Danica Patrick Wins it for the Ladies

Mark Sunday April 20, 2008, on your calendar ladies! Danica Patrick became the first female winner in IndyCar (Indy Japan 300) history on that date. Bringing home the victory for ladies all over the world!

Her winning was from the competition in the Indy Japan 300 auto racing at Twin Ring Motegi in Motegi, northeast of Tokyo Sunday on Sunday April 20, 2008.

Danica currently races for Andretti Green Racing.

"It's a long time coming. Finally," Patrick, 26, told the Associated Press. "It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I knew I was on the same strategy as Helio [Castroneves] and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous."

Danica won in her 50th career IndyCar start, taking the lead from Castroneves on the 198th lap in the 200-lap race. Patrick went from fourth to second place on lap 197 when Wheldon and Kanaan went into the pit on lap 196. She was in eighth place on the 189th lap. However, Danica Patrick finished 5.8594 seconds ahead of Helio Castroneves on the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval.

After Danica won the competition, she showed her gratefulness. "I want to thank my team, the fans and everyone who supported me, " she said, according to the AP.

Overall, the competition standings were as follows...
2nd place went to Helio Castroneves
3rd place to Scott Dixon (10.0559 seconds behind Danica)
4th place to Dan Wheldon
5th place to Tony Kanaan

This wasn't her only win. In 2005 at the Indy 500, she became the first female driver to lead the race to a fourth-place finish. Historically, it was the best finish by a woman at Indy. She won rookie of the year honors that year also.

More information: http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/news/story?id=3355226