NASCAR Needs Danica Patrick
Sunday April 20, 2008
Danica Patrick made history this weekend when she won the Japan 300 at the 1.5-mile Twin Ring Motegi oval. Danica is not only the first woman to ever win an IndyCar Series race she is the first woman to ever win any major auto racing event.
Danica is truly one in a million. A talented racer who happens to be an attractive, intelligent woman. NASCAR needs someone like Danica, or maybe Danica herself, to be successful in Sprint Cup racing. She would be great for the sport.
Comments
Nascar does NOT need Danica Patrick. She is an arogant person. She did an interview on Nascar Radio on Sirius radio with David Pool last year and he made a comment about Indianopolis hosting the Brickyard 400 for Nascar and she came back with “We in the IRL call it the Indy 500″ as if David Pool, who has been in racing for more years than she has been alive, needed correcting. So, as I said before, Nascar DOES NOT need Danica Patrick. Yes it would be nice if we had women drivers, so bring on Chrissy Wallace. She certainly has the pedigree to race Nascar!!!
Danica is good for motorsports. but she is not the first female to win in motorsports. in drag racings has angela sampey and had shirely moldeny are both champions
No, NASCAR does not need Danica Patrick. Someone like her would be great for NASCAR, but I don’t think they NEED her. I don’t see her switching over to NASCAR anytime soon.
I for one was very happy for her first win today and if she would come to Nascar, I feel she would be good there too. All the Hendricks team like her and that says a lot to me. No not needed but would be good. As Jerry said, she is not first on motorsports but first for IRL at least. I remember Shirley Moldon from seeing her race in the drags. Angela races bikes in NHRA as a lot do. I watch all races and have my favorites in them.
Ok had to get the name right. Shirley Muldowney.
Yes she won,yes she’s pretty,yes she’s smart.
No she is not ready for NASCAR!She need to prove that she can win a little more than one major race.
I think at some point you are right she could be a great fan draw to NASCAR racing but not yet.
I’m a fan and would like to see her some day race along side of the great NASCAR drivers but she needs to prove herself a little more.
I agree with #1 and #3. NASCAR does not need her. She arrogant and over rated. The only reason she won is that all the stiff competition has departed for NASCAR. Look thru the archives of your posts Steve, you will see that I stated when Dario, Patrick and the others came over, I stated “maybe Danica will win one in 2008″. Guess what, she did. Open wheel needs her much more than NASCAR. With the merger of the two sanctioning bodies, they will go thru some growing pains and they need a draw, which she is one for open wheel. Like I stated a few months back, can you imaging her throwing one of her stomping tantrums down the front stretch at Charlotte? Those fans would eat her up and spit her out.
Every interview or TV program I have seen her on, she oozes arrogance, talking about how beautiful she is, or how her long black hair flows in the wind. Get a good look guys. Take a look when she pulls the helmet off. Kind scary!
Open wheel….you can keep her.
I WOULD LOVE TO WATCH TONY STEWART SPIN HER OUT AND CRY. NASCAR NEEDS SOMEONE TO REPLACE RUSTY WALLACE. WA WA WA WA
No, NASCAR does not NEED Danica Patrick. Steve, I am at a complete loss as to why you, and others, have such a love for these open wheel racers? I could care less what their gender. How have these open wheel transplants turned out so far? Gannassi Racing is a mess. (And he has the audacity to threaten his subpar stable that he and Sabates put together….give me a break!) Villaneve has not panned out. Hornish, probably the best of them all, has squandered Kurt Busch’s points that he was given on a silver platter. Hopefully Penske has learned his lesson and will stay away from this ridiculous idea.
If someone wants to hire her for sponsor dollars and fan oogling then so be it. After 8 or 9 races when she is struggling to make the field and wasting precious Sonoco fuel being an also ran, we can then wonder what the owner that come up with this goofy idea was thinking.
Steve, buy yourself a NASCAR team and fill it full of open wheel drivers. Let us know how that goes…..
Let’s get one thing straight here. NASCAR does not want DP as they have permit women drivers. The better tag is what Team Owner needs DP. Leanna mentioned Henrick Motor Sports. Unless Rick wants a fourth car who would he replace? Lets see, Junior is Junior there, Jeff is an oldie but goodie and Jimmie doesn’t seem able to three peat. Bottom line ladies and gentlemen is which team owner would want to fork out the dough and what would be the gain. NASCAR needs agressive driving and as the commentators pointed out during the race DP is not agressive.
No, Nascar doesn’t need Danica. They need some more hard-nosed drivers out there. I don’t think Danica qualifies as that, She has been mediocre at best.
Hendrick already has 4 cars. Your leaving out Casey Mears in the 5 car.
Honestly, Danica in the 5 car with Kellogs as a sponsor, driving for Hendrick with Gordon, Johnson, and Jr. as teammates, c’mon, what a boon that would be! As sceptical as I am of the “open wheelers” even I have to admit that would be a media frenzy!
If Rick is even remotely entertaining such an idea, somebody please tackle him and talk him out of it!
NASCAR does not need Danica. Did anyone see the picture of her with the trophy? That SCREAMS arrogance to the crowd. Open wheel can keep her…
Did anyone hear her interviews? It went like this – “Yeash, well, um, and ah, well, um, and yeah, well…” Not a very scholarly response for a winner of an international race. Maybe if she wins here in the STates it might mean more to me. I think she’s a rude, obnoxious female racer who thinks that we as NASCAR fans owe her something. Sorry – I don’t owe her anything. Stay where you are, Danica.
NASCAR has got enough Indy Car Drivers
as it is … We Sure Don’t Need Her…
Danica seems to have alienated a lot of NASCAR fans with her arrogance and poor performance, in the past.
They also don’t appreciate her emotionalisim during a race.
I think she needs to grow up a little more. Did you see her arrogant photos after her win? Not very professional, in my opinion, even though I cheer her on. I am not a real open wheel fan but I do loosely follow most auto racing.
Honda Racing can’t be all wrong. They make, and use, the best they can produce and find since their inception. I have seen their old 60s racing motorcycles internally and they were way ahead of the curve at the time.
Money is no object to Honda’s racing and R&D division. Hardware and software combined.
Go Danica! Prove yourself. They were all young and emotionaly wrought (adrenalized) once.
i’d love to see a chick in nascar….all sweaty & moist…mmmmm the things i’d do to her…..
“Danica is not only the first woman to ever win an IndyCar Series race she is the first woman to ever win any major auto racing event.” Haven’t ever heard of the NHRA and Shirley Muldowney. SHe not only won races she won championships. And Ashley Force just won a Funny Car race.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!!! Finally some tru NASCAR fans. We DO NOT NEED that overated…..well we all know what i’m thinking.
THE NASCAR DRIVERS WOULD BE UPSET AND AFRAID SHE WOULD WIN THE NASCAR “BIG ONE…” 4/21/08…8:45 PM
I don’t understand why everybody is being so hard on her. She obviously has talent or she wouldn’t be where she is-how many of you could do what she does?! She wasn’t being arrogant in that picture. She thought it was funny that the trophy was almost as big as she was. And, how many NASCAR drivers have we all seen act emotional & throw fits??? They all get emotional. Give me a break!
DP if your reading Ithink your awsome,exccellent job,well deserved,and earned.What ever you decide I am certain you will be welcomed, by most.I got to watch you live from Texas last June.
Oh right, Danica needs to win more than 1 race to race in NASCAR. What a joke. How many current NASCAR drivers haven’t won a race in their own sport? And the sexist comments are so intelligent. I am not a big fan of Danica personality wise. But she has sat on the pole, lead races and had top 5 finishes. I don’t care if she comes to NASCAR but she can race.
Well that is one of the things I love the most about NASCAR. All of those involved (not talking fans of course but the people who are actually DOING it) welcome ANYONE with open arms regardless of what might make them different. If one wants to race and can be reasonably competitive they have a chance to race with the big boys. It’s not a CLOSED society doing whatever they can to keep anyone they don’t deem similar to them out of the competition. Only very, very, very small people are afraid of allowing in new blood to any competition. NASCAR loves the competition no matter where it comes from and I find that something to be very proud of as a NASCAR fan.
All I have to say to everyone here who feels they are in a position to judge Danica Patrick is I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU DO BETTER!
I can and I HAVE.
To Speedy88…so I assume you are an active driver in NASCAR. Sprint Cup maybe?
You must be too young to say that Danica is the first to win a major motorsports even.
Shirley Muldowny paved the way for women in racing – get a clue……
I can’t imagine anyone in their right mind who reports on motorsports would not condider drag racing a Major Motorsport. Once again – get a clue….
Tell me when they make a major motion picture about her like they did about Shirley Muldowney…
Heart Like A Wheel is still shown on cable to this day.
The rest of you who talk badly about Danica,a piece of advice – until you have actually tried to drive the type of car in discussion – even on a closed track like the Richard Petty Expirience – you have no room to critisize anyone at the upper levels talent. It takes an extraordinary amount of talent and drive to get to the big leauges in any racing sport. If you have made it that far, you don’t need to be humble. Every sport has arrogant people – but when it’s a GIRL!…..
If you have never had a microphone shoved in your face when you are exhausted or excited, you have no idea how easy it is to sound illiterate. I’d love to see how you would handle it…
Go watch football.
NASCAR has no need for the Arrogant Danica Patrick. She had an opportunity to join NASCAR and turned her pretty little nose up at the opportunity. The last thing NASCAR needs is a prima donna like Patrick. Let the failing IRL keep her!
Interesting reactions to the Danica. She sures stirs the blood of us NASCAR fanatics. Has anybody considered the her win was actually the result of a good gambling crew chief? As I mentioned above about DP going to, say, Henricks and I read everyone’s comments. I reconsidered and think she would be good for both Rick and Go-Daddy.com which is also one of Junior’s sponsers. Imagine a Go Daddy add for NASCAR with Junior in a speed-on, for the ladies and Danica in a tight fitting swim suit for the men. Watch the money role in.
I find it extremely interesting that Danica’s attitude is viewed as ‘arrogant’ but if she were a man the view would be that ‘he’ was someone who is highly confident AND it would not only be accepted it would be respected and admired. Isn’t it time people stopped seeing others as gender, color, ethnic origin or religion and just started seeing other people as PEOPLE?
Oh well old paranoid insecure fears die hard they say…
Before Cheryl H. paints us all out to be sexist, insecure, racist bigots (too late), let me re-iterate my point regarding Danica.
I dont think that NASCAR NEEDS her in our sport. If she comes because of a lucrative contract that probably nobody in their right mind would turn down, then so be it. I only pointed out that as of this date the “open wheel lot” really has not lived up to their billing, and most of those drivers are considered higher caliber Indy drivers than Miss Patrick. Congrats to her on the win, but in my opinion I dont see anything there worth a ride in NASCAR’s premeire series.
OK, I’ll trade you Tony Stewart for Danica ! Let him mess with the IRL boys for a while.
Why not Danica…Everyone knows only women drive Toyotas.
NASCAR needs her for what, a pin-up girl?
Lets see women winning major events in racing. How aboutr Shirley Shahan (The Dragon Lady) winning the winter nationals in 1966. She won other minor events as far back as 1956. Judy Boertman’s win at the 1971 Summernationals. And Judy Lilly’s win in super stock in the 1972 Winternationals. And than Shirley Muldowney’s Championships. The present day ladies are tearing up the drag strip both in top fuel, funny car and motorcycle divisions. So lets just say Danica was first in IRL history. There have been several great lady midget drivers over the years also. Let Danica stay in open wheel, NASCAR doesn’t need her.
Skip Lewis
I agree with JJFAN, lets make a trade for Tony Stewart. And Christine, Drag Racing is every bit a major motor sport. Your arrogance is showing my dear.
She has already turned down offers to run stockies,from premier teams like Childress and Evernham she would be a little fish in a big pond.I wish her all the sucess in the world in open-wheel.GO CHRISSIE WALLACE
NASCAR so does NOT need Danica. She is one of the biggest snobs and so self serving people I have heard in awhile. NASCAR already has JJ and The Bush Bros..The men want her their for her looks, and babe she ain’t all that. What about Sarah Fisher guys – what you don’t like her racing style? Good for Danica, good to see a woman get a win, but had a man won under those conditions you guys would be calling it luck.
If you had seen Danica on Rachael Ray and the View over the past few days you would see how she is “full of herself” – she doesn’t need anyone to brag on her because she does enough of it for herself! I still say NASCAR is a good ole’ boy sport and keep all the other type of racing series out of it. They are just trying to cash in on the big $$ of NASCAR while their own racing venues aren’t as popular as they once were!
sounds like u’all need a K Y bath
If she can find a ride and qualify she has the right to be there just like you or me. The “Super Driver #3″ made Nascar what it is today. Nobody in our lifetime will do what he did for the Nascar Race.
Mrs. One-Hit Wonder has a 1-63 record, has never won a race anywhere in the USA and has never won a 5-mile conducted anywhere in the world.
Doctorrob