Posted: May 06, 2010 6:47 PM EDT 
Updated: May 06, 2010 6:49 PM EDT 

Rich Nye/Eyewitness Sports

Indianapolis - We'll have to wait nine more days for the track to open for Indianapolis 500 practice, but a few special laps were turned at the Speedway Thursday morning.

Kathleen Duffy is a lifelong Indy 500 fan who took the ride of her lifetime Thursday. For many years, she lived just a mile-and-a-half from the Speedway.

Kathleen is pictured in this month's issue of Reader's Digest in an article on Never Too Late, a local organization that grants wishes to seniors. Her wish was to take a ride on the track - in honor of her 80th birthday.

Kathleen grinned as she listens to the sound of a car going around the track.

"I used to hear that from my home!" she said.

As she got suited up and ready for her ride, one of the track employees joked with her, saying, "You look just like Danica Patrick!"

"Oh, sure," Kathleen replied doubtfully. "You're insulting her!"

Kathleen was all smiles as she got her 80th birthday wish to go fast at Indianapolis. Veteran driver Davey Hamilton took her for a ride in the IndyCar two-seater at over 170 miles an hour.

"If I get a little woozy, I hit on his shoulder," she said before getting into the car.

But these were not her first laps around the track. Kathleen used to be a race walker. Ten years ago, she celebrated her 70th birthday with a lap around the Speedway in the Mini Marathon.

"Just going around where I've walked, that's what's exciting and to have lived eighty years, that's exciting!" she said. Kathleen's exuberance was infectious.

"Praise the Lord! It was just marvelous! I did it!" she shouted afterwards.

Kathleen is a retired nurse who has not slowed down. She still volunteers at a health clinic in Mooresville.

"I was amazed. And those helmets, oh! You can get rid of those helmets," she told Hamilton.

Kathleen turns 80 Friday.

"What am I gonna do for my 85th? I dunno. I thought maybe a tattoo. Oh, that was fun!"