Danica Patrick spoke to students at Texas Motor Speedway Thursday. (AP)

Danica Patrick, one of the first female faces in NASCAR, spoke at the PwC SMU Athletic Forum Luncheon Series on Wednesday at the Dallas Hilton Anatole.

While most young girls played with dolls and toys, Patrick shifted gears and started behind the wheel at the young age of 10.
By the time she was 16, she moved to Europe where she competed on the professional racing circuit and returned when she was 19.

“My dad raced cars when I was little so every Sunday night we would go to the dirt track and watch him,” Patrick said. “Well I don’t know if we would watch as much as we would pick up little pieces of clay and make balls out of it.”

Patrick always grew up around racing, but never thought about the money part or the future in it.

Her journey was not easy, but she persevered as a minority in the sport and has made history.

“If you want to be good at anything you really need to learn how to push through and know it’s going to be difficult,” Patrick said. “When you get knocked down you have to get right back up.”

On the subject of being knocked down she was asked about her incident at her previous NASCAR race at Kansas Speedway. A driver was apparently hitting her car “one too many times.”

“I heard in my headset he was doing it because I was in the way so I decided when I saw him I was going to take him out,” Patrick said, followed by a laughing audience.

As Patrick went in for the kill, she did not get the outcome she wanted.

“The opportunity arose and I sucked at it,” Patrick said. “I actually ended [up] taking myself out too.”

Talking to her impossibly-hard to-get a-hold-of boss is a challenge, but Patrick was trying to plan on how to say sorry for wrecking the car once she gets the chance.

Patrick has gotten to work and drive for some big names, currently including Dale Earnheart Jr.

“It helps a lot when people like Dale and Tony [Stewart] have said nice things about me over the years. I think everyone along the way needs to have someone to look up to,” she said.

People like Earnhart Jr. have impacted Patrick’s life by giving her confidence, even when she did not need it. However, people like him have never been a “role model.”

“I always knew that I wanted to be the first me not the next someone else,” Patrick said.

Patrick will race in both series this week at Texas Motor Speedway.