Danica Patrick Becomes First Woman To Win A Major Auto Race

Danica Patrick becomes first female winner in IndyCar history, capturing the Indy Japan 300

Using successful fuel strategy to capture an IndyCar Series event in Japan, Danica Patrick became the first woman to win a major auto race after the top contenders were forced to pit for fuel in the final laps. She won the race by almost 6 seconds over Helio Castroneves who is the 2 time Indianapolis 500 winner.

"It's a long time coming. Finally," said Patrick. "It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I knew I was on the same strategy as Helio and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous."

Patrick started from the 3rd row and made her final pit stop on lap 148. She stayed close to the leaders throughout the race and went from 4th to 2nd place on lap 197 after Wheldon and Kanaan went into the pit on lap 196. She was as low as 8th place on the 189th lap. With 6 laps remaining, Scott Dixon led the race by 3.6 seconds over Wheldon. Dixon had to pit for fuel on the 195th lap, and Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan pitted the next lap. Castroneves had to conserve fuel, and Patrick passed him.

Patrick finished 2nd in one of the last races in the 2007 season. She was 7th in the 2007 points standings, her best effort in 3 full seasons in the series. She also won in her 50th IndyCar Series start. In 2005, she became the first woman to lead the Indy 500. Driving a car co-owned by talk-show host David Letterman, she started 4th and took the lead of the race with 10 laps remaining. She had to conserve fuel and was passed with 6 laps left by Dan Wheldon, who ended up winning the race. Patrick finished 4th. nnnn