April 28, 2008 11:57 AM

Whoever said women can't drive
Posted by Diane Danielsonat 11:57 AM

surely forgot to mention that to Danica Patrick.  I'm a little late with this post, but wanted to give Danica Patrick her due.  Last week, she became the first woman to win a major Indy race.  I've been rooting for her since her fourth place showing in the Indy 500 in 2005, and so great to see her compete with the big guys.  Picture and story from Yahoo News:

MOTEGI, Japan - Danica Patrick became the first female winner in IndyCar history Sunday, taking the Indy Japan 300 after the top contenders were forced to pit for fuel in the final laps.

Patrick finished 5.8594 seconds ahead of pole-sitter Helio Castroneves on the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval after leader Scott Dixon pitted with five laps left and Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan came in a lap later.

"It's a long time coming. Finally," Patrick said. "It was a fuel strategy race, but my team called it perfectly for me. I knew I was on the same strategy as Helio and when I passed him for the lead, I couldn't believe it. This is fabulous."

The 26-year-old Patrick won in her 50th career IndyCar start, taking the lead from Castroneves on the 198th lap in the 200-lap race.

Yes, that's Helio from Dancing with the Stars that she beat out!  Click here for the full story.

One interesting sidenote.  Danica won with an extra 10-lb weight in the car because the "racing gods" have implemented a new rule where they have to weigh down the cars of "lighter drivers" (i.e. Danica) because it's not fair if she weighs 100 lbs and her male racers weigh 165 lbs.  I do see how weight can make a difference.  Just as it does in horse racing.  In any event, Danica, just keep winning with those extra weights and give them something else to complain about!