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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JARED MCMILLEN
STYLING BY ROBERT BALLEW
MAKEUP BY JOANNE MITCHELL

THE ONE-NAME SENSATION has built her athletic career on the racetrack, specifically the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where - as a 23-year-old IndyCar Series rookie in 2005 - she led 19 laps around the world-famous oval during the Indianapolis 500 before finishing fourth, still the best performance ever by a woman in the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing." On that day, "Danica Mania" was born.

Since then, her every move on the track has been scrutinized. Her fiery, strong personality - not to mention the fact that she's a woman in a dominantly man's sport - demands it. There was the time at the Michigan International Speedway in 2006 when Danica ran out of fuel three laps from the end, ruining a chance at a high finish. A camera recorded her pound the steering wheel and emerge from the car in a foot-stomping rage. She was hardly the first person in motorsports history to be furious about running out of fuel, but the caught-on-camera incident (ranked No. 10 at the time in a "SportsCenter" list of top 10 auto racing meltdowns of all-time) added fuel to her petulant on-track reputation.

And last year at the Indy 500, moments after Danica and Ryan Briscoe collided on pit road - ending their day 29 laps from the finish - she climbed out of her car and marched toward Briscoe's pit stall. A timely interjection from a security guard prevented the 5-foot-2-inch, 100-pound driver from reaching her target and perhaps exacting some kind of revenge. "It's probably better that I didn't make it all the way down there anyway because, well, as you guys know, I'm a little emotional," she told media afterward.

"Because she's a woman, it comes across a little different than if a guy does it. She's judged when she's throwing a tantrum getting out of the car," says Michael Andretti, co-owner of the Andretti Green Racing No. 7 and Danica's boss, race strategist and confidante. "It's an unfair position to be in, but unfortunately that's the way it is. The girl is under immense pressure, and nobody puts more pressure on herself than she does - that's why she may appear to be miserable at the racetrack. It gets misunderstood as being standoffish, which is really the opposite of what her personality is. But with that scrutiny comes rewards."

For this skilled and intense driver, these rewards have a lot to do with her off-track charm and stunning good looks, which have led to TV appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "Rachael Ray Show"; Super Bowl commercials for GoDaddy.com; and magazine covers including Sports Illustrated.

"She's not just a star - she's a mega-star," says Zak Brown, founder and CEO of Just Marketing International, an IndyCar marketing partner. "She's pretty close to the complete package. She's a woman, she's attractive and, most importantly, she's good."

BUT WHO IS DANICA, really? Ask her to define herself, and she says, "My brand is something that's obviously sports-related and competitive, yet feminine."

Sure, that covers the racer side and the sexy side, but is there more to Danica than these two public personas?

"What the public sees is not really who she is," Andretti says. "Right away, when you spend time with her in a relaxed atmosphere, you find that she's nothing like what she is perceived. She's a nice girl, and family's a big part of her life."

"Big" may be an understatement - family plays an enormous role in her life. At races, the entire clan (dad, mom, sister and husband) sits interspersed among her team's engineer, race strategist, and the crew guys who change the tires and add fuel.

Husband Paul Hospenthal - a physical therapist she met when then-car-owner Bobby Rahal recommended him for her ailing back - stands in the pit box studying the scoring monitors, text-messaging friends to give them a sneak-peek into what's about to happen with the black-and-blue No. 7. (Her senior by 17 years, Hospenthal has spent his career working with athletes, including MLB players and professional golfers such as British Open champion Tom Lehman.)

Little sister Brooke wears a headset, stone-faced behind sunglasses, while mother Bev has a perpetually nervous look on her face, which cameramen seem drawn to. (Finding your comfort zone while watching your daughter race at 220 mph can't be easy.)

Father T.J. watches from a secluded spot in the infield that the cameras hopefully won't find. A former snowmobile and midget racer - and the reason his daughters started racing (it was actually Brooke who first suggested go-karts, Danica got hooked later) - T.J. is the family's most knowledgeable and passionate fan. He can tell when his daughter is struggling - and if she's having a hard time, well, T.J. is better off away from everyone else.

When the race ends, Danica returns to the house she shares with her husband and sister in Scottsdale, AZ. (Her parents live with her in the off-season.) Each family member has his or her own responsibilities in Danica Racing, Inc. Bev is the self-proclaimed cleaning lady and organizer as well as Danica's companion on non-racing obligations, such as photo shoots.

T.J. is more involved in business dealings, playing a role in her recent signing with sports marketing giant IMG, the firm that manages Tiger Woods. (T.J. jokes that he would happily settle for Woods' "leftovers.")

As for Hospenthal, "He's very much her sounding board," says Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star, who's chronicled Danica since her first days in American open-wheel racing. "He's dealt with a lot of pro athletes in his business, and has spent time with a lot of star power. He's learned a lot of things about how to handle… the public perception. Certainly early on in this process, when all [the fame] hit her at once, he was really influential and calmed the ship a little bit."

THE IMAGES SEEM incongruous: The racecar driver - who recently became the first woman to win an open-wheel race - storming to confront competitors, and the woman lying across a vintage Shelby Cobra wearing a bathing suit and stilettos in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue lives with her parents. It's a slower side to Danica's life that would never emerge on the racy GoDaddy.com commercials - but this side is as much at her core as her need for speed.

"How lucky am I that I'm that close with my parents and my family? If I had to choose seeing them all the time or not seeing them at all, I'd definitely choose seeing them all the time," Danica says.

Hospenthal shares this desire for privacy, starting with their small wedding in Scottsdale in 2005. While he'll make a red-carpet appearance at the ESPYs, he's otherwise content to stay in the background as a supportive counselor, having seen firsthand the various forces that pull at star athletes.

Bev describes the couple as "big-time" homebodies. "They would rather stay home, cook out, lie on the couch," she says. "Finding that balance makes it work really well. If you have that go-go-go every day of the week, you go crazy."

As for Danica's role in the marriage, the same woman who has stomped her feet after running out of fuel thoroughly enjoys stereotypical wifely duties. "I like to take care of my husband," she says. "I like to make him breakfast in the morning when he's getting ready to go and I like to iron his shirts - and only because I want to take care of him, not because I'm old-fashioned or anything. [There's a] slight Martha Stewart side of me, and I like to cook. That's probably a side of me that's not known that well.

"That's normal me. I guess the less normal me would be the racecar driver and the swimsuit person and fashion kind of girl. Maybe I should talk about [my normal side] more. I guess everybody likes to see that, right?"

Right - but the public's desire to get a glimpse at her slower "normal" side may be exactly why Danica doesn't like to show it in public, where she instead opts for the go-go-go life of intense racecar driver or sexy cover girl.

Not that Danica is easing up on the throttle of the fast side of her life. There are more races to hopefully win - starting with this month's Indy 500 - and there's always the question of whether she'll ever venture into the country's most popular racing series, NASCAR. (Danica says she'd be foolish not to explore all options.) Finally, there are more magazine covers and TV appearances to earn.

"I would love to accomplish some more girl covers," Danica says. "I've been on the cover of a lot of sports stuff, but to reach out past the normal sports fan and do things in fitness magazines and Vogue and Glamour and Cosmopolitan would definitely be a good step for my popularity and my brand, because those represent me well. Of course, I want to be on the Wheaties box."

Winning the Indy 500 may finally allow all three facets of this one-named megastar to come together. Picture it: After returning home from the race, the Patricks sit down to breakfast, pass around her Wheaties box and discuss what Danica should wear for her upcoming Cosmo photo shoot: her driving suit, a low-cut tank top and short shorts, or casual jeans and a T-shirt.

In the end, they all know it doesn't matter. Whatever she wears, it's going to fit perfectly.

DANICA ON…

… HER ACTING ASPIRATIONS: "It would be cool to do walk-on parts on diffrente shows. I think I'd be a great accident victim on 'House, wiht some internal bleeding or something that they can't figure out."

… MODELING BATHING SUITS AND BEING A ROLE MODEL: "I'm very true to myself and the fact that I do like to look kind of sexy, but I wouldn't want to do things where a mother would take it from their daughter and say, 'I don't want you to look at this.'"

… HER SKILLS IN THE KITCHEN: "I make a grat oatmeal. I take my time, making sure it's slow-cooked, fluffy and lovely. I love to make breakfast foods and salads. I know salad's jaust a salad, but the ingredients that you put in. THere's a thought process to it."

… HER HUSBAND STAYING OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT: "He doesn't want to be famous. No good can come from two people being exposed. [And] more people seem to know him than me."

…GETTING RESPECT AS A RACER: "I think everyone has to earn their place, guy or girl. If they believe i can do; if they don't [by now], they never will. I have respect from the people I need it from - my teammates and the guys who run up front."

…THE IMPORTANCE OF THE INDY 500: "I can list the last 10 winners at Indy but not the champ - it's that important. It's created so many legends. You put a whole month's effort into it. A lot of stuff we work on in the off-season we bring out for the 500."

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