Back Seat Driver: Defending Danica
If you’d told me three years ago I would be writing the
words you’re about to read I’d have asked you how much time you’d spent in the
garage without adequate ventilation.
I’m glad Danica Patrick is going to be racing in the Daytona
500.
To put this statement in context, you have to understand that I've not particularly been a fan of Patrick's since she got off my Saturday-morning TV screen and into an Indy Car. I disliked her as a driver because of what I considered to be her whiny, entitled, diva attitude. I questioned her talent, too, but not because of her gender. Rather because of the hype vs. results ratio and because of her aforementioned tendency to whine during races. I viewed her foray into stock cars with skepticism, though I understood how NASCAR would be more appealing financially than the lower-paying open-wheel series. Still, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I was glad she chose good teams for which to drive.
And I'm glad Danica Patrick has a guaranteed spot in the Daytona 500. Not that I'm particularly a fan of the top-35 rule, but since it's there, I'm glad she's a beneficiary of it.
I don’t care that Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing obtained
the points necessary to lock her into the "Big Show" by essentially
subcontracting her to Tommy Baldwin Racing. I don’t care that the partnership between SHR
and TBR, in all likelihood, exists solely to elicit NASCAR’s approval of the
transfer of owner points earned by Dave Blaney last season. I don’t even care
that someone at Stewart-Haas did some gerrymandering in that deal that would do the Texas state legislature proud.
What I do care about are the accusations of sexism and favoritism
being lobbed at Patrick for doing nothing more than using every advantage given
to her. People are saying Danica Patrick doesn’t deserve to race in
the upper tiers of stock car racing. Not in Sprint Cup, and most especially not
in that most sacred of NASCAR institutions, the Daytona 500. They’re saying she’s
having everything handed to her, that she hasn’t earned the right to race with
the big boys. That she’s selling sex and because she brings a big-bucks sponsor
with her, one that exploits her sexuality, that she’s getting advantages other
drivers would never get.
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Photo credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs |
As for earning the right to race in Sprint Cup, I refer you
to such stellar performers as Steven “Crash” Wallace, whose father should give
thanks regularly for the HANS device and the SAFER barrier. Did his four top fives in 157 Nationwide starts earn him his 2011 Daytona 500 entry? Michael “McDriver” McDowell raced 3 whole
races in Nationwide before making the jump to Cup. What in his performance in the lower-tier series justified his 2010 Daytona 500 slot? McDowell is perceived as having enormous potential despite
scoring only one top five and 10 ten top tens in his 77 Nationwide races. Does his NNS career-average finish of 22.8 really outweigh Patrick's average of 22.9?
Or is it just that he's a guy?
Despite the fact that I write for an all-female website, I’m
no feminist. It’s not in my nature to rail against gender inequality. But it is my contention that if Danica Patrick were male, I wouldn't be writing this piece. We might hear some grumbling about
NASCAR’s integrity and letting racers race, but the outcry would be nothing
like the vitriol that’s being spewed over the SHR/TBR deal. Yet because Patrick
just happens to be a beautiful young woman who is smart enough not only to
capitalize on all her assets, but to
take the help being given to her, she’s the one being criticized. NASCAR approved the deal, so if anyone has a
problem with it, they should, in my opinion, take it up with the sanctioning
body, not with a driver who is just playing the game. As much as I detest clichés,
I’m going to use one here: Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
While I may not be completely won over by the Go Daddy girl, I don't begrudge her the opportunity to focus on race performance rather than being concerned with multitude of ways that her qualifying attempts could go wrong. The margin for error is minuscule. A blown tire, a blown engine or a blown pit stop can mean the difference between making the show or watching it on TV. For SHR, the stakes are too high to take a chance. With the top-35 rule, those eight open spots in the Great American Race draw drivers and teams from all over the country hoping to race their way into the Daytona 500 and become the next Trevor Bayne. Who got into the race on someone else's points, I might add.
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Photo credit: Debbie Ross for Skirts and Scuffs |
Those people who say she hasn't paid her dues do so out of ignorance, and are cut from the same cloth as those who booed Jeff Gordon in the early days of his NASCAR career. Patrick started in go-karts at age 10, and at 16 she moved to England to pursue her dreams of open-wheel racing. While there, among other accomplishments, she finished second in the Formula Ford Festival, which tied Danny Sullivan's 1972 record for best finish by an American driver.
She's driven for Bobby Rahal and Michael Andretti, both IndyCar icons. Patrick was the first woman to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500 and has the best finish by a woman in a race that does not suffer fools kindly. In fact, despite being an IRL champion, Tony Stewart never matched Patrick's fourth-place finish; the best he ever placed was fifth. She holds the IndyCar record for the most consecutive races running at the finish with 50. FIFTY. You can't win races if you don't finish them.
Patrick is also, as you probably know, the only woman to win an IndyCar race. Detractors may argue that her Motegi, Japan victory was a fuel-mileage win, but in today's Sprint Cup that's not an argument to bring to the table. How many men have run season after season and never won a race? I don't know about IndyCar, but I know there are a few in NASCAR.
In NASCAR NNS, Patrick led a lap at Daytona and has the highest place finish of any woman, fourth at Las Vegas. She may not be racking up wins in a stock car, that doesn't mean she doesn't have driving experience. It doesn't mean she hasn't paid dues. So what if she was in the right place at the right time and seen by the right people? She's been smart enough to make the most of those opportunities.
Seriously, does anyone really think that Tony Stewart, who followed through with firing his crew chief even after he won his third championship, would waste more than 15 minutes with a driver - male or female - he didn't think had bankable potential as a racer, not just as a spokesperson? I don't think so. If Tony Stewart didn't think Danica Patrick could win races, I believe he would have told her to stick to IndyCar, to stay away from NASCAR. Instead, he hired her and put her in the capable command of his friend and former crew chief, Greg Zipadelli. Zippy seems confident in his driver's ability at Daytona, saying "She responded very well, very good feedback." He mentioned she "did a really good job in the draft, which was great."
While ultimately I would prefer that racing be simple and straightforward, the fastest 43 cars and drivers competing, that's not how things work right now. They haven't worked that way since the past champion's provisional was instituted. Perhaps NASCAR will re-examine the rules after SHR's creativity, but as of right now the move was both legal and smart.
And I'm glad Danica Patrick will start the Daytona 500. It won't even hurt my feelings if she wins.
Back Seat Driver: Defending Danica
Reviewed by Janine Cloud
on
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Rating:

Wow, this is an excellent piece you wrote. I don't think the top 35 rule or the ability to buy points but as a racer myself I know you need to do everything the rules will allow in order to do well in this sport. Everyone seems to forget that Trevor Bayne got his points from Petty last year for the Daytona 500. If Danica was a man none of this would be happening.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations never a more honest word spoken from the heart and based on facts, the problem is not Danica it's the dang top 35 in points rules. Never understood them but that's the game the whole field is playing. Hope Danica repays Tony's faith with a solid qualifying performance and solid run to a win. If Trevor Bayne can do it I'm sure Danica can do it just as well !
ReplyDeleteI always thought it was strange that NASCAR fans have no problem with drivers getting their opportunity because of family (Dale Jr, Austen and Ty Dillon, Steven Wallace) but get all huffy about Danica (who didn't have a racing family to count on) for finding her own way in. As far as I'm concerned, they all use whatever advantages they have and more power to them. However they got there, though, they all have to go on and prove themselves. I hope Danica is able to do that.
ReplyDeleteThanks, y'all. I appreciate the feedback. Like I said in the article, I wasn't much of a Danica fan but she is slowly earning my respect. It really runs me hot to read someone say she's getting in the 500 because she looks good draped on a hood not because she belongs behind the wheel. I agree with Anonymous, why is nepotism encouraged but marketing one's own brand not?
ReplyDeleteThe fact that nobody in this country cares about anything until it effects them personally is the reason that this country is in such a shambles. The fact that nobody care about whether NASCAR has the best drivers, or race cars is exactly why NASCAR sucks today. Competition is bought, and the cars are basically IROC cars. Everyone has the same stuff. What's the point. As long as you don't care, you will continue to get WWE NASCAR.
ReplyDeleteWell, wait till she wrecks and takes out half the field. I just hope when she does the other two Stewart-Hass cars are collected as well. She isn't half the driver Ruettiman is. David should be in that car even if the points are bought, which I don't believe should be allowed.Danica has never even driven a Sprint car in competition. Heck when she first got in a nationwide car she didn't even know how to start it. This WWE NASCAR from here on out. I check the results from time to time this year in the hopes that a legitimate driver will win the fake championship after the chase, but I won't be watching any races this year or next year either.
ReplyDeleteExcellent article that is right on target!! I totally agree with the article, Art's and John B's comments. That lady has talent. For some reason it upsets some people because she is also a beautiful woman. And I also agree that the top 35 rule is absurd, but it appeases sponsors.
ReplyDeleteSTTTOOOOPPPPP already. This Danica that and Danica this and Danica that, who really gives a flying frig. STOP already enough is enough. A note to the damm media and writers Time to stop.. Its old and anoyying.
ReplyDeleteTo the last anonymous commenter: Thank you for your feedback. I agree there's way too much hype. I was in the TMS media center after the Kyle Busch "incident" and felt bad that the drivers who won all got asked about Busch and Danica. I avoided writing about her for that reason, but I couldn't hold back on this topic, so I wrote what I felt.
ReplyDeleteAnd one great thing about the internet? You don't even have to pick up the remote to choose not to read something.
Aahhhhhhh! Get over it! I'm addressing that to the media! Give these teams and owners a break ! This transaction was NOT all about Danica. If Stewart had picked another rookie MALE driver I have no doubt the same deal would have been made. The bottom line is in NASCAR there is not much a team owns that has high resale value...the economy has flooded the sport with empty shops and last years model cars. Points are one of the few things a team OWNS that has high resale value....and they should be allowed to profit from them. To whom and how much the points are sold for is no ones business. Most businesses in the real world have assets....one of which is "good will'. This commodity can be worth a good piece of change if the business is being sold..so consider "points" nascars "good will" and leave it..and Danica .. alone.
ReplyDeleteI AM TIRED OF ALL THE DANICA THIS DANICA THAT! that all we are going to hear ALL YEAR LONG. then Media /NASCAR will spin her any they can to make her look good after a race she can finish 40th and they will say how great she did. I bet Danica , NASCAR and the Media are getting all her excuses ready.
ReplyDeleteFantastic piece, LJ. I like how you pointed out that Danica has been racing since she was 10, so she has paid her dues. I also agree with the anonymous poster who said that if Stewart had picked any other driver (a male one), the same deal would have been made. It comes back to NASCAR being a business.
ReplyDeleteWho will sponsor David Reutimann in the #10 Chevrolet in the 2012 Sprint Cup Series when he fills in for Danica Patrick for 26 Races while she Races in the Nationwide Series?
ReplyDeleteChris,supposedly TBR had sponsorship already arranged, just no word as to whom. I'm betting, though I have no way of knowing for sure, that SHR will help in the acquisition of any additional sponsors need. I wish Go Daddy would sign for the remainder of the season, but I don't really see that happening.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post. First I've read on your site, and I'll be checking back for more. Thanks!
ReplyDeletePlain and simple if she she didnt have her looks, personality and presence with the media she wouldnt be here! No knock on Danica it is what it is and nothing more. I for ne dont think she is talented enough to compete in the Sprint cup series and will not be surprised if she gets this partial year and one more and fades away. She WILL NOT win a race and probably wont see a top 10
ReplyDeleteThis is a great article. I am also in favor of hoping Danica does well in NASCAR. It is good for the sport, and the naysayers can just be that.
ReplyDeleteI hope she wins the Daytona 500 as that will actually get NASCAR in the newspapers up here in NYC and get more fans into NASCAR.
Great column LJC! You have proven that facts are stubborn things. The fact is that Danica is a racer first and foremost who has paid her dues for the past 7 years on the miniscule stage of the IndySnore series. Her spot on the big stage of NASCAR is well deserved. Russell "Dip" Schmidt from Bleacher Report should read this column. He might learn something.
ReplyDelete