The deconstruction of Danica Patrick
Kris Johnson
Kris Johnson joined Street & Smith's Sports Group in 2003. He is Assistant Managing Editor at NASCAR Illustrated and SceneDaily.com.
Tickled, troubled and torn.
Funny to think you can be all three simultaneously, but that is the range of emotion – if tickled even qualifies as such – experienced when considering Danica Patrick’s expected arrival in NASCAR.
Let’s deal with tickled first. NASCAR, despite its standing as the unquestioned motorsports leviathan in America, needs a shot of adrenaline. Poaching the reigning megastar of U.S. open-wheel racing – even for part-time duty in its No. 2 series – could be the start of something truly special if Danica makes a Juan Pablo Montoya-like transition to stock cars.
The potential upside for NASCAR is as obvious as Patrick’s pulchritude.
The troubling aspect involves Patrick’s megastar status. When you reach that final destination after a journey not so much paved by performance, your status is in question. At least, it should be questioned.
Patrick, at 27, is already an American icon. That probably reveals more about us as Americans, and our willingness to buy into television– and marketing–driven “superstars” as brands, as it does anything else.
At the intersection of tickled and troubled, that’s where you’ll find torn.
Whether she will be good for the sport depends on where you view it from. Look through the lens of a sponsor, fan, track, TV network or NASCAR and you’ll see her in very different lights.
Here’s hoping Patrick performs at a level never before realized by a female driver in NASCAR.
That way, everyone should agree the sport she leaves behind will be better off than it was upon her arrival.
