There are some things everybody knows about Danica Patrick. Every one of her fans knows that she is a former professional racing driver as well as the most successful female driver in the history of American open-wheel racing. At the age of 10, she began kart racing and she developed such a strong passion for driving that it soon became not only her hobby but her profession as well.

Before retiring, she spent her final years of professional racing in NASCAR (2015 to 2018). She concluded her NASCAR career without any wins but she has plenty of other victories and awards in her collection to brag about. And while these are some of the well-known facts every true fan already knows about Danica Patrick, are there also some interesting things about her people aren’t aware of? Of course there are.

Most people have at least heard of Danica at some point, but how much do you really know about the queen of professional racing? You can test your knowledge right here because we have dug a bit deeper and found out a lot of interesting things about Danica Patrick that fans should know. Let’s take a look at 20 little-known facts.

20 She Can’t Stand Popsicles

Every person has some weird quirks when it comes to food, and we all like something everybody else can’t stand or vice versa. But there are some foods that most people simply love such as pizza, sandwiches, and popsicles. However, when it comes to Danica Patrick, popsicles are her number one enemy in the food world. Not only does she not like them; she absolutely can’t stand them. Maybe she ate too many of them as a child or she simply doesn’t have the sweet tooth. Who knows? There isn’t always a rational explanation when it comes to people’s tastes, especially for food.

19 She Prepares Top-Notch Mashed Potatoes

We all know that in order to stay fit, one must follow a certain eating regime that is usually full of proteins and vegetables while being pretty light on carbs and fat. However, everybody has their own little guilty pleasure when it comes to food and even though Danica Patrick is in an awesome physical shape, she loves some nice home-made mashed potatoes. However, her mashed potatoes recipe has a secret ingredient that makes it really special: Danica loves to add truffle oil into the mix for some of that extra flavor punch and, apparently, everybody loves her mashed potatoes.

18 She Is Very Tiny

When you see Danica Patrick surrounded by the other professional racing drives, she usually looks very tiny in comparison to them. One might think that the reason behind it is the fact that most of the other drivers are men so it's quite normal that she looks smaller. However, that is not the only reason.

Danica Patrick indeed is very petite. She is only 5'2" and she reportedly weighs only 100 pounds.

The other competitors have noticed her stature, as well, and some of them have complained that her size is an unfair advantage since the car has to carry less weight which could slow it down.

17 She Knows Her Wine

Everyone knows that motor racing usually gets a whole lot of beer sponsors, and this has created the perception that an average racing fan is an avid beer drinker. Well, let's just say that this might be true for a majority of racing fans, but definitely not for Danica Patrick.

Her drink of choice is wine and she definitely knows her way around the beverage.

She even has her own wine cellar in her house in Phoenix and she collects the best wines she manages to get her hands on. She even has her own wine label, as well! We are pretty sure she is the one picking the wine when she goes out for a dinner with her friends.

16 She Dropped Out Of High School

When Danica Patrick was 16 years old, she decided to drop out of high school to pursue her dream of becoming a professional racing driver—and her parents supported the decision. She moved to England where Jackie Stewart, three-time Formula One world champion, helped her meet some new people and fit in with the new community. She spent 3 years there during which she raced for Formula Vauxhall and Formula Ford. Her career only went uphill from there, so it turned out that dropping out of school and focusing entirely on racing was probably the right decision for her to make.

15 She Was Featured On The Cover Of Sports Illustrated

Danica Patrick was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated twice and while many female athletes agree to pose in a bikini for this popular magazine, Patrick decided to keep things as professional as possible.

She was featured wearing her racing gear both times for the photoshoots.

Of course, she has done some shoots in a bikini, as well, but never for the magazine’s cover. After all, Sports Illustrated has always been the good place for women athletes to show off their top-notch form and there is no denying that Danica Patrick is in an awesome shape. However, it was nice to see her being gorgeous and keeping things professional.

14 She Appeared in a Jay-Z Music Video

Danica Patrick has seen her share of music video sets. You might not have noticed this before, but she has actually appeared in three music videos so far. Her first ever music video was Jay-Z's "Show Me What You Got" where she was filmed driving a Pagani Zonda around town. Her next music video appearance was in Miranda Lambert’s video for "Fastest Girl in Town" and, once again, she portrayed a driver. The last music video she appeared in was Colt Ford’s video for "Drivin’ Around Song". In this case, she wasn’t the only professional race driver who appeared in the video. She shared the set with a fellow driver, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

13 She Was A Cheerleader In High School

Before she dropped out of high school to become a professional racing driver, few fans know that Danica Patrick was a cheerleader. She attended Hononegah Community High School in Rockton, Illinois, and while her cheerleading skills have nothing to do with her driving skills, at least we know that Danica loved to be active since basically forever. Also, given her petite figure, one can bet that she was a valuable asset to the cheerleading team because having a tiny and flexible flyer is an important part of every cheerleading routine. However, the time came when Danica decided to become an athlete herself instead of cheering on other people's success.

12 She Has Always Been A Record-Breaker

Some athletes work their entire life towards the goal of breaking records. Some, on the other hand, were born natural record-breakers and Danica Patrick definitely fits into the latter category.

She enjoyed breaking records from the very beginning, even as a young child.

Of course, a child could never compete in an actual race but Danica found a way to show off her natural talent by frequently visiting go-karts and enjoying herself to the fullest. It was obvious that she was a great driver right from the beginning. Her parents then decided to gift her a own go-kart of her own and shortly after, she broke the go-karting track record at the Sugar River Raceway.

11 She Is A Big Football Fan

Football is Danica Patrick’s favorite sport. She has always been a big football fan and she loves to visit the games. She certainly wouldn’t miss the Super Bowl for anything in the world. However, hearing which team is her favorite might come as a surprise. Patrick was born in Wisconsin and we already know that the majority of celebrities originating from there are big Green Bay Packers fans. Patrick, on the other hand, is all about the Chicago Bears. She supports them during the games and she basically bleeds orange. She is both a race car driver and a football fan, though perhaps her Bears fandom might be awkward with Aaron Rodgers.

10 She Has Her Own Documentary

If you are interested in finding more about Danica Patrick and her career, you should watch a documentary about her. Patrick previously rejected several invites to star in a documentary about herself, but she finally agreed to do one with Hannah Storm of ESPN. In the documentary Danica, Patrick opens up about her career, her future in racing, her health and wellness book (which is debuting in 2019), as well as covering her life as an entrepreneur. She also talks about her personal life, including her relationship with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., so if you are a fan, don’t pass on this one.

9 She Has Appeared In 14 Super Bowl Commercials

Danica Patrick loves football and everything about it. She visits the games regularly and the Super Bowl is one of her favorite things in the whole world.

Over the years, she has appeared in 14 Super Bowl commercials, most of them done with GoDaddy, which was her main racing sponsor.

In those commercials, we have seen her doing all kinds of things (not only driving cool cars like she did in music videos). In fact, from stepping into the shower to running down the street in a funny muscle suit, Danica Patrick has done it all. Apart from the GoDaddy Super Bowl commercials, she also appeared in Secret deodorant and Honda Civic Coupe commercials.

8 Her Favorite Movie is Anchorman

If you have been wondering what kind of films and music Danica Patrick loves, you’d be happy to hear that we found out her favorite movie was…wait for it…Anchorman!

If you haven’t seen Anchorman yet, you probably should.

It is one of Will Ferrell’s most popular comedies and it tells a story of Ron Burgundy, San Diego’s best newsman in the 1970s who is challenged in many ways when a new female colleague joins his male-dominated team as an anchor. Apparently, Danica Patrick really loves this film and she has seen it who knows how many times over the years.

7 She Wanted To Be A Singer

Back in the day, there was a short period of time when Danica Patrick wanted to become a pop singer. She even took voice lessons for several months but then she gave up once she discovered go-karts and realized that driving was much more interesting for her than singing.

There is a possibility Danica would have been a great singer but we are kind of happy that she decided to go with the racing career instead.

However, if you want to know what kind of music Danica prefers, we have an answer to that question as well. Apparently, her favorite singer is Alanis Morissette and she listens to her as much as possible, especially during her workouts.

6 She Was Criticized For Her Size

Body-shaming is something many people have to deal with in their lives; and Danica Patrick has definitely received her fair share of criticism. At 5’2” and 100 pounds, we can all agree that Patrick isn't the biggest person. However, when her competitors noticed how amazing a driver she was, they started criticizing her for her size. According to the Associated Press, driver Robby Gordon said: “The lighter the car, the faster it goes. Do the math. Put her in the car at her weight, then put me or Tony Stewart in the car at 200 pounds, and our car is at least 100 pounds heavier.” Gordon then claimed he would boycott racing against her.

5 She Loves Food and Cooking

Danica Patrick is a passionate cook and she enjoys preparing tasty meals for herself, as well as for her friends and family. And while some celebrities decide to hire a personal chef, Danica is taking cooking classes and creating her own new recipes whenever she gets a chance. She attended the classes in The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, California, and she also appeared on the cooking show Chopped on Food Network where she competed in cooking competitions against fellow athletes Natalie Coughlin and Tiki Barber. And guess what? She won! We would definitely love to taste some of those delicious meals she cooks.

4 Love For Cars Is In Her Genes

Danica Patrick is the first professional racer in her family, but she definitely gets the love for cars and driving from her parents who are quite the petrol-heads.

Her mother was a snowmobile mechanic and people used to call her by the nickname Captain Traction.

Danica’s father, on the other hand, was a motocross, midget car, and snowmobile racer back in the days. Danica used to spend a lot of time with him in the garage, assisting him and helping him to prepare his vehicles for the races. So it's clear that racing has always been big in the Patrick family. In fact, Danica’s parents even met at a racing event in Grand Forks, ND.

3 She Was Married

How much do you know about Danica Patrick’s personal life and relationships? Okay, you probably do know that she was in a relationship with Richard Stenhouse Jr. but did you know that she was married before that?

Back in 2004, Patrick married a physical therapist named Paul Hospenthal.

Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last and they got divorced in 2013. Danica then entered the relationship with Stenhouse. Patrick and Stenhouse called it quits after five years and she is currently dating Aaron Rodgers, the famous football player currently playing for the Green Bay Packers who had formerly made non-NFL headlines by dating the actress Olivia Munn.

2 She Is Known For Her Short Temper

We know that Danica Parker is extremely competitive but she is also known for being short-tempered and can sometimes err even a bit on the aggressive side. She engaged in confrontations with other drivers so frequently that ESPN eventually cataloged all of her more controversial moments. One of the worst clashes she has gotten herself into was with Landon Cassill back in 2012, after which she was quoted saying something about seeking revenge. She also got in a pretty big fight with Dale Earnhardt Jr., as well as with Denny Hamlin. When it comes to competitive race car drivers, a certain amount of fire is expected, but we definitely wouldn’t want to step on Danica's toes.

1 She Sued Her Sponsors

Back in 2016, Danica Parker’s NASCAR team, Stewart-Haas Racing, settled a $31 million lawsuit against Nature’s Bakery. Nature’s Bakery has been a prominent NASCAR sponsor for quite some time so the situation was pretty bad.

We had a prominent racer suing a prominent sponsor and that's not a good combination in the eyes of, well, anybody.

On one hand, Danica was claiming that Nature’s Bakery didn’t deliver the expected funds for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, while on the other hand, the snack food company accused Danica of breaching the contract by promoting competing products. Luckily, the whole thing was settled and Nature’s Bakery continued to sponsor Patrick and her team.

Sources: complex.com, greenbaypressgazette.com, and espn.com.