Women drivers say they are equal to the task on the track

FORT WORTH, Texas - It was a historic moment, which, like every significant event at the tradition-bound Indianapolis Motor Speedway, called for an officially licensed photograph.

Imagine, if you will, the record-setting three women starters in the 91st Indianapolis 500 striking a hands-on-hips pose next to their shiny race cars at the Yard of Bricks start/finish line.

Imagine it, you must, because no such photo exists of the countdown to May 27, 2007, the day Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno started the Indy 500. And Patrick, the most accomplished woman in Speedway history, is way beyond OK with that.

"I've never said that I'm all about girl drivers," said Patrick, the IndyCar Series' one, genuine mainstream superstar. "If we're wanting to be recognized as drivers, why would we stand alone and have you take a picture or write a story about us being girl drivers? Why would I do that?

"We need to stand with other drivers _ with good drivers _ and that will bring the respect level of women up. Because it will put us on equal footing."

Thirty years after Janet Guthrie broke the gender barrier at the Speedway, and two years after Patrick became the first woman to lead a lap in the Indy 500, the novelty surrounding girls gone racing has worn thin.

"I clearly know that I'm a girl. I'm comfortable there," said Patrick, the "de facto" leader of this pack. "But there's a time and a place for it."

Patrick, Fisher and Duno again are expected to share the spotlight at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway quadoval this week heading into Saturday night's Bombardier Learjet 550.

But shared experiences? Depends on which of the women you ask.

Patrick matter-of-factly said she had not spoken to either Fisher or Duno in the days leading to the Indy 500, adding she wasn't particularly interested in doing so.

"I talk to my teammates about how we're going to race and how we're going to win and how we're going to make our cars fast," said Patrick, 25, a member of Andretti Green Racing's four-driver lineup. "And that's all that matters to me. I don't think there's really any benefit to chitchatting about what's happening, because we all have our own views on it. And my view is I'm not interested in focusing on it."

Easy for Danica to say as a member of the powerful AGR stable _ the team that propelled Dario Franchitti to victory in last month's version of "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing." Fisher and Duno _ the former attempting to reinvent her open-wheel career and the latter a series rookie _ have at least struck up a passing, face-to-face friendship.

Fisher, 26, is in her second stint with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Duno, a 35-year-old native of Venezuela, is an oval-track novice driving for the first-year SAMAX Motorsport team.

"I've been in her (Duno's) spot before and know that she's got a ton of questions," said Fisher, a full-time IndyCar driver for the first time since 2003. "And it might even be harder because she doesn't speak the language very well. I'm sure I wouldn't make the time and effort to go reach out to someone else as much as her. She's trying really hard, and you know, we all should appreciate that."

Duno acknowledged that while Patrick was atop the list of IndyCar drivers she does not know, hey, everybody's busy.

"I am a rookie," said Duno, who made her debut with a 14th-place finish in a 21-car field on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway last month. "But I knew (met) Sarah in Kansas, and she was very friendly."

Patrick logged the best result among the three at Indy, where she started and finished eighth in her No. 7 Motorola Dallara/Honda. (The race was halted by rain after 166 of the scheduled 200 laps.) Fisher, making her first Indy 500 start since 2004, finished 18th and two laps off the pace in her No. 5 AAMCO/DRR Dallara/Honda.

Duno placed 31st after a single-car spin and crash involving her personal nemesis, Turn 1 of the 2.5-mile IMS oval. She completed only 65 laps in the No. 23 CITGO Racing Dallara/Honda.

The trio fared better than Fisher and mentor Lyn St. James, who crashed into each other during the 2000 Indy 500 . . . triggering a round of one-liners about women drivers. Fisher, then an Indy 500 rookie, finished 31st and St. James placed 32nd in the 33-car field.

Patrick, of course, raised the bar in 2005 by qualifying and finishing fourth in the Indy 500 as a rookie. She also led 19 laps that day, the first woman to do so in the race's 89-year history.

But two years later, Patrick still is winless after 35 starts _ and doesn't need to be reminded of it.

"Eventually I have to win? Why do you say that?" she said, questioning a questioner at Indy. "I don't have to do anything. I don't have to race. I don't have to win. But I want to."

Fisher _ winless in 55 IndyCar starts _ admittedly fell off the radar when she went stock-car racing in NASCAR's Grand National West Series in 2005.

"There were promises to move up in NASCAR, but it wasn't happening, so I wanted to get back into the IndyCar Series," Fisher said of her experience with Bill McAnally/Richard Childress Racing. "It's something I truly love doing. I had the opportunity to do that."

Duno has enjoyed success in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series, but oval-track racing is a foreign discipline to her after only two starts.

To the critics who question her qualifications to compete in this series, Duno said, "These people have no idea about racing. Because I can give my car to them and I'm sure they can't drive (it) from the pits. They don't know nothing about racing."

So, all have their issues . . . just like many of their male counterparts.

On that point, Patrick, Fisher and Duno agree their presences in the series more accurately is a reflection of diversity found in the workplace.

"It's something that is getting normal with the times, no?" said Duno, a naval engineer with four master's degrees. "Always they say when you talk about professions it doesn't matter if you are woman or man. The importance is how good you are in the same activity."

Fisher said IndyCar racing, in particular, is a reflection of glass ceilings being shattered throughout corporate America.

"There's women CEOs, women that are leaders," Fisher said. "A sport that can provide one-on-one competition between males and females, and to not have females in it, is a shame. So the fact that we have three females in it is great. Here we've got individuals who can stand alone, and do their own thing. And I am very comfortable."

Patrick said she is proud to know that open-wheel racing is an open-minded sport.

"It would definitely seem as though women and Indy-cars seem to mix," Patrick said. "I'm interested in the fact that maybe with more girls out here that young kids will see that they can do whatever they want. For them to imagine themselves as an engineer or a mechanic or an astronaut or anything . . . that they know there's no such thing as barriers there.

"That's what I hope comes from an event like this."