Women and Speed (Suzanne Forster)

Pat Potter’s last couple of posts have about been about the heroines in our lives and in our books. In both cases, she asked us to share our favorite heroines, but blogger threw us a curve the first time and wouldn’t let any of us leave comments. The second time, blogger cooperated, but my brain wouldn’t. It went into spin cycle, and though several names came to mind, I couldn’t think of any that stood out as favorites.

Since then, I’ve thought of many. Oprah Winfrey—and Gayle King for being Oprah’s friend. That can’t be easy. Actually, the friendship holds plenty of challenges for both women, as those of us who watch the show learned during the road trip week. They crossed the continental United States together, and the adventure convinced me there is no greater test of compatibility than a road trip. They failed pretty miserably—Oprah likes to be quiet with her thoughts while driving and Gail likes to sing Top Forties songs, off key—but their lifelong friendship seems to have survived and thrived. Maybe the lesson is that tolerance, acceptance, love, and a good sense of humor are more important than compatibility any day.

Others heroines, past and present, who came to mind for their public service were Eleanor Roosevelt and Eunice Shriver. Martha Stewart, for serving her prison term quietly and with more dignity than I would have expected, given the situation. Hillary Clinton and Condalezza Rice. Regardless of how you feel about their politics, it can’t be easy dealing with the men in their lives.

My mom, for sure. She was a tremendous survivor, honest to a fault and very tough, but she was also a woman of deep emotions, who wore her heart on her sleeve. Possibly I loved her sense of humor best. As I mentioned in a book that I dedicated to her, her laughter will always resonate in my heart.

The list goes on, but I’ll save my other favorites for a future blog, except for this very recent entry. Last weekend, I added another woman to my list. Danica Patrick, the Indianapolis 500 race car driver.

I remembered Danica from all the hoopla that surrounded her two years ago when she was the first woman ever to lead Indy. Afterward, when I saw her on the talk show circuit, I actually worried that it might have been some kind of publicity stunt to bring viewers to the event. I haven’t heard much about her since, but I don’t follow the race or the drivers, so that could be why. It was by accident that I tuned in on Sunday, but when I saw that she was driving, I became curious about how she’d been doing.

Clips of her interviews were played prior to and during the race, and I saw her repeatedly in a dot com commercial, so I figured she must be doing all right, except that the interviews were focused on her never having won the race, and she seemed quite apologetic about that—and grateful that there was still some interest in her. Listening, I began to wonder if perhaps it was all about publicity. Maybe Danica Patrick didn’t have the racing chops to go up against the boys.

But after what I saw Sunday, I don’t think it’s about publicity, at least not in the sense of it being a stunt. Danica’s a great story, and I can see why the press would want to exploit the situation, but she can also handle herself. None of those hard-driving boys are slacking off to make her look good. That woman can drive!

At Lap 113 when the race was suddenly stopped because of a downpour, she was in third place, just behind Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti, the grandson of Mario. When the race started again, over two hours later, she boldly took advantage of a bobble on Marco’s part and moved into second place. Another rainstorm was expected soon, but none of the leaders would risk a pit stop, reasoning the rain would start before they ran out of gas and whoever had first place when the yellow flag was waved would win. They all miscalculated, including Danica.

They were forced to take pit stops or run out of gas, which opened the race up to a new group of leaders, with Dario Franchitti quickly taking first place and holding it. Both Tony Kanaan and Mario Andretti tried to maneuver their way back to the front, but were involved in crashes that took them out of the race. And, okay, I have to admit that I found myself wondering whether recklessness had anything to do with those crashes. I’ll never know, but I do know that Danica didn’t crash. She made it all the way back into the top ten before the rain started, and I have to wonder how far she would have gotten if Mother Nature hadn’t rushed things.

At the risk of repeating myself, that girl can drive. To my way of thinking, Danica Patrick has nothing to apologize for, and I wish the press would stop making her feel as if she does. She was in position to move into the lead when rain started the first time. She’d fought her way to second place on sheer guts, incredible reflexes and smart driving. If her luck had been better, she might have won. If it had been worse, she could have crashed. The point being, she was fearless and she did everything right, and that was all I needed to know. I just hope she knows it.

You go, Danica. Whether or not you ever win the Indy 500 doesn’t matter. All that does matter is that you’re no publicity stunt. You’re the real deal. And that’s enough to put you high on anyone’s list of heroines.

Suz