Danica is on the cover of Shape Magazine this month

Story posted - Apr 22 2009 2:36 PM

TSO NOTE: Danica Patrick is on the cover of Shape Magazine this month.
The following excerpts are courtesy of Shape Magazine PR, see the magazine for the complete article:

Race car driver Danica Patrick goes through life at 200 miles per hour-even off the track. She relies on win-win life strategies to keep her grounded. Check out the tips she offers to Shape readers in the June issue. In addition, she also shares her turbocharged workout that gets her sexy and sculpted for bikini season!

Danica sat down with Shape to share her inspirational strategies for crossing the finish line no matter what the challenges.

Follow your passion:

To figure out where Danica's unconventional career choice came from, look no further than her parents. Her dad, T.J., used to race snowmobiles, which is how he met her mother, Bev. "She repaired snow-mobiles. Her nickname was actually Captain Traction," says Danica with a laugh. It was clear early on that Danica had racing in her genes.

"I remember driving my dad's pickup truck around his office building at 20 miles per hour and my little sister, Brooke, yelling, 'Slow down, slow down!' I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I was only 8 at the time," she admits sheepishly.

Stop spinning your wheels

At 5'2" and 105 pounds, Danica is the smallest of the Indy drivers. In a sport where the lighter your load, the faster your speed, you'd think she'd have an advantage. Not so, says Danica. "I have to work harder than those bigger guys to control my car."

Get creative in the kitchen

One of Danica's biggest diet dilemmas is maintaining a healthy weight while keeping up her strength. "I worry about the scale like anyone else, but I have to make it through five-hour races," says Danica. "It's a constant battle for me." To stay fueled, she sticks to a high-protein diet with plenty of complex carbs. She starts every morning with a three-egg-white omelet and a bowl of homemade oatmeal with cinnamon, flax meal, brown sugar, and a scoop of peanut butter on the side. For lunch she prefers open-face turkey sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, mustard, and sometimes a slice of cheese. "I get hungry every three hours, so I also like to munch on an apple or whole-wheat toast with peanut butter," says Danica, who adds, "I like my food to be tasty."

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