“I am what I am not because of that time in my life,” she wrote. “I guess I should be grateful, but on so many levels I resent those years for the pain and angst of being so far away from home, separated from my family and friends. I was very much alive on the outside, but on the inside I felt like I was dying a slow, painful, lonely death.”

Looking back, Danica Patrick believes she was just being a typical kid. She made some good choices (staying away from drugs, for instance). She made some bad choices. She slowly matured into a responsible adult.

“I’m not going to lie. I had a lot of fun,” she said. “But I didn’t have more fun than other people my age. I was 16, 17 years old. I was a normal teenager, except I was trying to become a race car driver.”

If Patrick holds any bitterness about being treated differently than the guys, it doesn’t show. She figures everything evened out in the end.

“I’ve always understood the way it is,” she said. “There’s so many opportunities I get as a female. Then again, I’m held to a different standard. There’s a flip side to everything. It’s just the price I have to pay.”

While Patrick may be short on the details, she certainly seems content with her personal life these days. Last November, she married Paul Hospenthal, who is 17 years older and first hooked up with his wife-to-be when she sought treatment for a hip injury.

Their relationship took awhile to develop. Hospenthal was reluctant to date someone who was so much younger. He considered her a friend, nothing more. Eventually, he came around to their budding love, recognizing that life in the fast lane had caused her to grow up faster than most people.

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“She’s a very old 24. She’s not kid, that’s for sure,” Hospenthal said. “If anyone had a problem with the age thing, it was me. I never considered dating her. That never crossed my mind. Our whole dating thing is a rather gray area for me. I really don’t remember how it got started.”

Away from the track, the couple lives a quiet, intimate life in Scottsdale, Ariz. Patrick describes herself as a typical girl who likes to shop, dress up and get her nails done. During those treasured moments of down time, she’s perfectly content to lounge around the house, grill out and watch television with her husband.

Hospenthal is amused by reports that his wife turned into some kind of party animal after she got to England.

“Believe me, she was never as wild as people say,” he said. “It was nothing more than the typical things, the kind of stuff that every kid does. She has real high moral standards.”

But Patrick has clearly come a long way. She’s not that confused little girl in England. She’s not even that brash rookie who dazzled everyone at last year’s Indy 500. Since her marriage, she seems less impetuous, more patient, clearly at ease with her place in life.

“Paul is a super guy,” Rahal said. “She could have done far, far worse.”

And the future? Even though Patrick has yet to win a race in the IRL, there’s already speculation that NASCAR will come calling in a year or two with a lucrative deal. And, though the odds are definitely against it, she hasn’t ruled out the idea of going for a spot in Formula One.

If Patrick ever heads back to Europe, she won’t go alone. Her new husband will be along for the ride. So will her family and friends.

“Now, I realize there’s more to life than just racing,” she said. “You’ve got to have a family life. You’ve got to have fun when you’re doing it. I didn’t have much fun when I was over there before.”