Wednesday, March 2, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
The green flag hasn't even dropped on the 2005 Indy Racing League season and Danica Patrick already is weary of The Question.
Patrick will be the only female driver competing fulltime in the IndyCar Series this season and although she has yet to turn a competitive lap in her Rahal Letterman Racing Honda, she is not at all interested in fielding questions about her gender.
"I can't get caught up in the female driver thing," Patrick said. "All I can do is go out and work hard and do my best. I hope that someday people will talk about me as a driver and not as a female driver.
"When my name is discussed and they don't have to mention my gender is when I know I will have arrived as a driver."
Patrick, 22, is realistic, however, and knows that the novelty of being only the third female to compete in the IRL's premier series will be the focus of interviews throughout the season. Still, Patrick said she would rather be judged on her own merits as opposed to being compared to her predecessors in the series, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher, and the sport's trailblazer, Janet Guthrie.
"I can only do what I can do," Patrick said. "The things that (Guthrie, St. James and Fisher) have done have obviously made other women being able to be respected and be able to come into competition a little bit easier but at the end of the day, I'm just another driver and I have my own expectations and my own goals and my own career to focus on.
"To me, (the comparisons) don't matter so much; I just need to go out there and kick some butt and hopefully everybody's happy and I'm happy and there are a lot of fun stories to write about."
Although Patrick will be a rookie this season, she actually has been associated with Rahal Letterman Racing longer than her teammates, Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira. Patrick first signed with team owner Bobby Rahal in 2001 and spent the past three seasons driving in the Barber Dodge Pro Series and the Toyota Atlantic Championship.
While she finished sixth and third in the Toyota Atlantic Championship the past two seasons, Patrick admitted that making the move to the 650-horsepower IRL car would be the "biggest jump I have made in my career."
"I know the competition will be fierce, but I still feel good about the opportunity," she said. "I have worked hard to get to this point and I know I have a great team in Rahal Letterman Racing standing behind me.
"I am in a great position for a rookie getting to run with one of the top operations in open-wheel racing. The car is capable of running with the leaders and it is up to me to get the car there. I am on a steep learning curve, but I am in a great situation in which to learn."
The 2005 Indy Racing League season opens Sunday with the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
HORNISH AT HOME(STEAD): Marlboro Team Penske driver Sam Hornish Jr. is not only the defending champion of the Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he has won three of the four IRL races contested on the 1.5-mile oval.
Hornish won the race in 2001 and 2002 while driving for Panther Racing and made a last-lap pass of teammate Helio Castroneves to win last year's race.
Castroneves, by the way, closed out the 2004 season with an IRL record-tying four consecutive poles and will attempt to earn his fifth in a row Saturday in qualifying for the Toyota Indy 300. Castroneves qualified 10th for last year's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
CHAMP CAR IN KOREA: Korean officials broke ground last week on the new 1.9-mile road course in Ansan City that will host the Champ Car World Series in October.
The Champ Car World Series opens its 2005 season April 10 with the 31st annual Long Beach Grand Prix.
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