Being a female driver in a male-dominated sport undoubtedly comes with its own set of challenges. One of the most successful drivers in IndyCar has been Danica Patrick, who has been extremely vocal about the challenges women face in the sport. On one occasion, she discussed how securing a chance to race is half the battle. In a conversation with NASCAR veteran Kelly Wallace, T.J. Patrick shared insights on how male drivers often race female drivers more aggressively than they do their male counterparts.

Danica Patrick’s father on the hardships she faced

What is phenomenal is that Danica Patrick is the only woman to have won an IndyCar race, specifically the 2008 Japan 300. She began her IndyCar career in 2005. Following her success there, she transitioned to the NASCAR Cup Series, joining the Stewart-Haas Racing team. Her transition to the Cup Series was met with a lot of criticism, particularly on social media.

Her father was in conversation with Kenny Wallace, where he talked about how he deals with her online trolling. He said, “I just kind of giggle, but I know and the right people know that if you put her in a race car, she’s going to be almost, if not quicker than any guy in a car. I mean, in the right circumstances, she can do it. Just like most drivers that make it to the top level, you don’t make it to the top level by being average.”

Perhaps not paying heed to haters is the right way to go. Just like on social media, it wasn’t any easier for her on the track. Her father claimed that there wasn’t a single race in her career where she had an easy pass. The racers would rather race her even harder than they usually do. On the same lines; he said, “You know, she’s never had an easy pass in her life. Nobody’s let her by. Everybody that races with Danica races harder than they do any other guy. Yeah.” He talked about how this is the case for every girl in the sport. According to her father, Danica thinks of her as more of a guy than a girl. It is probably why she did not mind being raced hard.

Danica retired in 2018. She set a precedent for women in racing. Further in the conversation, her father also talked about how he was very hard on Danica growing up, and about his other daughter who used to be faster than Danica. Another racer in the family?

Women in NASCAR talk about their experiences

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T.J. Patrick talked about how his other daughter, Brooke, and Danica would both together go-cart as kids. He shared the reason why we don’t have the second Patrick in racing as well. He said, “Both girls did it. Brook was faster. So we started go-kart racing brook was so tiny that her feet were in the front of the staring rods. Brooke was faster by herself but she didn’t like the bumping and grinding and all that. So she bailed out and then it was basically, Danica so we started going after it.” Had Brooke not chosen to be a doctor, we would have probably seen her racing.

After Danica chose to be a racer, her father went with her to races and pushed her to her limit. In his defense, he did it for her to be perfect. On the show he opened up about it, “So I was very hard on her. I mean, she claims it was too hard at times, but then again I’d like to ask, would you have made it if I wasn’t? I mean you look at Tiger Wood’s dad; he was the same way with him. So I wanted her to be the best that she could be, and I didn’t want her to slack off a bit.” 

Hopefully, more and more women will come to the sport. What do you think about this topic? Let us know in the comments below.