“I thought I was in heaven for a second,” The worst crash of Danica Patrick’s career

“I thought I was in heaven for a second,” The worst crash of Danica Patrick’s career

Danica Patrick last full Cup season came in 2017

Danica Patrick is the most successful female driver in motorsports history. No one before or after her retirement has been able to gather the accolades and attention she has. Patrick is the only female driver in history to win an IndyCar race. She was also the first woman to win the cup series pole.

Crashes and high-speed wrecks are common in motorsport racing. Danica Patrick, though out her career, has been part of some of the high-profile crashes in racing. It’s no surprise since she ran in crash-prone championships such as NASCAR and IndyCar.

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The terrifying crash she has been part of was something at her time in the open-wheel series. She described the crash as a near-death experience. “Little accident? I thought I was in heaven for a second,” Patrick recalled explaining the crash to her mother.

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“I was down low on the bottom of the track, and a car was falling down the track and clipped my right rear as I went by. It shot me up into the wall. I hit almost 150 Gs, started a fire a little bit, spun, went down to the bottom of the track,”. Danica Patrick reflected.

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Danica Patrick’s Motorsport legacy

Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick

Since starting her carer in a karting series, Danica has been a standout among the pack, and being a female driver boosted her chances of making it on the big stage. She was able to attract enough sponsors for teams that were ready to allow her to race in the professional circuit.

Danica Patrick made her IndyCar debut in 2005, and in 2008 she won her first and only IndyCar race in Ring Motegi, Japan. That sole win marked their name in Motorsports history. She also secured a P3  place in the Indy 500 before joining NASCAR.

She has made 191 cup series, and 61 Xfinity series starts in NASCAR. Though she often had the best car and crew, she never managed to come close to a win in the premier stock car racing. Her best performance in the championship came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 2014, where she finished p6.

Danica Patrick’s racing career ended in 2018 as she retired after crashing out in both Daytona 500 and the Indy 500. Patrick is now a podcast host and sports pundit. She has done punditry gigs in both NASCAR and IndyCar races.

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