“Be honest in my interviews”: When Danica Patrick expressed how she wanted to present herself

Danica Patrick is the most successful woman in America's motorsports history. She hung up her racing boots in 2018 with the culmiation of the Indianapolis 500, and while she has successfully transitioned into a pundit, there was a time back in 2011 when she specifically talked about her image as a racing driver.

In line with this, she sat for an interview with the North Valley Magazine back then and said:

"I always try and make sure that I show people a little bit of my personality and be honest in my interviews. I live in a world where people have to find a way to relate to me and to cheer for me, and so it’s important for them to find some kind of common ground or interest they have in you. So, the best thing you can do is just show them a little bit of your personality every time and be honest and not cheesy and not cookie-cutter. You know, I have very short little snippets of time that people get to know me on TV, so I try to make the most of them," Patrick said.

Danica Patrick is the only woman to date to have won a Grand Prix in the fiercely contested IndyCar series. The 42-year-old shocked the world when she won the 2008 Japan Indy 300. Other than this, she also has a wealth of experience in competing in top racing categories like the NASCAR Cup Series (191 race starts) and the Xfinity Series (61 race starts).

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Danica Patrick's take on what motivated her to take up NASCAR

Danica Patrick's first outing in NASCAR came in the Xfinity Series at the 2010 DRIVE4COPD 300 (Daytona). Following this, she made her debut in the Cup Series in 2012 at the Daytona 500.

Via the same interview in 2011, she was asked about what motivated her to take up the challenge of stock car racing. In relation to this, she said:

Really, it was just my contract year, and I thought that the racing just looked really fun and something that I wanted to try and see if I could do. And so then the opportunity came, and a lot of the ability to do it really came from the relationship between GoDaddy and Junior Motorsports and Dale Jr. because they sponsored him the year before."

Danica Patrick has played a pivotal role in urging women to make a career in professional racing. While she is no longer active on the racing circuit, she makes appearances as a pundit now and then across different motorsports and shares her vast knowledge with the racing community.