Just pass the test girl, that's all we ask...
It’s official, Danica Patrick is coming to NASCAR…sort of.
When I say “sort of” it’s not a full-time ride like some of us were guessing was going to happen a few months ago. However, a part-time Nationwide series ride makes a lot more sense then it does to simply jump into a 3,300 lb. Sprint Cup car. Getting her feet wet in the Nationwide Series, or even the Camping World Truck Series, makes better sense than it does to go the same route that has led to struggles for Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier and (dare I say it) Dario Franchitti. This way Danica can learn the ins and outs of racing a stock car as opposed to the open-wheel Indy Car that she’s used to. This way she’s not being thrown into the deep end of the pool where she will have to swim immediately or else drown in a torrent of critics scornfully debunking her as a driver and causing damage to her and to NASCAR in the long run.
Now the first big test will not be the Camping World 300 at Daytona, it will not even be the Lucas Oil Slick Mast 200 at Daytona, but it will be the three-day ARCA Series open test December 18, 19 and 20 at Daytona. That will be crucial for any future NASCAR plans that she and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have for her. Both NASCAR and ARCA have a long-standing policy that Daytona drivers have to have drafting experience on a Superspeedway before they can run a race at Daytona. There is also a posibility of a private test at Daytona for her, but she would still have to have some experience drafting in a pack of cars, and the public ARCA test would be the only opportunity for that.
Now as a fan of not only NASCAR but also as someone who grew up watching A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al and Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford and Danny Sullivan mix it up at Indy, I sincerely hope that not only Danica Patrick passes the initial test at Daytona, but that she does very well in the ARCA race and the subsequent Nationwide race – if not actually win one of those races. I think that Danica having success in NASCAR would be of benefit to not only her, but to the sport as a whole and to the economy in general.
Yeah, I know I can hear you working it right now: “the economy, uh BigDaddy – she’s a race car driver, it’s not like she’s the Chairman of the Fed. How in the world could she effect the economy?” Well, follow along with me people. Let’s say – for the sake of argument – that she not only does well at the ARCA/ReMax test, but she blows everybody’s socks off, impressing almost everybody there save for the few detractors who will grouse that she has no business being inside a race car. Then she moves onto Speedweeks and she impresses even more people with a top 5 finish in both the Lucas Oil Slick Mast 200 and the Camping World 300 – possibly even winning one of those races (hey, it’s restrictor-plate racing, it could happen).
Even though she would not run a full-time schedule she could make enough noise and do well enough to warrant a re-think of this split-series plan and come to NASCAR full-time by 2011, and we could see her racing a Sprint Cup car as late as 2012. Then we would be off to the races (as it were) as Danicamania would be in full force as she would then be poised to take over the #5 GoDaddy.com ride from a retiring Mark Martin at Hendrick Motorsports. Imagine that line-up of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick driving for Rick Hendrick. Talk about your dynasty – Hendrick Motorsports would be cemented as not only in the same class with Junior Johnson Racing and Petty Enterprises in NASCAR history, but would be mentioned in the same breath as the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadians, Boston Celtics, Pittsburgh Steelers and UCLA Bruins Basketball.
Now that would be good for NASCAR because if Danica is successful, then a lot more people are not only going to be coming to the tracks on race-day to watch her run, more merchandise is going to be sold and NASCAR as an organization will benefit. Then again, so will the other teams like RCR, Stewart-Hass, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush, Earnhardt-Ganassi, Micheal Waltrip and the Wood Brothers among others because their fans will get behind their drivers even more to counter the Hendrick juggernaut. That translates into more sales all around, that translates into more money for the teams involved which could also then translate into – say it with me people – jobs!!!!!
There is a distinct possibility that all of the extra added attention that will be turned upon both Danica Patrick and NASCAR that it could not only create more jobs at NASCAR, but also create more jobs for all of the teams involved as well as the 31 tracks NASCAR visits during the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series’. Now Ladies and Gentlemen – that is what I call a stimulus package!!!
Now make no mistake about it, this may not be easy and there are detractors of this move. Thomas Popeof the Fayetteville Observer has said that if she ”can’t put a whippin’ on the best in IndyCar, where there are half as many competitors, why should we believe her NASCAR future will be any different?” The blogosphere is rampant with comments ranging from “she’s nothing more than a pretty face”, “she doesn’t belong in a race car”, and even a few “I hope Kyle Busch puts her in the wall and then puts her over his knee.” You really have to wonder about some of these people on some of these boards.
I take the negative comments about her with a grain of salt and I don’t get too worked up about it because I know that most if not all of these critics of her have never gotten behind the wheel of a race car – any race car – and fired up the engine. Then again, other than loading rFactor on my computer and taking a spin with the Epsilon Euskadi prototype or the VHR Stockcar mod, neither have I.
By the way Junior, if you’re looking to try another “experiment” sometime in the near future and you want to see if playing a racing video game can make a novice into an actual race car driver – I’m available. (Hey, I’m still looking for a job here, and you don’t know if you never ask.)
To that end I put more stock in what the people in and around NASCAR say about this rather than some in the blogosphere. People like Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds have chimed in on this, and since they have driven cars and run race teams, they have a better idea of what they are talking about.
Am I hoping she succeeds? Hell yes I am!!! In the long run it’s going to be good for both her and NASCAR if she can get some top-10′s, top-5s and even some wins under her belt before she goes into Cup cars. The only loser I can see coming out of this would be the IRL because they would have to adjust to life AD (After Danica) and find another personality to be the face of that organization. Helio Castroneves is the closest they could come since he had such a compelling story last year (tax troubles, the trial, being acquitted of tax evasion, the comeback and winning the Indy 500.) The question is, can the IRL get off of a second-rate network like VERSUS and get to a network that would give them more exposure? Because that would help them tremendously if they were to get onto a network like Speed or even ESPN2.
Bottom line is that this is going to be a very exciting time for racing fans in general. I for one am looking forward to seeing how Danica Patrick performs in a stock car as I have always suspected that she would be more suited to driving a stock car rather than an Indy Car. And as for all of you detractors out there who keep saying she doesn’t belong do me a favor – shut up until you run a race yourself. Because if you haven’t run even a Midget or a Go-Kart race, then you have no idea what you’re talking about.
