As a female former race driver, I feel the need to comment on Danica Patrick’s final races this year, and her inpact on auto racing. My fear is that I will do so inadequately, but here’s my stab.

Let me start with me (of course). In 1983 I started in the Jim Russell School’s Mechanic’s Training Program, the first woman to do so. Soon thereafter, I was joined by another woman, Sonny, whom frankly was a better driver than me.

I struggled as a driver. I did not have “the gift”. I raced against folks like Tommy Kendall, Jeff Krosnoff and others, and achieved a reputation as a great backmarker, a dubious honor which meant I was aware of my surroundings, the fact that I was slow as molasses on a cold day, and let the leaders by. My first race I was lapped. Twice. It was 10 laps long at Laguna Seca.

But I pursued it as a craft that could be learned. There were many frustrating (and teary) days, months and years and I pursued being competitive. I literally took me nearly three years to have a “breakthrough” and finally get up to speed and be competitive.

I toiled in the low levels of driver school and SCCA racing, learning the craft, winning a few precious races. I had enough marketing snap and persistence (it does take both) to be sponsored in the SCCA Pro Racing Can-Am series in the 1990s. My long, flat learning curve bit me, and while I didn’t embarrass myself, I wasn’t competitive in my first year, and my sponsor opted out of its second year of sponsorship. I’d taken my shot, but now needed to make a living and pay back all the debt I’d accumulated trying to make this dream of mine happen.

I was fortunate enough to have enough marketing and PR chops to work for some good racing teams and tire companies and keep my hand in the sport. I’ll admit that these years were actually happier for me – I had a regular paycheck, and not the pressure of finding sponsorship for myself or the competition on the track. And oh, yeah, being judged as a woman racer.

So now I want to discuss what I will call “the vagina factor”. There are many men, and likely women too, who attribute any woman’s ability to secure sponsorship and drive a race car to that fact that they have the novelty factor of being a woman. Okay, I’m guilty. But if I have an ace in a card game, I’m damn well going to play it.

I remember at the Russell School hearing guys say they would run tampon sponsorship and use the product if that would get them a sponsored ride. When you are a racer, it’s about making the next race happen and still be able to have a place to live and food to eat. A lucky few make the breakthrough, and become the Daniel Ricciardos, the Will Powers – and the Danica Patricks.

Danica had a handful of aces. She is beautiful, well spoken, talented (more on that later) and a gifted marketer. She also had a drive and the raw ambition to succeed as a race driver. It got noticed.

Danica Patrick

She played her aces well. She won an Indy Car race, which her haters (and they are legion) discount to a shortened race. She led the Indy 500. She got the pole at Daytona in a NASCAR cup car. She ran competitively in both series (Indy and NASCAR). I’m sorry, but no great car is going to carry you if you don’t have some sort of talent. Ask me.

She had a terrific sponsor in GoDaddy, and they also played the hand. Yes, they sexploited her, but hey, that’s part of the “vagina factor”, right? Play it. I would have. It’s about getting to the next race, the next drive. That’s how racers think.

I read recently that her decision to retire was two pronged – her loss of sponsorship, and “it wasn’t in her heart any more”. I get that. Racing is a sport that requires passion to continue. It’s hard work, not just in the car, but in the business: fulfilling sponsor commitments, finding sponsors, making the numbers work, training, practicing, testing, the travel, the demands on your personal life. Now, layer on the pressure of being in the media spotlight because of the VF (vagina factor) and the haters. How do you bear up? How do you not just say eff this, I’m going to do something else? Guess what. She did. And now who do we have representing the VF in Indy Car or the NASCAR ranks? Hello? Bueller?

There have been promising women drivers in both series (and of course we can’t ignore the tremendous success of women in NHRA: the Forces, Erica Enders, Shirley Muldowney, Angelle Sampey, so many more). But where are they at the top levels of Indy Car and NASCAR?

I’ll tell you. They don’t have the package. And you have to have the package to succeed as a racer, man or woman. Talent. Ambition. Looks. Articulate. And luck.

There are some female comers. I hope they make it. But Danica succeeded where few have. She made it and made a living at the top levels of two of the most competitive series in the world. She became a role model for many young girls, even acknowledged as such by (the soon to be legendary) Jimmie Johnson, who thanked her for inspiring his own daughters. She drew crowds and fans to series that sorely needed them. And she honored these fans with her attention and appreciation.

So, I’ll own it: her “Danica Double” was doubly disappointing as she crashed out of both. I’m sure the haters loved that, but for those of use who consider Danica as the most successful woman racer in Indy Car and NASCAR to date, it was sad. We wanted her to go out on a high. We wanted her to be rewarded for her tenacity, toughness, and talent.

So today we say goodbye to Danica Patrick as a racer. I for one will miss her in the fields. She added a dimension and a color that won’t soon be replaced. And now those struggling behind her and battling the “vagina factor” will hopefully use her pattern as a template for their own success.