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Danica Patrick Holds All The Cards

An Opinion



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December 3, 2009

By Doug Demmons


Doug Demmons
There’s a picture making the rounds on various blogs that shows Danica Patrick in a firesuit with a GoDaddy.com logo.

That much isn’t news. But the firesuit also bears a NASCAR logo, a Chevy bowtie and what looks like a JR Motorsports logo.

The photo comes from Patrick’s website, where it appeared briefly -- apparently by accident -- before being taken down. But not before it had been downloaded.


Danica Patrick

It didn’t take a conspiracy theorist to add 2 and 2 together and come up with 5. Or 88. As in Danica driving a Nationwide car for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s team, which not coincidentally has GoDaddy as a sponsor.

The trouble with this neat little detective story is that Danica says she has no deal yet to race in a stock car next year. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

She’d still like to try it, she said Tuesday during a teleconference with reporters that was organized by the IZOD IndyCar Series but attracted more NASCAR beat writers than Indy writers.

But she’s apparently in no hurry to work it all out.

“I think we still have time,” she said. “February is when they start, so there's not as much time as there is for an IndyCar (Series) season, but there's still time. Even if things go until the last minute, there's still a little bit of time left.”

That’s stretching it out quite a bit. It used to be that if you didn’t have a deal lined up by October or so you were slap out of luck.

But these are hard times and this is Danica, who is not just a driver but a brand. This is a driver who can get a spot on “Good Morning America” to unveil a new paint scheme for her Indy car. Do you think GMA would put Jimmie Johnson on the air to unveil a new Lowe’s paint scheme for his car?

That kind of star power changes the rules.

And it makes it possible for Danica and her management team to set their own agenda and their own timetable. They aren’t going to be rushed. And really, they’re the ones holding all the cards.

But you have to wonder whether reaching this decision hasn’t become like turning around an aircraft carrier -- something so big it takes a massive effort just to get it started.

But it’s a safe bet that at some point we’ll she Danica in a stock car, perhaps as soon as February in the ARCA race at Daytona.

And if that happens it’s also a safe bet that she won’t win the race the first time she gets behind the wheel of an ARCA car. In fact, she might just stink up the track. In fact, she might just cause a huge wreck on Lap 12.

If and when that happens, expect the critics to come unglued:

She’s got no business in NASCAR; she’s overrated; she should go back where she came from. Etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum, which is Latin for “yadda, yadda, yadda.”

The bottom line with Danica is that there is no way she is going to come to NASCAR and dazzle stock-car fans with a string of victories. She’s going to struggle. And it won’t be pretty.

It took Juan Pablo Montoya, who has won the Indianapolis 500 and the Grand Prix of Monaco, three seasons before he made the Chase. In his first season Montoya considered it a huge victory if he cracked the top 20.

And how about Sam Hornish Jr.? Hornish is not only an Indy 500 winner, he’s an Indy champion. He just finished his second NASCAR season and is just now starting to get the hang of it. Next year he might actually win a race.

And how about Scott Speed? The former Formula One driver nearly won an ARCA championship last year. This year he hasn’t even stayed in the top 35.

The path to success in NASCAR is long and arduous. Danica is not going to figure it out in 2010. She probably won’t figure it out in 2011.

But if she sticks to it, if she refuses to listen to the critics who say she’s out of her league, she will eventually figure it out.




Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow

Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons


You can contact Doug Demmons at .... Birmingham News

You Can Read Other Articles By Doug Demmons


The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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