Patrick's victory pumps new life into IndyCar Series

The IndyCar Series next heads to its most famous race at its most famous track. And as the league gets the world stage for the Indianapolis 500 and uses almost the whole month of May to promote the race, it does so with its most famous driver a winner.

There is no doubt how much Danica Patrick wanted to win, and finally did in her 50th career series start. Everyone knows about the proverbial monkey on the back, so much so that former boss David Letterman joked to her that winless drivers used to have to carry an actual monkey on their back.

But no one - not even Patrick - wanted the victory that came April 19 in Japan more than the league.

"Oh, I'm sure that it meant a lot to a lot of people," Patrick said by phone. "A lot of people had great expectations and hopes, high hopes for all of this, and it's been building and coming on since 2005.

"Yeah, I think that they really wanted this to happen. I recognize that they recognize that victories are victories for all of us, so they have been really helpful in helping me get on with things after the race here and get back to the States and really get the message out and have fun with it."

Patrick hit the airwaves with force on her return to the United States and was one of the most searched for individuals on the Internet.

Suddenly she was a winner, the first female driver to win a race in a major closed course series. And she went from being compared to perpetually winless babe Anna Kournikova to battle of the sexes winner Billie Jean King.

It is not often those two are mentioned in the same sentence, and it shows the transcendent power of Patrick compared with both.

"I think that I'm definitely just part of a wave of women that are doing different things, great things outside of the normal world, so I don't think it's just me, but I think it's just showing that we're capable of anything," Patrick said. "And vice-versa; there's so much more gender crossover now than there ever has been. So I really just believe that I'm part of a really big picture.

"I think it's difficult being the person in the middle of it, and, you know, also being kind of young. I'm only 26 and four years of IndyCar and I feel like I still have so much more racing to do and years to go."

True to form for this series, however, even the big win it wanted was sorely lacking in some areas.

It was the lone non-unified open-wheel race of the year. It didn't take place in this country or continent. It happened during an off weekend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, so it didn't knock NASCAR out of the headlines. And with the race delayed for several hours because of a wet track, Patrick didn't cross the finish line until a little after midnight in the Eastern time zone.

There was even criticism of the win. Because Champ Car was in Long Beach having its last hurrah, there was only an 18-car field, and Patrick was only about the seventh or eighth best car most of the race. It was a fuel mileage run in which Patrick led only the final three laps, and even taking the lead was preceded by either a mistake or extremely conservative approach from Helio Castroneves.

But a win is a win. And not only that, but Patrick was happy her breakthrough was a team effort, especially a strategy call by Kyle Moyer.

"I think that's a great message to a lot of young people, and it really can affect anybody," Patrick said. "So many of us obviously work in teams, whether it's at the office or at the racetrack and I think it really shows what a group can do when they put their heads together and work really hard and all really, really want the same thing.

"So it's really nice that it was such a team win."

Nice for everyone, from the team to the driver to the entire league.

Contact David Allen at dallen@scn1.com or 815-439-7524.