Patrick steals the show at Indy

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Danica Patrick made her convincing 225 mph case for gender equity in the sport of auto racing on Sunday by finishing fourth in the Indianapolis 500 - a race she led three times for a total of 19 laps.

A day after her historic run around the most cherished racing grounds on the planet, the place was still reverberating from Patrick's performance. She left a profound impression, well beyond the deep, black rubber imprint vulcanized into the track by her lap-155 quarter-spin that clipped part of the front wing off her car.

Patrick recovered from that near tragedy, and from an earlier miscue in the pits where she stalled and lost precious seconds on the leaders.

Both times Patrick, who had been the highest-qualifying woman ever in the 500 by starting fourth, picked her way back through the field up to the front.

If you wanted a fairy tale, Patrick did everything but ride a white horse, slay a dragon - and win the race.

"I was your story, but I didn't choose to be," Patrick said to a crush of media after the race. "I just came here to race, and all the rest of this just kind of happened around me.

"I tried to cooperate and meet all of my obligations, but I can't say I've always understood all of the attention. I'm not the first - women have been in this race before."

But Lyn St. James, Janet Guthrie and Sarah Fisher never qualified near the front, never led the race, and never darned near won the thing, leading on lap 193 as Patrick did while close to 300,000 people tried to push her to the checkered flag. Only a fuel-conservation issue prevented her from sending an even bigger tremor through the stodgy open-wheel ranks by winning the 500.

"I think Danica represented herself, this racing team, and the sport of open-wheel racing in excellent fashion," said team owner Bobby Rahal, a former Indy 500 winner.

"When all of this buzz started, we said she was not here as window dressing or as some kind of publicity stunt. She was here to race.

"Danica is an excellent driver, and I think she showed the world those talents today, on the biggest stage there is - the Indianapolis 500."

Rahal signed Patrick to a multiyear contract in 2002 and gave her time to refine her skills in the developmental ranks. Last year he brought the tiny driver with the long, black hair to Indy and had her sit in on all of the meetings, press conferences and appearances of Rahal Letterman Racing teammate Buddy Rice, the 2004 Indy 500 winner. He was grooming Patrick for the hornets' nest she has lived in for the past month at her first Indy 500.

"I prepared a lot, but I wasn't prepared for all of this, if that makes any sense," Patrick said. "This has been an amazing and incredible month, and I am relieved that it is over.

"I wanted to win, and I thought for a while there late in the race that it could happen. But I have to be pleased with fourth place in my first race here. That is something to build on."

Race winner Dan Wheldon, who has thoroughly dominated the IndyCar Series this year by winning four of the first five events, at first struggled finding his place among the legends, while the frenzy created by Patrick, the petite rookie from Illinois, made him almost an afterthought.

Asked if he felt just a little bit bad about spoiling the storybook tale Danica was spinning late in Sunday's race, Wheldon bristled at the suggestion.

"I don't care one bit," Wheldon said. "I think you have to be very careful when you make statements like that about spoiling the party, because you're undermining some of the other talent out there.

"I'm not saying Danica is not as talented as the rest of them, but just remember how good those other people are, because they are very, very good."

A much more gracious Wheldon emerged yesterday, and he seemed to realize what those in the starched shirts inside the Indy Racing League headquarters certainly know by now. Danica Patrick is this sport's Tiger Woods, its Venus and Serena Williams, its LeBron James.

She has given a robust pulse to a patient heretofore teetering in the brink of life support. At Sunday's Indy 500, attendance was up, television ratings were up, and the overall media attention paid to the race spiked when Patrick gave no ground through practice, qualifying, and then the race.

Even A.J. Foyt, the winner of four Indy 500s who is now the unofficial resident grouch at the speedway, gave Patrick her due.

"I was one of the first to put a woman in a car here, with Janet Guthrie almost 30 years ago, and I think what Danica is doing is great," Foyt said. "Maybe it will wake up some of these dead heads around here."

Patrick, despite her lack of experience in dealing with throngs of media and a spotlight that never dims, seemed to have a proper perspective on her role as the show-stopper in this sudden theatrical sensation.

She had the lead with less than 10 laps to go in the Indy 500, and could have coasted to victory if a caution flag dropped. But that was no way to end a great race.

"Right there near the end I saw people standing, their arms waving, but I was still very focused on the race," Patrick said. "I joked after the race that it would have been nice to get a yellow flag and just sit on the lead for the final laps, but that's not racing, that's not good for racing, and that's not good for the show." It is all about the show, and as long as Danica Patrick is in the field, the Indy Racing League looks as if it is back on Broadway.