Tweet This: Danica Patrick Needs to Bring Success

As of Friday, September 2, 2011

It’s amazing how winning can make people shut up about the controversial things that you have said.

Or in this case tweeted.

Last week, Brad Keselowski, NASCAR’s hottest driver, took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Danica Patrick. Patrick had announced earlier in the week that she was bringing her talents to NASCAR full time, indicating that she will be running a full Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports and make some forays into Sprint Cup with Stewart-Haas Racing.

From Keselowski’s tweets: “All that said, her assent (sic) up the ladder of the sport thru various branding ‘techniques’ (swimsuit ads etc) only serves to undermine the … future credibility of female racers who wish to make it based on skill, mental toughness and a never give up attitude. That to me is wrong. Essentially, she has opened a pandoras (sic) box for all female racers. If she doesn’t succeed, no female will get the chance for years to come.”

While everybody else was jubilant over Danica’s announcement, which was all kinds of anti-climatic because it has been all but official for a month, I am inclined to agree with Keselowski.

It has been 10 years since Shawna Robinson was the last woman to compete in a Sprint Cup race. Before Robinson, a woman hadn’t competed in a NASCAR Cup race since 1989 when Patty Moise raced. There just aren’t all that many opportunities for female drivers in NASCAR’s top level.

Having been around the Rockingham Speedway for the last three years, I have seen a number of female drivers competing in the ARCA Series and the UARA Late Models. Some of them have been very, very good. Some were as bad as the young guys that have destroyed perfectly good race cars at the track.

Keselowski is right, their futures depend on how well Danica makes a go of NASCAR over the next few years. Despite her two part-time seasons, she still has a very steep learning curve running a Nationwide season that is much longer than the Indy Racing League (IRL) schedule.

Let’s not forget that we are still talking about someone who has only one win in the IRL. Danica is a marketing phenom, not a racing phenom. She can sell herself well. And fortunately for her career, sponsors are buying. Some of those coming behind her won’t have that luxury. They will have to do it on their driving merit without GoDaddy.com money backing them.

If Danica can’t be successful, sponsors are going to ask what chance these other women have at being successful. Most don’t have the time nor the money nor the inclination to get involved in long projects that don’t produce results.

I say all that to say all this: I hope my fears and Brad Keselowski’s fear become moot points. I hope Danica is successful as all get-out in NASCAR. I hope she opens the flood gates for women in NASCAR. Like I said, I’ve seen some good ones in ARCA and Late Models.

But they need doors that easily open. Not ones that are bolted shut.

I’d like to see a woman tweet some controversial things, then make us all forget about it with a win.

Contact Andy Cagle at andycagle@earthlink.net.

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Autumn6 1 year, 8 months ago

You're overstating a number of things. First of all, Danica Patrick has only 20 NASCAR Nationwide starts under her belt. If you expect for her to become competitive overnight, it doesn't work that way. Some of the best drivers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup weren't doing any better than she is now after only 20 races, so keep that in mind when you evaluate her and not to have unrealistic expectations. Remember, it took Jimmie Johnson 57 Nationwide starts before he got his first win NASCAR career win...and he grew up racing off-road and dirt tracks. Danica doesn't have a background in driving these types of race cars.

We have to be careful about expecting her to set the world on fire. We shouldn't expect more from her than anybody else.

Danica is going to race in Sprint Cup for a few select races in 2011 for the sole purpose of learning. That is it. She is NOT going to finish well at ALL. She will NOT be a factor under any circumstances (at least based off her level of experience), but she is going there to get used to the Cup style of racing.

The expectations people are putting on her are unrealistic at best, and at worst, unfair.

Her single IndyCar win is also often overstated (i.e., "she ONLY has ONE win", etc.") oftentimes by bloggers and general sports writers (that don't actually specialize in open-wheel) who don't really know much about racing. Truth be told, most drivers outside of Penske and Target Chip Ganassi are lucky to even have a win at all. Not only that, but her open-wheel career has nothing to do with how well she will do in NASCAR. Tony Stewart, while he did win an IndyCar championship, did so in a field that wasn't anywhere near as competitive as today. Seriously, guys that were getting destroyed in CART would go to IRL and contend for championships. Not only that, but they only raced on ovals and the schedule was only 10 races long. Tony Stewart actually DNF'd at nearly half the events that year and only won a single race that season, yet still took the championship. Danica did better than that her 2008 season and finished no higher than sixth...yet nobody doubted Soke because of his open-wheel exploits.

Considering how much she's improved since her first Nationwide start, she's doing just fine. 3 top 10's, one of them being a top 5 is pretty respectable after only 20 Nationwide starts. However, to start expecting this Joey Logano-esque breakout wins out of her this early on is a bit far-fetched, especially considering the fact that many drivers before her weren't doing so.

buddysmith 1 year, 8 months ago

she will be an average driver in a dying sport. she will be driving dale jr's cars in the nationwide series? jr needs to drive his own cars in the nationwide series, maybe he can learn how to drive. he is without a doubt, the most overrated driver in any series. if his last name was jones or smith, he would be working a 40 hour week like me! nascar does not need novelty drivers, they need competition, which is severely lacking right now!

Autumn6 1 year, 8 months ago

I'm sure you can read Rick Hendrick's mind as to why he signed on Dale Jr. and why he's keeping him. It couldn't POSSIBLY be because Dale Jr. is actually a good driver. He's such a horrible driver yet he made the Chase this year. Odd.