Danica Patrick: Top 5 moments - Indy win, NASCAR pole, Female Athlete of the Year and more

#3 Female Athlete of the Year

Patrick has achieved a lot off the track as well as being behind the wheel

In 2006, Patrick was named Female Athlete of the Year by the United States Sports Academy.

This achievement was mainly down to the electrifying driving we saw from Patrick's rookie year at Indy 500 in 2005.

Where Patrick lead the race on three occasions in an overall 19 laps and finishing fourth after a thrilling late-race duel with eventual race winner Dan Wheldon.

As mentioned earlier in this article, Patrick was named Rookie of the Year.

The female athlete dominated a worldwide internet election hosted by USA Today.

She was also runner-up in Associated Press' Female Athlete of the Year losing out to golf star Annika Sorenstam.

This showed what a difference Patrick had made by being one of the very few to be a female racer who do it as a professional career.