I don't think I've ever watched a car race from beginning to end. Except for drag races, that is. Sorry, but the American fascination with NASCAR, and all the others, eludes me. I just can't keep my attention on a bunch of vehicles making the exact same left turns over and over, hundreds of times. Even if the strategies of the sport can be kinda interesting once in a while.

But today...

Well, I still haven't watched an entire auto race. But today I watched the second half of the Indy 500. Probably a record for me. And not because of the race. If you had asked this morning, I couldn't have told you if this was the 89th, or the 79th, or even the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500. Or how many laps around the track it takes to cover 500 miles (200 laps).

Today I tuned in to just watch one driver.

Danica.

Danica Patrick. Only the fourth woman to ever drive in the Indy 500, and at a remarkably young age of 23.

If you haven't heard, she finished fourth. Which was remarkable for several reasons. One, because until there were six laps to go, she had been in first place for some 15 laps. And she dropped back only because she needed to save fuel, and ensure she had enough gas in her tank to finish at all. (A result of one of those strategy decisions I mentioned earlier. The winner, another young driver who had been in the stands at this race only six years before, didn't have enough gas in his tank to finish his victory lap. Had to be pushed into the winner's circle by hand.)

But her backing off, and making sure she finished high in the race, is the second remarkable reason. The urge to race hard for the finish, to risk all or nothing for the chance to be the first woman to win the Indy 500, must have been incredible. But instead, this rookie listened to her advisors in the pit and raced conservative, got a respectable fourth place finish, and a smaller notation in the history books.

But she finished. And as unfair as it may have been, I suspect there were as many cameras and reporters on her after the race as there were on the winner. A fact she seemed polite enough to be embarrassed about. Which again is pretty remarkable.

And speaking of unfair. Read at least one interview of another racer complaining about her "unfair" advantage.

Seems she's small. Maybe a hundred pounds lighter than the average male driver. Which some have calculated automatically gives her a 1.2 mph advantage for having a lighter vehicle on the track.

Well, goody goody gumdrops for her. I'm willing to bet that if Letterman's team had thought to slip in a lightweight racehorse jockey, rather than a small woman, nobody would have said "boo" about a weight advantage. They'd all just put their drivers on diets, and in a few years, almost all the drivers would be little guys.

But let this small, lightweight person be female, and all of a sudden there's a cry for adding weight penalties to her car to take away her advantage.

Yeah, right. And I think we ought to make all football players wear ankle weights so none of them can run any faster than the others.

I wanted to watch Danica do well, and I did. And in those 15 laps where she was leading at the end, I wanted to see her win. The wife and I moaned as one, two, then three cars slipped past her as she slowed to save fuel. Only to have her only chance at taking the lead back in the last two laps effectively stolen by a late yellow flag (which probably also allowed the near-fuelless leader to practically coast to a win). But after watching her drive (and ignoring the rookie mistakes of stalling her engine in a pit stop, or causing a multi-car wreck while under a yellow caution flag), and seeing her class act in the after race interviews, I have no doubt.

I'll see her win an Indy 500 yet.