About the speaker: Danica Patrick discussed her season so far as well as the upcoming stretch of races on four consecutive weekends.
Danica Patrick
· 27-year-old veteran competing in her fifth season in the IndyCar Series
· Drives the No. 7 Boost Mobile/Motorola entry for Andretti Green Racing
· Opened the 2009 season with four top-five finishes in the first six races, one of only three drivers to do so
· Ranks fifth in points, 32 behind points leader Ryan Briscoe
· Has made 70 career starts, recording 15 top-five finishes, 41 top-10s and winning three poles
· Became the first woman to win a major closed-course auto race in April 2008 at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan
· Won IndyCar Series Rookie of the Year honors in 2005
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Select Quotes: Listed below are select quotes from today's teleconference. The complete transcript and audio MP3 file are posted at www.indycar.com/media.
Q:We've got four consecutive races coming up. If you would, tell us about each of those tracks, and how you've done in the past, and what it will take to continue finishing up at the front?
DANICA PATRICK: We have Iowa coming up this weekend. It's been OK there. It's tough to race there. It used to be a tough place to pass because everyone was just running the bottom, and the long way around was the long way around, and you couldn't make up enough ground.
In the last year, you could pass a little bit better on the outside. The car did go off a little bit, and you could pick up some understeer or something like that and it would make it a little easier to pass. But still the high line is a long way around there. It's more of a traditional line than in recent times. So qualifying is really important.
Then we go to Richmond, and it's sort of the same thing. It's difficult to pass at Richmond, even more so really than Iowa I would say.
But we had a little bit of side‑by‑side racing last year because there were more cars and we took up more space on the track. Again, it's going to really, really lend to qualifying well and then just staying up there. So I would say qualifying is going to be important the next two weekends.
Then we go to the Glen. And (Watkins Glen) is a place where I haven't traditionally done well. We were testing up there last week. The tests went well, and we've made improvements and will continue to make improvements, so I think I'm looking forward to the Glen more so. I really enjoy the permanent road courses we've gone to in the past couple of years. They seem to be more of my strong suit on the road courses.
Then we go to Toronto. A place that is back on the schedule for us that is really exciting. Canadian fans are fantastic fans. They love their racing. They're very educated.
It's also a place that my boss, Mr. (Michael) Andretti has done very well at, and being (the strategist) on my car, that's nice. I look forward to going back there, but I haven't been there in a big car. The last time I was there, I was in Atlantic, so I'm sure it will be quite different.
Q: The big question is this is your contract year that you're doing better than you ever have it gives you a lot of leverage in a position. Have you given any specific instruction to the folks at IMG about what you want to do in 2010?
DANICA PATRICK: Well, we've definitely had many conversations about what I'm looking for and my goals, and so, we've had a lot of those conversations, but really, it's kind of about collecting information at this point and seeing what our options are, and then we'll talk deeper after that. But at this point in time it's about collecting the information.
Q: What kind of goals do you have in mind? Do you care about sharing those at all?
DANICA PATRICK: I think the most important thing for me is to put myself in a situation where I can win as many races as possible and run up front and be in that competitive situation. That's the most important thing. Because at the end of the day, usually the best press comes when I'm doing things on track. That's really the most important thing for me as a driver. So that's where the ultimate focus is going to go.
Then aside from that and after that there has to be thoughts, to the brand side of the situation, and being able to make the most of myself as an athlete and as an endorser of products and things like that and gaining exposure so that in due time I'm able to explore other things outside of racing maybe even. So, all of that comes afterwards. The most important thing is kicking butt out there.
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The 2009 IndyCar Series season continues June 21 with the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 1 p.m. (EDT) by ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network, XM channel 145 and Sirius channel 211. The radio broadcast also will be carried on indycar.com. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Miller Lite 100 on June 20 at Iowa Speedway. The race will be telecast at 4 p.m. on June 22 by VERSUS.
