leaving the pair of racers out front. But you knew they'd have to stop - or would they?

With three laps to go, Danica trailed Helio by about a straightaway. Her pit crew determined, though, that she had enough fuel to both catch Castroneves and finish the race. She dropped the hammer and passed Helio like he was standing still, and raced towards the flag. The only question was would she have enough fuel, and I like everyone else squealed like a little girl when she took the historic checkered flag.

A lot of pictures came out of yesterday's race, most of her crying after the race. Hey, let the girl be a girl - she earned. But I've chosen one I believe better represents Danica for who she it - a racer who happens to be a woman, not a woman racer. Just like any other winner, she's striking a pose with the trophy - even if she's better at posing than the average driver, and the trophy is damned near as big as she is. Personally, I think the look on Castroneves' face says it all.

Move over, boys - there's a lady coming through!