Patrick adds allure to Rahal Letterman, IRL

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Danica Patrick's dreams of competing in Formula 1 or Champ Cars have been put on hold as she was announced Wednesday as Rahal Letterman Racing's third IRL IndyCar Series driver for 2005, joining returnees Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira.

Patrick, 22, who has established herself as perhaps the most promising female racer the world has seen, has driven for Bobby Rahal since 2002, progressing from the Barber Dodge Pro Series into the Toyota Atlantic Championship. Though she didn't win an Atlantic race in two years against a strong field, she claimed a pole position at Portland International Raceway this year and finished in the top five in 15 of her 24 series starts, including five podiums.

Now Rahal, who has mentored Patrick since having met her during her days of racing Formula Fords in England, believes his diminutive protégé (Patrick stands 5-foot-2 and weighs barely 100 pounds) is ready for the top series his team currently competes in.

"I think if Danica can do what I think she's capable of doing, she should have a long and successful career," said the '86 Indy 500 winner and three-time CART champion. "She'll have a lot of pressure on her, but I believe she has the talent to be competitive and successful in the IndyCar Series. Racing in England is a tough environment for anybody, but she showed there she can mix it up with the best the world has to offer. That showed me the kind of fortitude, dedication and commitment she has. She would have been washed up a long time ago if she wasn't strong."

Without a doubt, Rahal's team offers Patrick the most competitive IndyCar seat that a female driver has ever strapped into.

"That may be an advantage for her compared to some of the other women who have come along," Rahal said. "But Danica still has to push the pedal."

Patrick recently completed her first oval test in an IRL car at Phoenix International Raceway, impressing members of the Rahal Letterman team and engine supplier Honda with her speed and consistency.

"It was a lot of fun, but the car definitely isn't easy all the time," she said. "We did a full tank run, and I was amazed how different the car felt and how much the balance changed over the course of 50 laps."

Like so many drivers caught in the vortex of the American open-wheel racing split -- including Rice and Meira -- Patrick had to adjust her career goals by accepting a ride in the IRL. She said the fact that the IRL is adding a limited number of road races helped make the decision easier for her -- not to mention the opportunity to compete in the Indianapolis 500.

"I am a road racer, no doubt, and that's all I've really known so far, but I think it's been proven that road racers can run well on ovals," she said. "So that's not daunting or scary at all. My dad says it's the best opportunity I may ever have to drive Indy Cars, plus there are three road races next year, and I'm sure there will be more added. Hopefully, soon it will be what it used to be [in CART], maybe half and half.

"You have to go where the sponsors are, and let's not forget that the Indy 500 is still the biggest race in the world."

One thing for certain is that the IRL will attempt to maximize publicity for the highest-profile female driver currently racing. The League attempted to make a star out of Sarah Fisher, proclaiming her the series' "Most Popular Driver" for three years running despite her general lack of success on the racetrack. As stronger teams and drivers arrived in the IRL from Champ Cars, Fisher's shortcomings were revealed and she is now trying to rebuild her stalled career in NASCAR.

Patrick, who is much more personable and outgoing than Fisher -- not to mention a better driver in the estimation of many -- should fit comfortably into the role that Fisher, Lyn St. James and Janet Guthrie held before her.

"I'm sure there will be some second-guessing, but I can't and I won't," she said. "I'm here because I've proven I can be here and people believe in me. But my situation is sort of like Sarah's or Anna Kournikova's. These girls aren't asking for the exposure that they are getting. It's the organizations that are really pushing it, and I have no doubt that it won't be any different for me. I'm sure I'm going to get pushed by the IRL and pushed by sponsors to be in the spotlight. There has to be a balance and I have my own sanity to uphold.

"I do know that's what got me here and helped drive sponsorship," she added. "The difference is that I have the experience, the confidence and the team. No driver can go fast or win without a strong team. I'm upbeat and I'm going to ride the wave and see how it goes. I'm pretty confident and I don't doubt that the team is ready for the job."

Almost lost in the excitement that Patrick will advance to the IRL was the news that Rahal Letterman will run three cars on a full-time basis in 2005. Rice and Meira have been signed to multi-year contracts; while Rice and Patrick's cars will be backed by Argent Mortgage and Pioneer Electronics, sponsorship details for Meira's efforts were not disclosed, though the team said the deal has been wrapped up.

For Meira in particular, this represents the best career opportunity he has ever had.

"Last year at this time, the team had an injured driver [Kenny Brack] and was changing chassis," said Meira, a 27-year old from Brazil. "I had no ride and Buddy had no ride, so it's a big turnaround for everybody. In March, I was still driving the [IRL] two-seater. It's the first time I've ever gone into Christmas knowing I had a ride for next year, so I couldn't be in a better situation.

"You have to go wherever the river brings you," Meira said of his focus on the IRL after coming up through the South American road racing ranks. "I was going for F1, but you have to take the opportunities that are available."

With Indy winner Rice as the anchor, Rahal hopes that by expanding to three cars, his team can topple defending series champion Tony Kanaan and the four-car Andretti Green Racing squad.

"I've always been a proponent of multi-car teams, but this is the most ambitious undertaking we have had for quite some time," said Rahal, who ironically drove for single-car efforts in all of his CART championship winning years. "Certainly the success we enjoyed last year at Indianapolis with three cars showed us the benefits of a multi-car program."

Left unstated was the future of Brack, who continues to recuperate from the horrifying injuries he sustained in an IRL accident in October 2003. The Swede maintains he would like to test a car when he feels he is physically fit, but no test has been scheduled. A likely scenario is that Brack will drive a fourth Rahal Letterman car at Indianapolis.

RLR chief operating officer Scott Roembke told the Indianapolis Star: "We support Kenny, and we'd love to get him to the point where he can return. But we can't make any commitment until he judges his fitness level. He's still one of us, so we'll do what we can to help him to come to what basically amounts to a career decision. But sooner or later we have to go racing."