My First Ride: Danica Patrick

Have you ever wondered what car your favorite celeb learned to drive on? Was it a hand-me-down junker, or was she lucky enough to get a set of shiny new wheels on her 16th birthday? Lucky for you, we can answer just that question with our new feature, My First Ride. We’ll be asking many of your favorite movie stars, athletes and others three basic questions: What was the first car you drove, what was the first new car you owned and what are you driving now.

To kick this thing off, we checked in with T.J. Patrick, father of Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick. 

As you might expect, Danica didn’t learn to drive on just any car — her first set of wheels was a black ’98 Ford Mustang Cobra hardtop, also making it her first new car. According to T.J., 15-year-old Danica was looking for something with power that would let her practice shifting and braking. She certainly put the car to the test, her dad says, and picked up a couple of speeding tickets to prove it. Her Mustang frequently needed new brakes and rotors, T.J. said, and required new tires every 5,000 miles; she eventually upgraded to competition brakes and rotors.