Posted on 06/09/2005 6:56:38 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
Female racer draws a crowd at event
By Mark Agee
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
ARLINGTON - The line for Danica Patrick's autograph was made up mostly of two groups -- young girls and single men -- who admire her for very different reasons.
Fans began lining up before 8 a.m. for the 6 p.m. session, facing 10 hours in 93-degree heat in a bowling alley's parking lot for the chance to meet the 23-year-old Indy Racing League rookie driver.
"It's not often you see a woman driver -- one this cute either," said Andrew Hayes-Stoker, 26, of Fort Worth, who was first in line. He said he wasn't a racing fan, "but she made me one. ... It's worth the wait."
Patrick, in town for this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway, was the first driver to arrive at the FunFest in north Arlington shortly after 6 p.m., and the crowd cheered. One man yelled, "It's about time." Television camera operators jostled for position, ordering one another to move. National media were onhand from Yahoo Sports, ESPN and Sports Illustrated.
The other drivers filed in afterward to little crowd recognition. They could be heard asking where their seats were.
Helio Castroneves, two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, was wearing a Danica Patrick T-shirt.
"I'm a big fan of Danica," Castroneves said. "She's good for the sport. Go Danica! Only here, though. Not on the track."
Patrick's signature was the reward after a long, sweaty wait for 100 or so fans who lingered in line all day.
Aniessa Brown, 16, and Vayle Anderson, 17, stayed cool by having someone watch their chairs while they shot pool inside the air-conditioned bowling alley.
Brown's family is crazy about any kind of auto racing, but she has her own reasons for looking up to Patrick. Patrick placed fourth at the Indianapolis 500 two weeks ago, but Brown hasn't been able to get her driver's license.
"I'm a little slow and a bad driver," said Brown, a rising junior at Lamar High School. "I want to be like her."
Morgan Bates, 10, of Grand Prairie was wearing a T-shirt that read, "How does it feel to be passed by a girl?" The shirt wasn't for Patrick; it was for Morgan. She races moto-cross.
Morgan explained her fandom thus: "She's a girl and she's in an extreme sport, too."
Many of the adult fans were sporting NASCAR gear. Some had copies of an FHM magazine photo-spread Patrick posed for in a bikini that they were hoping to have autographed.
Some were fans of racing. Some were fans of Patrick. Some didn't seem to know much about either.
"This is great. I wish she was racing around here sometime," said Mike Davis, 34, of Arlington.
The Bombardier Learjet 500 is Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
"Really? I should go to that sometime," Davis said.
Kenton Nelson, assistant general manager of the speedway, said the IRL's autograph sessions typically don't have such an atmosphere.
Organizers handed out wristbands to limit the crowd to about 500 people, he said. There were three lines: one for Patrick, which was about 100 yards long, and two shorter ones for the other 20-odd drivers who showed up.
"The wristbands are just for Danica," Nelson said. "This just doesn't happen if she's not here."
Patrick gave everyone who had a wristband an autograph and a smile, pausing every now and then to shake off her hand cramps, take a swig of water and complain about the heat.
She made extra conversation with the younger children, while handlers had to ask some stammering men to move on because they were holding up the line.
After she was done signing, Patrick moved on to TV interviews. One reporter asked her if she felt like the Beatles when they first arrived in the United States. Another asked her if it was "tough being beautiful."
When told that her fans began lining up at 7:50 a.m., Patrick joked that it was "insane."
"There must be something else going on for them to be there that long," she said. "But it's really flattering."
The rule. You didn't follow the rule. :)
Um, picture? You know the rules....
Damn!
That is the first time I have ever seen a muff driver.
She needs a stylist. Those boots are hideous.
What really impresses me about Danica (besides her racing prowess and her looks), is that she seems to be a genuinely nice person and pretty sharp. She's going to accomplish a lot of things outside of racing.
Boots? She's wearing boots?
I don't think that's her...that pic is a photoshop entry if ever there was.
She is now the Anna Kournikova of racing........except that she's actually good at her sport.
She's the Anna Kournikova of racing. And men love fast women!
YOU GO GIRL!
Damn, one of the most beautiful women one could imagine and a competitive spirit that will knock ANYONE on their ass! So boys, just how DOES it feel to get passed by a girl? And a beauty at that!
WOO HOO!
Real, actually. She did a Maxim photo spread.
No kidding? Grrrrrrrrr
After five IRL races, she's 9th in points, with 2 top-5 finishes -- impressive enough for any rookie.
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