It is early Wednesday morning, far removed from the afternoon she will run in the 91st Indianapolis 500 on May 27.
That might explain the serenity surrounding her appearance, yet the scene is striking for its calm, its normalcy and its utter lack of mania.
That last word was once part of her first name at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Danica Patrick inspired Danicamania as a rookie in 2005. But here she appears without an entourage and, when she sits behind a table, there is no jostling from a mob wanting to follow her. There are just two still photographers, four TV cameras and about two dozen reporters, public relations types and hangers-on.
This is not to suggest she has devolved so far that she is now just another driver. That is made clear when she is asked how she gets her hair, which falls far below her shoulders, into her helmet.
“It’s pretty easy,” she says.
But on this morning it is also clear she is suddenly less a phenom and more a struggling competitor still looking for her first victory and learning about her new teammates at Andretti-Green Racing.
“You guys out there, I’m sure [you] have ideas of what they can do,” she says of that impish group, which includes Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan.
“I try not to imagine it. They keep telling me they want to shave my head when I win. But this right here” — and she grabs a handful of her hair — “has to be six years worth of work for me grooming and combing. I’m going to have to wear a helmet for a few years.”
But first, of more significance, she has to win, a feat that has eluded her through her first 34 races in the Indy Racing League. She has sat on poles and led on occasion. With her fourth place here in 2005, she posted the highest finish by a woman in the history of the famed 500. Yet that also remains her highest finish ever on the IndyCar Series, which Team Penske and Target Chip Ganassi Racing dominate this year as they did last.
It was their drivers who again led the way in Tuesday’s practice session, the first leading up to Saturday’s run for the pole. (Rain severely curtailed Wednesday’s and was less revealing.) But among the 10 fastest in that session were all those from Andretti-Green, which Patrick joined this season after two with Rahal Letterman Racing.
She was looking for a stronger team with better equipment, which she got with her move. But with that she also added to the expectations already surrounding her, which she acknowledges.
“I do feel more pressure this year,” she said. “But I think that it’s many things that contribute to that.
“As the years go on, you get more impatient. You just want to go out there and run up front. … I think there’s obviously many people who have invested into me and into performing well and winning races. So I want to return that. I want to do it more for me than for them, though. … With all of those other things, you want to do better, and there’s fewer excuses.”
That is how it now goes with Patrick, a veteran heading into her third run at Indianapolis. She still can attract some paparazzi. But, far more than before, she is just another struggler with no excuses searching for success.
“It will happen,” she says. “People still believe that, and that’s a good thing. It’s not like anybody is saying, ‘Well, maybe you can’t [win].’ I haven’t heard that yet, so that’s very positive. I know it’s a matter of time and a matter of everything falling into place at the right time.
“I’m not silly. I know it will be a big moment. I know that it will be a real record, so that it always will be there lingering. But I’m getting more to terms with just going, ‘I have no idea [when it’s going to happen]. Your guess is as good as mine.’ “
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smyslenski@tribune.com
