Patrick was up in the announcers booth at Long Beach, with a lot of video and audio attention being paid to her. So much so, in fact, that the PA staff almost missed the white flag lap.
After all the Champ Car podium conferences were over, Patrick held a press conference of her own in front of an overflowing media centre and relayed via a hastily scheduled teleconference.
On Monday, Patrick began a busy week with appearances on all the morning television shows, as well as late night with David Letterman, incidentally co-owner of the IRL team which first gave Patrick a start in major league open wheel racing. She was also written up in all of the major racing outlets, including three separate sports editorial columns in
USA Today and an editorial on the publication's OpEd page in the news section - entitled
History in Under Six Seconds. As well as being tabbed for numerous interviews while in New York this week, including MTV, the New York Times and Bloomberg TV, Patrick also walked the red carpet for the premiere of the movie
Baby Mama.
Patrick's merchandise is also selling fast, with Indianapolis-based MainGate Inc - which has an exclusive deal to handle licensed products for the 26-year old - seeing major sales increases in items bearing her image. The company, which also operates Patrick's official website, already had a T-shirt designed for Patrick's first victory, and plans to have a completely new line of products commemorating the victory ready for May at Indianapolis, where it will operate three mobile trailers dedicated solely to the driver.
“It's great for Danica and the League,” IRL founder and CEO Tony George admitted, “Everybody has been waiting for this day to arrive and it finally has. A lot of credit is due to that team and to Danica as a driver for getting to this position.”
![Danica Patrick - Andretti Green Racing [pic credit: IRL/Garrett]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/430052.jpg)
