At the age of ten, Danica exploded onto the karting scene, placing second in points against 20 other drivers. In her second year she began to climb, racing in the WKA Midwest Sprint Series in Yamaha Sportsman and US 820 Sportsman, placing second and breaking two track records in a single day.

By Danica’s third year, she had seized her first national points championship in WKA Manufacturer’s Cup in the Yamaha Sportsman class. By the age of thirteen, she had won the WKA Great Lakes Sprint Series title in the Yamaha Restricted Junior and US 820 Junior classes.

Danica solidified her reputation the following year in the Yamaha Jr. and Yamaha Restricted Jr. classes winning a knock-out 39 of 49 feature races. In her last year of karting she won the Grand National championship in the Yamaha Lite and HPV Lite classes.

By the age of sixteen Danica was racing in the Formula Vauxhall Winter Series in England, placing in the top ten of the 14 races.