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Neat story on Danica Patrick. The more I learn the more I like her! GET ready NASCAR
Jillian Michaels Interviews…
Danica Patrick on Achieving Your Dreams
Jillian sat down with the famed IndyCar and NASCAR driver to talk about what scares her, the male ego, and how it feels to be the only woman on the track.
By Jillian Michaels
Symptom Checker
Tell Dr. Schueler your symptoms to find out possible causes and treatments. Get Started“She’s a pistol,” exclaimed the teamster in the Mets cap. Just as I turned to say thanks I realized it wasn’t me he was referring to. Right then I caught my first in-person glimpse of my Go Daddy Super Bowl spot co-star, Danica Patrick. As she stepped out of her trailer, I felt like I had been inserted into one of those flicks from the 1980s. You know the ones where the girl walks in slow-mo out into a wind tunnel causing every man within a one-mile radius to drop everything and fall to his knees.
The racing prodigy, sex symbol, powerhouse of a half pint (she’s tiny — 5’2” at best) turned and made a beeline right over to me, extended her hand with a smile and said, “Hi. Danica. Nice to meet you.” As I reached back to shake “hello,” I instantly felt like the kid who just became buddies with the most popular girl in school.
That day and in every interaction we’ve shared since, she’s been gracious, motivational, and friendly, offering me everything from relationship counseling to investment advice, to moral support during my transition to daytime television. And of course, she gave me a tour of her No. 7 GoDaddy.com IndyCar, which might have been my highlight of 2011.
So, you can see why I wanted to talk with Danica for my interview series on inspiration and achieving dreams. Her words are honest, straightforward, and passionate. Enjoy.
Jillian Michaels: Hey buddy. The first thing I really want to get is a little history about how you got into the sport. I know you started as a kid right?
Danica Patrick: Yeah, I started racing go-karts when I was 10. They were just little five-horsepower brake engines, like lawn mower engines. So that’s the first kind of car I ended up driving. I started doing it because my dad was into racing. We used to go to a lot of races and watch. Then, my sister really wanted to do it. There was somebody in our neighborhood my sister’s age who raced go-karts, so we went down to check it out and thought it was kind of a fun family thing to do on the weekends. We were going to buy a pontoon boat, but that didn’t happen so then we bought go-karts. It was a pretty life-altering choice and purchase.
JM: Clearly. So now you started racing go-karts at 10 years old, but when you were 15 you went to train in Europe? What prompted that? When did you guys recognize that you had serious skill at this, like “you could be a professional racer” kind of skill? And how did Europe come about?
DP: I still wonder if I’m going to be a serious racecar driver…
JM: Ha! What are you talking about, dude! You’re kidding right? You have got to be kidding me? REALLY?!
DP: I don’t know if you feel the same, but no matter what you do, whether you try and prove it to someone else or not, I always try to prove to myself.
JM: Prove that you are great at what you do?
DP: Well, you know, if you have a bad day, weekend, or event, and you’re frustrated … You have to prove it to yourself because there are a lot of really talented people out there, and I feel like I’m my own worst critic. So okay, maybe I’ve made it to the big leagues.
JM: MAYBE!?
DP: Ha, okay, okay, I’m in the big leagues. To answer the first part of your question about heading to Europe, at the time I was racing go-karts and went to the Indy 500. I was there with Lyn St. James and I was just hanging out at the racetrack while she was practicing. I obviously was very young — only 14. And I clearly wasn’t on the racetrack but I was up in the suite and there was this British guy there. I was sitting at the bar ordering a kiddy cocktail and I started asking him a lot of questions about what it was like racing in Europe. I guess I asked all the right questions because two years later when I was 16 the people he worked with said they had followed my career for the last couple of years and would really love to talk with me about an opportunity. I remember when I was 14, I was told that I could learn more in England in a year than I could learn in five years in the states.
JM: You went to Europe without your family? Alone?
DP: Yep, I went and lived with these two girls, one of whom I had never met before and the other I had met for all of five minutes. I slept on their couch for a while. It sounds really dramatic! Like, I slept on a couch …
JM: It is, though. Trekking to Europe alone at 16 to figure things out for yourself is pretty dramatic.
DP: Eventually, after a couple of months, I moved into a bedroom that was the size of a shoebox. I was excited to be there, and probably the biggest thing is that my parents let me do it at 16. I was in high school, and I left high school half way through my junior year. That’s a pretty big stretch for a parent, especially [when your kid has] aspirations of becoming a professional athlete, which is not exactly the easiest thing to accomplish. I spent three years there and I learned a lot about racing.
Did I learn more there in one year then I would have learned in five years in the states? No, but I probably did learn about my life and being a responsible person. I learned a lot about people and what we are all capable of and the things to be careful of. I learned who to trust and how much to tell people. I feel lucky to have learned [early] about the kinds of things that would have been much more detrimental had I learned them in my twenties.
JM: Right. Wish I could say the same. I messed up a lot in my youth and my later years. And I’m still making those kinds of mistakes even now. Insert loud sigh here.
NASCAR BOY's GET READY!!!!! She's for real!!!!!
Can't wait. 
This will open the doors for a new generation of FANS!!!!!
What do you THINK?????
Danica Patrick on Achieving Your Dreams
Jillian sat down with the famed IndyCar and NASCAR driver to talk about what scares her, the male ego, and how it feels to be the only woman on the track.
By Jillian Michaels
Symptom Checker
Tell Dr. Schueler your symptoms to find out possible causes and treatments. Get Started“She’s a pistol,” exclaimed the teamster in the Mets cap. Just as I turned to say thanks I realized it wasn’t me he was referring to. Right then I caught my first in-person glimpse of my Go Daddy Super Bowl spot co-star, Danica Patrick. As she stepped out of her trailer, I felt like I had been inserted into one of those flicks from the 1980s. You know the ones where the girl walks in slow-mo out into a wind tunnel causing every man within a one-mile radius to drop everything and fall to his knees.
The racing prodigy, sex symbol, powerhouse of a half pint (she’s tiny — 5’2” at best) turned and made a beeline right over to me, extended her hand with a smile and said, “Hi. Danica. Nice to meet you.” As I reached back to shake “hello,” I instantly felt like the kid who just became buddies with the most popular girl in school.
That day and in every interaction we’ve shared since, she’s been gracious, motivational, and friendly, offering me everything from relationship counseling to investment advice, to moral support during my transition to daytime television. And of course, she gave me a tour of her No. 7 GoDaddy.com IndyCar, which might have been my highlight of 2011.
So, you can see why I wanted to talk with Danica for my interview series on inspiration and achieving dreams. Her words are honest, straightforward, and passionate. Enjoy.
Jillian Michaels: Hey buddy. The first thing I really want to get is a little history about how you got into the sport. I know you started as a kid right?
Danica Patrick: Yeah, I started racing go-karts when I was 10. They were just little five-horsepower brake engines, like lawn mower engines. So that’s the first kind of car I ended up driving. I started doing it because my dad was into racing. We used to go to a lot of races and watch. Then, my sister really wanted to do it. There was somebody in our neighborhood my sister’s age who raced go-karts, so we went down to check it out and thought it was kind of a fun family thing to do on the weekends. We were going to buy a pontoon boat, but that didn’t happen so then we bought go-karts. It was a pretty life-altering choice and purchase.
JM: Clearly. So now you started racing go-karts at 10 years old, but when you were 15 you went to train in Europe? What prompted that? When did you guys recognize that you had serious skill at this, like “you could be a professional racer” kind of skill? And how did Europe come about?
DP: I still wonder if I’m going to be a serious racecar driver…
JM: Ha! What are you talking about, dude! You’re kidding right? You have got to be kidding me? REALLY?!
DP: I don’t know if you feel the same, but no matter what you do, whether you try and prove it to someone else or not, I always try to prove to myself.
JM: Prove that you are great at what you do?
DP: Well, you know, if you have a bad day, weekend, or event, and you’re frustrated … You have to prove it to yourself because there are a lot of really talented people out there, and I feel like I’m my own worst critic. So okay, maybe I’ve made it to the big leagues.
JM: MAYBE!?
DP: Ha, okay, okay, I’m in the big leagues. To answer the first part of your question about heading to Europe, at the time I was racing go-karts and went to the Indy 500. I was there with Lyn St. James and I was just hanging out at the racetrack while she was practicing. I obviously was very young — only 14. And I clearly wasn’t on the racetrack but I was up in the suite and there was this British guy there. I was sitting at the bar ordering a kiddy cocktail and I started asking him a lot of questions about what it was like racing in Europe. I guess I asked all the right questions because two years later when I was 16 the people he worked with said they had followed my career for the last couple of years and would really love to talk with me about an opportunity. I remember when I was 14, I was told that I could learn more in England in a year than I could learn in five years in the states.
JM: You went to Europe without your family? Alone?
DP: Yep, I went and lived with these two girls, one of whom I had never met before and the other I had met for all of five minutes. I slept on their couch for a while. It sounds really dramatic! Like, I slept on a couch …
JM: It is, though. Trekking to Europe alone at 16 to figure things out for yourself is pretty dramatic.
DP: Eventually, after a couple of months, I moved into a bedroom that was the size of a shoebox. I was excited to be there, and probably the biggest thing is that my parents let me do it at 16. I was in high school, and I left high school half way through my junior year. That’s a pretty big stretch for a parent, especially [when your kid has] aspirations of becoming a professional athlete, which is not exactly the easiest thing to accomplish. I spent three years there and I learned a lot about racing.
Did I learn more there in one year then I would have learned in five years in the states? No, but I probably did learn about my life and being a responsible person. I learned a lot about people and what we are all capable of and the things to be careful of. I learned who to trust and how much to tell people. I feel lucky to have learned [early] about the kinds of things that would have been much more detrimental had I learned them in my twenties.
JM: Right. Wish I could say the same. I messed up a lot in my youth and my later years. And I’m still making those kinds of mistakes even now. Insert loud sigh here.
NASCAR BOY's GET READY!!!!! She's for real!!!!!
Can't wait. This will open the doors for a new generation of FANS!!!!! What do you THINK?????
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