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According to a USA Today article published online last week, Danica Patrick’s “need for speed” may be due in part to genes she inherited from her parents, who also participate heavily in “thrill” sports, especially snowmobile racing.

Danica Patrick became the first woman to win an IRL event in April and raced last weekend at the Indy 500, where a collision prevented her from finishing the race with only 29 laps remaining.

After studying people who participate in high-risk sports and thrill-oriented behavior, neuroscientists and sports psychologists have established a link between the level of dopamine produced by the brains of these thrill-seekers and their behavior.

Specifically, these people often come from families made up of individuals who produce higher-than-average dopamine. Dopamine is a brain chemical that acts as a messenger involved in reward, motivation and mood.

Scientists and sports psychologists also note that repetitious practice of a behavior—a thrilling one or not—can lead the brain to establish it as “normal,” and can lead the person repeating the behavior to essentially go into “autopilot.” Coupled with high dopamine levels, this feeling of a risky behavior being routine and “normal” can lead to an increased sense of fearlessness in the people who continuously perform these activities.

Along with incredible skill, these factors combine to make Danica Patrick a speeding success on the racetrack. Even Danica thinks, though, that it all comes down to her genes.

“I think racing is in my blood, my DNA,” she said.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Home Paternity Tests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.