17-year-old Ashley Freiberg wins karting race, then teaches sports stars to drive fast

Our nom for Pretty Tough Girl of the week:

LAKEVILLE, October 6, 2009: Ashley Freiberg has been jet-setting with the best of them lately. The 17-year-old racer from Homer Glen, Ill., isn’t about slow down either.

Freiberg participated in four racing events a week ago in Atlanta and West Palm Beach including winning a charity karting race, setting the fast race lap in the BFGoodrich Skip Barber National open-wheel competition and teaching other women sports stars, (Olympic Medalists and XGame’s World Champions) how to drive fast in the AMG Mercedes Driving Experience.

Now, the Lockport High School senior prepares for her final Barber National race of the year this weekend (Oct. 9-10) at Lime Rock Park, Connecticut, currently ranked sixth in the national point standings in her rookie season.

“That was a pretty wild week with all of the racing and driving events,” said Freiberg, who spent much of last week working on her studies. “It was a blast winning the charity karting feature with Shannon McIntosh in the John Gorsline-sponsored charity race event. Then I ran well at Road Atlanta in the Skip Barber National events. And finally, it was a great experience to drive with these amazing sports stars in the AMG Mercedes experience. It was just a great week for a young woman like me to be involved.”

Freiberg, a former karting champion, defeated a very competitive field in Tuesday night’s Petit three-hour endurance charity race before concentrating on the Barber action.

In the two-race weekend at Road Atlanta, Ashley qualified fourth and was running competitive with the leaders in the opening race before being knocked out of contention by another driver. In the second contest, Freiberg charged from 11th to fourth including establishing the race’s fastest lap. The fourth place finish moved Freiberg to sixth in the current national standings entering this weekend’s season finale at Lime Rock.

“I felt pretty good about the second race at Road Atlanta,” explains Freiberg. “I wasn’t happy about getting taken out of the first race. At the green flag I knew I had to make up some time starting 11th. I patiently chose when and where to make my passes and not put my car in a position to risk not finishing the race. I was getting accustomed to the track. It was a great feeling to move up and race with the leaders again. It was similar to the Road America race where I finished on the podium. It was also great to set the fastest race lap, too.”

Freiberg wrapped up her busy week by participating in the prestigious two-day AMG Mercedes Driving Experience at the new Palm Beach International Raceway. She drove a variety of AMG Mercedes sedans with world class female athletes from different forms of competition such as XGame’s Champions in surfing and skiing, and Olympic Medalists from skiing and snowboarding.

“I flew to West Palm Beach where I met many female athletes at the reception dinner before the AMG Driving Academy weekend started,” said Ashley. “They were all great people. It was cool for me to relate to them with how they had to sacrifice everything to follow their dreams. I mentioned to them that tonight was my homecoming dance at school, they all laughed. They said they never made any of their dances at school or most anything else either. It was an awesome motivation for me to hear them tell me to never give up. It was weird, yet amazing, to be teaching some of these girls how to drive fast.

“They caught on so quickly to what I would tell them, and they were really fast! Shannon Bahrke, Olympic Silver Medalists of 2002 and World Champion in 2003 and I connected well. We were always in the car together. She would always say to me ‘you’re a little bad ass on the track.’ Shannon will be returning to the Winter Olympics in 2010. As for the AMG Mercedes, WOW, what can I say, they are incredible!

“And then it was time to go home. I arrived in Chicago at 1:00 a.m. from West Palm Beach, and I had to get up for school at 4:45 a.m. I was out of school at 1:00 p.m., worked on homework until 5:00 p.m. and then had to attend traffic school for a SPEEDING TICKET!”

(via press release)

Back-to-back top five finishes for Danica Patrick

The 2009 annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach roared into town last weekend, with household names like Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti blazing through the streets in finely-tuned ethanol burning dragsters. The turns were tight and the straightaways fast, which resulted in a few pile-ups and a fiery crash or two.

In her autobiography, Danica  said a race in Long Beach seven years ago was the turning point in a career that ultimately made her one of the nation’s most popular race-car drivers. Her win in that pro/celeb race eventually led her to the IndyCar Series in 2005, where overnight she became a fan favorite after nearly winning the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie.

Danica and the rest of IndyCar’s drivers haven’t been able to race in the Long Beach grand prix in recent years because of a split in the U.S. open-wheel racing series. Last year, Danica, 27, visited the event as a spectator, hours after her IndyCar victory at Motegi, Japan, where she became the first woman in history to win a major U.S.-sanctioned open-wheel race.

The sport is reunited now and IndyCar drivers were welcomed back to Long Beach for the 35th annual grand prix, which for thousands of fans is as much a spring party as an auto race.

Due to a frustrating qualifying session on Saturday, which included spinning out and hitting a wall, the 5-foot, 2-inch 100 pound Danica ended the first day in Long Beach in a disappointing 22nd place.

On Sunday, however, huge crowds watched as a clean opening stint kept Danica free of the crashes and carnage unfolding in front of her, and with a combination of well-timed pit stops and a focused, determined effort, she moved to the lead pack towards the end of the race.

A string of fast laps kept pressure on the drivers in front of Danica’s Motorola-sponsored Dallara Honda, allowing her to move up 18 spots and secure a stunning 4th place at the checkered flag, just one second behind AGR teammate Tony Kanaan. Dario Franchitti’s Target car took the big prize.

Danica rode the wave of momentum from Long Beach into a fine 5th place finish at the Kansas Speedway yesterday. She jumps five spots to 5th in the overall standings.

Wherever Danica races, the driving sensation’s popularity is displayed by fans wearing her colors and lining up to take a photo next to her image on the side of a trailer.

Next up for Danica – the Indy 500 (oh, and the June cover of Shape Magazine!)