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IRL women keeping fast company

June 29, 2007 12:35 am

BY JIM McCONNELL

RICHMOND--From a distance, the racers could be modern-day Charlie's Angels: three highly attractive female private detectives from the hit 1970s television drama.

Why, the hair is even perfect: a pretty blonde (Sarah Fisher) flanked by two striking brunettes (Danica Patrick and Milka Duno).

There's only one problem: while Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson became icons by marketing their femininity to men around the world, the Indy Racing League's three female drivers aren't about to slip into bikinis for a group photo shoot any time soon.

"At the end of the day, what's important to me and my peers is what we do on the track," said Fisher, who will compete in tomorrow's SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway.

It's a common refrain from Fisher, Patrick and Duno. All desperately want to be seen as professional drivers, not some traveling novelty act.

Three decades after Janet Guthrie became the first woman to compete in the Indianapolis 500, they're tired of answering the same questions. But like it or not, they're guaranteed to share the spotlight this weekend for reasons that have little to do with their lap times.

"It isn't a novelty; they've proven they belong there," three-time series champion Sam Hornish Jr. said. "But they also get more attention because they're female. That's just the way it is."

Patrick is particularly consumed with shedding her winless resume. Her sensational 2005 Indy debut, in which she led 19 laps en route to a fourth-place finish, instantly buoyed the IRL's sagging television ratings and touched off a nationwide media blitz that came to be known as "Danicamania."

Patrick finished 12th in the IRL standings as a rookie, then cracked the top 10 (ninth) last season. But her career-best third-place effort at Texas earlier this year isn't even the series' all-time best finish by a female.

That honor belongs to Fisher, who finished second at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2001. Less than a year later, the petite Ohio native became the first woman in racing history to earn a pole position when she qualified first at Kentucky Speedway.

In fact, Fisher was racing's original Great Female Hope when Patrick was still racing midgets. After spending two mostly lost years as a developmental driver for Richard Childress' NASCAR operation, Fisher is trying to re-establish herself in the IRL with the second-tier Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team.

Even after her hiatus, Fisher is a grizzled racing veteran compared to Duno, a Venezuelan who didn't even start racing until 1999.

Duno originally planned to pursue a career as a naval engineer. She holds four master's degrees: Organizational Development, Naval Architecture, Maritime Business and Marine Biology. She earned the last three simultaneously.

After competing in American LeMans, Europe's Open Telefonica World Series and the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Duno is running a limited IRL schedule this season.

"I think it was my destiny to become a race car driver," she said. "It's a very risky sport, but I like difficult challenges."

While Duno and Fisher struck up a congenial working relationship during the month leading up to the Indy 500, perhaps drawn together by the uphill nature of their respective challenges, Patrick has been a different story. She doesn't see any need to talk with her fellow female drivers and is unapologetic about her stance.

"I don't think about anybody else. It's definitely more of a greedy, selfish environment racing. You're always trying to go faster; you're always trying to beat everyone," she said.

Fisher made it clear during a recent interview that she views Patrick as "just another competitor," not a compatriot.

That's fine by Duno.

"It's not my problem. I can have good relationships with some people and not so good with others," she said yesterday. "I have more interesting things to think about."

Despite their varied backgrounds and experiences, there is one thing that unites Indy's three leading ladies: extending legitimate opportunities to the young girls who aspire to win open-wheel races well into the 21st century.

"What's neat is, when I started doing this, I noticed a lot of fathers and daughters coming to the track," Fisher said. "Girls would bring pictures of them in a quarter-midget or a sprint car or go-kart. So now some of these girls who have followed our careers the older they get, the more of an opportunity will exist for women because you'll have a bigger selection to choose from."

Added Duno: "Some woman is going to win a race. It's a matter of time."

Patrick would love to be first--even though Andretti Green Racing teammates Marco Andretti, Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan have promised to shave her head whenever she makes it to Victory Lane.

"That's a way to push my buttons," she said. "Obviously, they know that I like my hair."