Danica Patrick Wrecks in First NASCAR Race

By | February 15, 2010 | Racing | 2 Comments

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Laurie won her first writing award at her Maryland Catholic elementary school - an envelope of two-dollar bills from football-crazy nuns - in the second grade for a poem about the Washington Redskins. She still does not understand downs, so this just proves that she will write just about anything for the promise of money and minor glory. Try her. Her other interests include the WNBA, Dayton basketball (Go Flyers!,) tailgating, Capitals first-period goals, three-pointers and beer. She dislikes any former Patrick Division team, (especially the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers) overtime any time and serial retirers. She will someday have Capitals season tickets, attend an NFL game, and understand downs. Other writing happens at LaurieWrites and BlogHer. She still lives in - and loves - Maryland.

2 Replies to Danica Patrick Wrecks in First NASCAR Race

  1. GoonSquadSarah says:
    February 15, 2010 at 9:08 am

    Word. To everything you just said.

  2. JayMonster says:
    February 15, 2010 at 10:32 am

    Actually, you need to be a bit more involved with the ins and outs of racing to properly answer your question, because things are not as clear cut as to the level of scrutiny.

    The switch from Open Wheel to NASCAR is just now becoming a “trend” Before that you have a handful of people here and there, but the names of those that switch (or do both) are almost legendary, including A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Tony Stewart.

    But now to answer your question of whether others get similar scrutiny… but not necessarily the same notoriety (or publicity) as Danica. People such as Juan Pablo Montoya, have also made the switch, and have been “disappointing” so far (I put that in quotes, because just how disappointing depends on who you listen to or read), but unlike Danica, you need to really be a race fan to know his name well.

    Many people like to harp on Danica for all the other marketing that is done for and around her, but to be honest, I do not have a problem with it. She is still trying to compete in a sport dominated by “good ol’ boys” and racing is expensive, and you need sponsors. If you look back, at some other great female drivers, what you see is that they did not (or do not) race near as often as they could/should have. Janet Guthrie, Lyn St. James and Sarah Fisher all have far fewer races than many men far below their talents, because they could not market themselves well enough to get the sponsors they needed to race.

    Danica has turned herself into a brand. With that, she has given herself up to additonal spotlight and scrutiny, but at the same time, it keeps her in a race car, and regardless of how much people may hate her Lime Green Jumpsuit, or doing Go Daddy commercials, it will allow her to do what she wants to do, and that is get her a sponsor that will allow her to race, because only the only way to win a race, is to actually be able to be in the race.

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