Danica Patrick And The Power of NASCAR
Guest Column By Cathy Elliott
Today, I went online and ordered a No. 7 Danica Patrick T-shirt.
Let’s just make one thing perfectly clear from the outset — I am not a person who is inclined to wear hot girls on my T-shirts. I have a shelf full of Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers T-shirts, and if they make one with Gerard Butler on it, count me in, but that’s it. In a perfect world, I’d be wearing a hot girl IN my T-shirts, but that’s another dream for another day.
Because today we’re talking about someone else’s dream, an early Christmas wish come true for NASCAR. On December 8, all the speculation that’s been going on for months, even years, finally reached its conclusion when Danica Patrick, the face of the IndyCar Series, formally announced a two-year NASCAR Nationwide Series deal with JR Motorsports.
The team is co-owned by Kelley Earnhardt, Tony Eury, Jr., Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., the face of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
When the faces of two major motorsports series come together, it makes for a pretty picture indeed, and an even better photo op.
Sitting around talking with my friends lately, who are mostly guys, I am often asked my opinion of Danica’s upcoming foray into the world of stock car racing. I think they’re expecting me to say two things, the first being “Meow,” and the second the prediction of a miserable failure.
Danica Patrick, driver of the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevy in the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards, walks to her car during a test Friday at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo Credit: Motorsports Images & Archives)
There seems to be no logical rule on this. We’re not crazy about Demi Moore, for example, but we love Sandra Bullock. Jennifer Aniston is a favorite; Angelina Jolie, not so much. Sharon Stone sets us to grinding our teeth, but Drew Barrymore makes us smile.
Here’s what we know about Danica Patrick.
Her racing career began in go-karts at an early age. She gradually moved up through the ranks until her big break came — she signed with Rahal Letterman in 2002, perhaps the only thing David Letterman hasn’t felt the need to apologize for in recent memory.
She is a former Rookie of the Year winner.
She moved to a new team, Andretti Autosport, in 2007, earned her first victory in 2008 and finished third in the 2009 Indianapolis 500.
She plans to ease her way into NASCAR, competing in the ARCA Series race at Daytona and the NASCAR Nationwide Series races in Fontana and Las Vegas to open the season.
“I think my determination and commitment are really going to be what makes this thing go well,” she said in a recent press conference. “I’m a competitive driver, and I always want to do well, and this will be absolutely no different.”
She hates to lose and sometimes behaves badly when that happens.
She also likes stiletto heels.
As I write this, it occurs to me that Patrick is starting to sound a little bit like Kyle Busch. Without the stilettos, of course, as far as we know.
When a big name such as Patrick’s is on the entry list of a support race, it brings a smile to a track promoter’s face. I daresay the ARCA race at Daytona International Speedway in February 2010 may post the largest attendance, and the widest grins, in that series’ history.
She is a role model for aspiring young racers.
And despite her immense popularity over in the IndyCar Series, the magazine covers, music videos, TV commercials and the rest, she has proven to have some humility. To begin at the bottom when you’ve gotten so comfortable at the top surely must be a bitter pill to swallow, but she’s taking her medicine like a big girl, and smiling as she does it.
So yes, I do like Danica Patrick, very much. She is a successful athlete and will be good for the sport of NASCAR. I am looking forward to wearing my new T-shirt while watching what she can do behind the wheel of a stock car, and her story will be an interesting one to follow.
Because it isn’t the story of some wannabe competitor, or of “girl power.” It is the story of a race car driver and the power of NASCAR.
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Marc said:
“………..when you’ve gotten so comfortable at the top……..”
Top of what? 5th place in a spec car series, with ONE win to her name? If her success matched the marketing hype and TV commercials she’d be a female Michael-friggin’-Schumacher. She is more famous for her cheese cake photo shoots than her racing accomplishments.
If she was a guy she would be heralded as an up and coming young driver who had better deliver on his potential or else will shortly be looking for a new career.
Having said all that, I hope she can wake up the fans of NAPCAR, as the ones not snoring in the stands seem to be changing the channels on their TV’s in ever increasing numbers. The best part is if she is successful, the hype can’t possibly get more overblown than it is currently.
Come back at me Marc, take your best shot.
Oh yeah, ARCA test times:
Milka Duno, 13th
Danistar, 19th.
And DP ran a whole lot more laps than Duno.
Best shot, ok.
You’re not quoting me but Cathy Elliott. Missed that whole “guest column” thing didn’t you?
That said, she’s was “5th place in a spec car series” that is totally dominated by Penske and Ganassi and has done better than her more experienced teammates in presumably equal cars.
NASCAR fans dressed as empty seats? Sure is but I have yet seen reliable stats that breakdown how much of the loss is because of disgruntled fans ans how much is because of the economy.
TV ratings are down, true enough. I have no doubt some loss in viewership is due to so called “disgruntled fans.”
The question is how much because other things on TV are seeing drops, for example, American Idol’s ratings went down this year.
The NBA Finals TV ratings have been tanking for over a decade.
The World Series hit a record low in 2008, and hit a high this year only because the Yankees were in the Series. Overall for the last two decades the Series TV ratings have steadily declined.
I think part of the decline is the fragmentation of media. There are so many outlets online that people receive content thru it has to be taken into account.
Harris had a poll out a couple years ago that indicated TV viewing of sport evenst via a computer went up by 4 points over 2004 and overall TV viewing went down by 12 percent over the same year.
I’ve seen some anecdotal evidence of that myself by monitoring a bootleg broadcast of NASCAR events. A significant number of people watching do so to avoid the commercials.
As a side note, there are a large number of fans watching via this channel from countries in the EU and South America. During the last third part of the Cup season there were 3 or 4 people logged on from Russia and seemed to be very knowledgeable of the sport.
All that said, sure there has been loss of TV viewership, my only contention is how much. It’s easy to say, for example, Cup races lost 5 percent over last year or 10 over a decade ago but there’s no easy way to determine how many of those viewers went to other sources or just cut back on TV viewing over all.
A final note, ARCA testing just finished [5pm], Danica had a top speed of 181.554, good for twentieth quickest. Top speed was by Venturini driver Mikey Kile at 183.061.
She ran 69 total laps and at one point 40 consecutive during drafting practice. I monitored her radio for about two hours and seemed to be taking her coaching very well and improved throughout the session.
But George, you’re not telling the whole story. The difference between Milka’s 13th spot and Danica’s 19th was a “whopping” .097 of a second.
Marc…George…..why dont you both settle this like middle aged men? With handbags at twenty paces!
DP is a mid-fielder at best in the IRL & I think the same will happen in the Nationwide series. If she were in the Sprint series she would struggle to break into the top half of the pack.
I dont think poorly of her as a driver, it is just the attitude & tantrums of an average performer that I find annoying.
The cause of my disfavor is common to your statement Peter, only slightly modified: She is a midfielder but has shown the tantrums of a superstar. Tho in all fairness her tantrums have mellowed some what this past year.
Marc, I DID miss the guest columnist line right at the top of the article, my apology for the misattribution. I should have guessed it wasn’t you when the writer expressed disfavor for Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie and Sharon Stone! Your response however shows your sympathies for the writers position, yes or no?
Regarding TV viewership and race attendance, I appreciate your verification that both are down regardless of the cause. You know Mother Daytona is concerned when the brass show up for the test. Hey, marketing is marketing, I’ll surely watch more races she participates in just to see how she does. In and of itself not a bad thing.
Regarding her times, those spreads are common to any speedway results, it just gave me satisfaction to see our girl Milkalicous ahead of Danistar. It was in keeping with my earlier comment on another posting you wrote. And I really get annoyed when the hype truly exceeds anyone’s actual results, regardless of what their field of endeavor may be.
No one would be happier than I if she finally broke into the winners circle a few times more; or finally generated a few podium finishes. It would shut me up and a bunch of other cretins as well.
Oh Peter, I forgot: My handbags are too expensive to risk in hand to head combat. And considering my dad will be 97 in January and still going strong I am pleased to reclassify my own advancing years as middle aged.
Peter, get with the times. I carry a ManBag now, not a purse. Purses are so…. 90’s. And if you ever got in my vicinity it would knock you arse over tits.
As for George, high priced or not he looks to be still carrying a purse which as you know pretty much makes him a Sheila.
George… Danica’s little temper tantrums are just what NASCAR needs. Of course if it happens she’ll be hated just that much more but obviously she could care less. Many fans want “old school” back in NASCAR but when Kyle Busch or Brad Keslesowski gives it to them they whine about it.
Sunday’s afternoon session is wrapping up and she’s got the fifth fastest time at 182.028 and ran 92 laps plus another 14 laps in a backup car.
If I were a mouse in her pocket [be still heart] I’d love to see how sore she is after running 400 to 450 miles in the last 2 days. I have little doubt she’s gotten a workout and will be feeling it.
Milka, what can I say about Milka… surprised covers it. But her record should have given me a better clue. She has what, somewhere between 3 and 5 [forgot exactly] wins in Le Mans type tin tops and was given some of the worse crapwagons the IRL has ever seen.
So maybe having a roof over her head inparts a bit more confidence in her.
We’ll see, although I note she turned zero laps in today’s afternoon session. Pretty strange for someone trying a completely new discipline.
Any driver with a demonstrated record of winning races like Shrub or Tony Stewart has earned the right to throw tantrums, or fists in the paddock: Danica hasn’t. It’s my one and only beef with the girl.
Milka could be the surprise of the ARCA season, given a decent car and enough races. We shall see.
Milka has accomplished a lot in her career that she should be proud of. Let’s see how much slack danica will get when she causes a wreak, or disrespects a fellow competitor which she will before the season is done. danica isn’t the first woman and won’t be the last to race in nascar. Danica being in nascar really isn’t that big of a deal because the competition is too good for her to keep up with and she will be a good mid pack racer at best.