All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Danica will get booed in NASCAR. Just a guess.

 

She is a bust in any series. She's won one IndyCar race, and that was on fuel mileage.
The only reason she is still around is because of her looks. If she looked like Sarah Fisher, then she would be about as prominent.
I'm sorry to those who are offended by reality and chooses to call me a hater or an -ist, but it's true.
That being said, she'll fit right in with any number of NASCAR drivers who have virtually no chance of winning but keep landing rides.

 

Simply not true.

She's a middle-of-the-pack driver. She's 12th in the standings now, 3rd of 4 on her team. Typically she's a little better than this. I think she was the top-ranked American in the series most of last year.

She's far from a great driver. She really comes up short on road courses, which is odd, since she came up driving road courses in Europe.

But to suggest she's only around at this point because of her looks is silly. She's not a consistent winner, but that lumps her in with 90% of the field. She's a solid but unspectacular driver. She's earned her spot.

And I'm always sort of befuddled to see a race win written off as being "on fuel mileage," like out-strategizing the other teams in a key facet of the race is somehow embarrassing.

 

Although I haven't been a Danica fan (saturation marketing tend to be a negative for me), she's actually been pretty impressive in her Nationwide runs this year. IMO, of course. I really thought the bigger (heavier) car would impact her more than it has.....she's really tiny, when you see her in person.

 

Danica making the transition now is not the blow to IndyCar, nor the boost to NASCAR, it would have been five years ago. As others have mentioned, she's established as a middle-of-the-pack driver. She's probably topped out on her marketing opportunities. In NASCAR, she's not going to even be in the main series for a while. And IndyCar has been able to establish more of an identity then when it was all Danica, all the time in 2005-06.

 

Not sure it matters all that much. Not sure how much attendance can fall at the non-Indianapolis 500 events. It won't affect TV ratings any worse than they already are either.

 

In today's climate of points racing, being a middle of the pack driver might mean something. In the world of racing where from second back it doesn't matter where you are, she's done nothing.

Danica crashes as often as not, is a darling in front of the camera and snotty when it's off, and sponsors love her. In other words, she's Michael Waltrip.

In fact, her success falls between Michael Waltrip and Larry Gunselman.

 

The world of racing where "second back doesn't matter" doesn't exist outside of drunk guys on backwoods dirt tracks on Saturday night.

Bottom line, she gets a lot more attention than she deserves, but she also gets a lot more shit than she deserves, all because she's a woman.

When she's in Nationwide she'll be competitive when the car is good and she won't be when it isn't, just like 95% of the field.

 

Yes, Danica gave Indy Car a pulse when it didn't have one. Not that Indy Car is thriving, but at least the Indy 500 is on its way back. As I said earlier, if she had left in 2006, Indy Car would have been in serious, serious trouble.

 

Patrick is sometimes snotty in front of the media as well. She's a reasonably good driver, improving in Nationwide, and a quite good one with a good car, which Andretti is essentially incapable of giving her. There's no reason for her to believe Andretti will figure out the new chassis quickly, and the money's bigger in stock cars, so it would be stupid from a financial standpoint not to move. And she'll still be able to run the 500 in 2012 for someone.

What Patrick does best, say sponsors, is move product. Her sponsorships pay off for sponsors. That will give her a long career in whatever series she's in.