Indianapolis, Indiana - Seven years ago Danica Patrick was a lonely American teenage girl living in Britain and trying to make a career out of motor racing.
On Sunday (May 29), the 23-year-old rookie came close to becoming the first woman to win the Indianapolis 500, proving she is tough enough to cope with almost anything thrown at her.
The 1.58m, 45kg racer recalled in pre-race interviews that her time in racing's backwaters had made her stronger.
"It was a toughening-up process, I promise you," she said.
She just missed out on pole position for the Indy 500 two weeks ago, due to a rookie error, but managed to correct herself and hang on to claim fourth spot on the grid.
Patrick made another mistake early in Sunday's race that dropped her from fourth to 16th but again kept her cool and eventually worked her way towards the front of the grid.
She became the first woman to lead the race but in the closing quarter she erred once more, spinning her tyres on a re-start to spark a six-car collision that she survived.
Her team replaced her front wing and filled her Panoz Honda with fuel under the yellow flag and put her in a position where a victory might have been possible.
The gamble
Team boss Bobby Rahal, 1986 winner and former Jaguar Formula 1 boss, decided to roll the dice.
"She had been making good mileage all day, so it was worth the gamble," he said.
Eventual winner, Briton Dan Wheldon, and the other drivers would have to pit again for methanol fuel. If there was a timely yellow Patrick might have had enough fuel to win without a stop.
For the last 28 laps she raced Wheldon... and her fuel gauge. It seemed that the 300 000 fans were on their feet, rocking the venerable Brickyard as people screamed above the engines' roar.
But the fuel gamble didn't pay off.
Patrick went to the post-race interviews with determination and disappointment written over all over face, faced the news medai and turned on the charm.
"Gosh, I did make some mistakes," she said. "I stalled it and went back to 16th. And I can't believe that my car didn't get completely demolished because I got hit like twice and spun it around. I can't believe I kept the engine going."
Those lonely years in Britain came back to her when she was asked if Sunday's race was more about her gender.
The hard-as-nails racer immediately came out and answered defiantly: "I made a hell of a point for anybody, are you kidding me? I came from the back, twice.
"That sucks back there." - Reuters