Danica Patrick’s image guarantees she’ll have spotlight in move to NASCAR
Unless a significant gremlin finds its way into the planning, it looks as if another high-profile driver from the open-wheel ranks will be rolling around in NASCAR circles next season. The details remain unclear (and some of them probably aren’t very detailed yet), but Danica Patrick appears likely to run a partial NASCAR schedule mixed with some Automobile Racing Club of America events in conjunction with a full IndyCar schedule next season.
When she steps into a NASCAR vehicle for the first time, Patrick will immediately become the most significant woman to race in a NASCAR event. She is the only female to own a victory in the IndyCar Series (there are no wins by women in any of NASCAR’s three national series), and, although the strength of that circuit has not been at its highest levels in recent seasons, it is difficult to argue with the significance of that win, no matter that she won it on fuel strategy. A win is a win is a win.
Even without a stock-car background, Patrick will arrive in NASCAR as a full-fledged sales machine and media commodity. She attracts attention wherever she goes; sponsors love her; she has a sharply competitive edge; and she looks good on magazine covers – draped or undraped.
Patrick will be a sensation of sorts in NASCAR even if she never comes close to victory lane. She has taken publicity away from more accomplished IndyCar drivers, a circumstance that clearly aggravates some of them. That isn’t fair, but it is real. When she unzips her suit in a provocative television commercial, it attracts much more attention than if, say, Ryan Briscoe did it.
Patrick the Image will be much more of a factor than Patrick the Driver in her early days in NASCAR. She will bring a very noticeable entourage of cameras and PR handlers and hangers-on with her, and her new life as a part-time stock-car racer will be chronicled from early morn until closing time and from practice crashes to 30th-place struggles.
Part of the difficulty in Patrick’s anticipated NASCAR arrival is the half-in, half-out nature of it. She plans to continue to compete for the Indy Racing League championship (she finished fifth this season) while bounding around the country to also race in NASCAR and ARCA.
It can be argued that it is not wise for any driver – even one with exceptional legs – to try to have one foot in each of two worlds. Both efforts will suffer, the detractors say, but Patrick can be forgiven for trying to hold onto a position that has made her famous and wealthy while also stepping out into a new arena that could make her more famous and considerably wealthier. Double-dipping isn’t universally recommended, and she has been advised against it, but it will give her a decent chance to taste the NASCAR world and see if it can be more than a passing fancy.
Could she be the Great Female Hope for NASCAR, which craves the panache diversity can bring? Many have tried. None have succeeded. If Patrick could become even semi-competitive and occasionally a victory threat, she would not only elevate her standing and career significantly but also would overrule those in NASCAR garages who, even in an age of considerable enlightenment, cling to the notion that automobile racing simply isn’t a job for women.
It should be noted that Patrick does not bring a shiny résumé to NASCAR. She has won only one IndyCar race, and her heavily covered adventures in the Indianapolis 500 have mostly been about what she could have done, not what she actually did.
It’s also worth noting, however, that the number of wins she owns – one – since she scored in April 2008 is exactly the same number posted over the same time period by the man – Dale Earnhardt Jr. – apparently poised to hire her.
Image more important than results? That seems to be the case.
