Transcript
Danica Patrick is retiring as a professional race car driver after her final Indy 500 race in 2018.
She got emotional as she announced her retirement ahead of the race at Homestead-Miami in November.
The decision came months after she failed to land sponsorship for the next year.
Let’s look back at the career of this successful race car driver, who is preparing her last two races.
Born on March 25, 1982, she started go-karting as 10-year-old at Sugar River Raceway in Brodhead, Wisconsin.
She moved to Milton Keynes, England at 16 to hone her racing skills and raced against future Formula One champion, Jenson Button there.
In 2002, she started driving for Rahal Letterman and competed in Barber Dodge Pro Series and Toyota Atlantic Championship.
In 2005, she started racing in IRL IndyCar Series and was named Rookie of the Year for both IndyCar Series and Indianapolis 500.
As a professional female driver, she broke many records including the only IndyCar race win ever by a woman.
She achieved the feat during her first race in Indy Japan 300, in 2008 and instantly became a role model for women across the world.
Following her success, she was sponsored by GoDaddy.com up until 2016 and she also appeared in their commercials.
As the most successful woman driver of all time, she has gathered a huge net worth of $60 million.
She married Paul Edward Hospenthal in 2005 and announced that she would be divorcing him in November 2012.
She is currently in a relationship with race car driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Her retirement has left fans sad. We wish her best in her future endeavors.