U.S. News & World Report

Danica Patrick thrives as a woman in a man’s world.

The 32-year-old – the first female driver to lead at the Indy 500 – is one of the most successful and well-known women in the history of racing.

She didn't get there by stooping to gender stereotypes.

“If it’s something you’re really interested in, then you’re going to have the confidence and commitment and drive to make yourself successful,” she tells U.S. News. “If it’s something you really love, nothing should stand in your way.”

These days, the NASCAR driver pays that attitude forward by empowering a younger generation of women to forge their own paths in the male-dominated arenas of science, technology, engineering and math.

Since the end of October, the rear green panel of her No. 10 Chevy race car has sported the hashtag #STEM, a feature chosen by tech company sponsor GoDaddy.

The rest of the car is hot pink, catering to the demographic she's trying inspire: young women, a group that's going to be crucial to the gender diversity of companies like GoDaddy, which rely heavily on coders and programmers.

Overall, STEM employment in the United States has skyrocketed in the last 13 years, from 12.8 million jobs (as defined by the U.S. government) in 2000 to 16.8 million in 2013, according to the U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index. But the demand is especially high in certain fields. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that by 2020, there will be 1.4 million computer specialist job openings. Despite the anticipated career boom, only 18 percent of computer science graduates in the U.S. are women, down from 37 percent in 1985, according to the National Science Foundation.

For Patrick, advocacy is the answer.

“Being a woman talking about STEM is a start,” Patrick says. “Women think about things differently than men. You’re lacking an important perspective when there aren't women involved.”

Although women make up about half of the U.S. workforce, they represent less than 25 percent of people employed in STEM fields, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

For GoDaddy, an Arizona-based Internet domain registrar and web hosting company, this underrepresentation of women in technology fields hits close to home.

Women represent 18 percent of GoDaddy’s tech employees and 24 percent of its overall workforce of 4,400 people. This is comparable to Facebook's global workforce, which is 31 percent female overall with 15 percent of tech jobs held by women, according to a diversity report the social network released in June.





For GoDaddy, the disparity creates a disconnect with consumers.

"Women use different online products," says Elizabeth Driscoll, GoDaddy’s vice president for corporate communications. "We want women creating this technology for other women."

About 58 percent of GoDaddy's customers are female – and many of them are owners of businesses with fewer than five employees,

“Women are strong, smart successful business owners,” Driscoll says. “That’s who our customers are. We want to better reflect who we’re serving.”





That’s where Patrick's wide-ranging appeal comes in. Also a model, she has appeared in more Super Bowl commercials than any other celebrity in history: 13 in total.



“She transcends sport,” Driscoll adds. “Even if you’re not a NASCAR fan, you've heard of her.”

NASCAR driver Danica Patrick stands alongside her race car, which promotes STEM. Harold Hinson Photography

It doesn't hurt that the sport of racing relies on mastering the principles inherent in STEM.





“That’s all our sport is,” Patrick says. “If an engineer doesn't know what they’re doing, it makes your life a living hell. The car won’t handle well. It’s not comfortable. It’s not consistent. It makes a huge difference.”

Take, for example, the relationship between downforce and drag.

Downforce is the force of air onto the car, an element that helps the wheels hug the ground when a driver rounds a corner.

Drag is the amount of wind and air resistance a car might experience as it goes around the track.

“You’re trying to improve the amount of downforce and reduce the amount of drag,” says Daniel Knost, Patrick’s crew chief. “We do a lot of computer simulation so we can predict what the car is going to do and how we’re going to set it up.”

Knost, 35, who holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, says his job includes everything from thermodynamics – extracting maximum power from the gas an engine burns – to utilizing wind tunnels to build a more aerodynamic vehicle.