Race car driver Danica Patrick poses with her car in front of the New York Stock Exchange, before the GoDaddy IPO, Wednesday, April 1, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Could Danica Patrick be moving from NASCAR nation to the old country?
"If the right sponsor came along, then anything is possible,” Patrick’s Sprint Cup car owner Gene Haas told Reuters at this year’s Spanish Grand Prix. The California businessman is launching a new Formula One team in 2016 and will need to lock in drivers this year.
Patrick, who started her career driving open-wheel cars and is the only woman to win a race in IndyCar, is losing longtime sponsor GoDaddy next year, a setback that could present new opportunities for the 33-year-old driver.
"Danica Patrick is highly marketable and if anything we're very lucky that GoDaddy is giving us enough time to find a sponsor that she'll fit with, because she can sell anything," Haas said.
Haas has previously said he expects to hire a Formula One veteran, regardless of national origin, that he hopes to pair with an American.
"It would be a home run to put an American driver in an American Formula One team, but it takes a lot of alignment of the stars for that to happen."
An American hasn’t competed in Formula One since Scott Speed left the series in 2007, and only two women have ever started a race, the last being Italian Lella Lombardi in 1976.
British driver Susie Wolff is currently a development driver for the Williams F1, but told Autoweek that she feels “very far away” from being given the chance to get on the grid.
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Danica Patrick makes history and...meat milkshakes?